Taking a full exhale before we take a full inhale and releasing as we arrive into this present moment.
We can continue to take deep breaths as I introduce this juicy vipassana meditation.
When I began meditation and practice it was very rigid and strict.
I had seen and observed monks meditating in Bhutan and I saw the ankle bone was exposed on their feet from sitting in meditation posture for so long.
I thought to myself that this is the right approach,
That the key to meditation is to overcome our discomfort.
However,
Upon discovering this juicy approach to vipassana,
My approach to meditation was transformed as a requirement of relaxation entered my understanding.
I began to see that awareness was a process of allowing and accepting all things in our experience rather than overcoming and defeating our thoughts or our body experiences sensations.
So this revamped approach to meditation invited a relaxed comfortable posture and an easygoing exchange with whatever experiences may come up including the wandering of the mind.
So I invite you now to find a comfortable seat.
You can be lying down if that suits you more.
For the next 15 minutes it's all about relaxation and letting go.
Things will come up and that's okay.
Finding our seat we can begin to pay attention to the sensation of the point of contact that our feet are making with the ground or the surface that's beneath them.
Bringing our complete attention to this point of contact,
Relaxing deeper and deeper,
I invite you to find the point of contact that your bottom is making with the chair.
Relaxing further we can find the point of contact of both the feet on the floor and the bottom on the chair.
The intention behind locating our body and the points of contact is that the only thing that is ever always here and now is the body.
So the best way to anchor into the present moment is to bring our awareness to the body.
More on that in a short while.
Finding those points of contact,
Relaxing deeper and deeper until we can have a firm and gentle grasp on both at the same time,
The feet and the bottom.
Sinking into this spatial awareness,
Already feeling the weight,
The gravity of the present,
The space that we take up in third-dimensional reality.
Welcome it.
This is the door,
The gate to heaven here at our footsteps,
At our feet.
Relaxing deeper we can begin to include our back into this field of awareness that we have cultivated so far.
If we're leaning up against something,
If we're sitting up straight,
See if we can include that point of contact or the lack thereof.
Just bringing awareness to the spine.
We are adding to our inventory of things to anchor into to be more fully present in this moment.
Adding up we begin to take full account of our body in space and time.
One of my teachers has suggested that we only ever think to avoid feeling.
Noticing how when we bring our awareness back to our body we are faced with our feelings.
Notice anything that's alive in your body and welcome it knowing that everything is here to serve you.
So much to learn from our feelings,
Our emotions,
Expressed and withheld.
We can begin to include our breath in this field of cultivated awareness.
Noticing how our clothing or our skin stretches,
Shifts,
Moves with the inflation and deflation of our stomach,
Our abdomen as we inhale and exhale.
How many of us are aware of our breathing throughout our day?
Such a valuable tool to connect with.
So much rich blessing to be gained from this easy and accessible teacher.
Some yogis say that when we are born we are born with a certain number of breaths in this lifetime.
And the turtle happens to live for 400 years in some cases and they happen to breathe something like one breath a minute.
So the yogis say the key to longevity is taking long deep breaths.
Sitting with and enjoying this cultivated awareness of your body in this moment in time.
We can also begin to include any sounds that may be in our environment.
We can note and observe these sounds similar to how we are noting and observing the sensations of our body.
The purpose of this particular practice is to familiarize oneself with the difference between that which is observed and that which is observing.
When we think very rationally we can understand that that which is seen could not possibly be the seer.
That which is seen is always in front of the seer.
As we see our body,
As we hear these sounds,
We can also begin to include our thoughts in that which is seen.
Cultivating now in this moment what we can come to call the witnessing consciousness.
It's very helpful to access this state of indifferent observation when we slow down.
Almost as if there's a contract between when this state of consciousness can be experienced and how present we are.
This vipassana flow,
When we notice that we've wandered off,
The invitation is to return back to our cultivated state of awareness.
Re-engaging with that quality of observation,
The quality of witnessing our body,
Our breath,
Our environment.
As I leave you for a few moments to enjoy and experience this state of watching,
I also would like to share with you the purpose behind my taking the sannyas name Pravdhiraj.
It flows as such that meditation and divinity are like most valuable guests that are arriving in our home.
When a valuable guest like king or a queen,
An ascended master if you will,
Some rabbi,
A guru,
When they are entering our home they mustn't be forced.
Therefore the conditions can be created for divinity and meditation and this watching consciousness to enter into our home,
Into our experience,
But they mustn't be forced.
So the invitation and the name Pravdhiraj means celebrated patience,
Meaning that if we create the conditions and await the arrival of the beloved,
The beloved will surely come.
So for however long you wish to take this practice,
Whenever you decide to engage in this juicy vipassana,
Remember that it is a waiting game.
Almost and maybe sometimes literally as if you're at the DMV or the doctor's office in the waiting room.
Except for that in this case you are not waiting for a driver's license or for a medical checkup,
You are waiting for the kingdom of heaven to descend upon you.
What a great joy and privilege it is to know how to receive this invaluable gift.
There is only so much that the world has to offer us compared to the glory of eternal bliss.
Thank you for coming with me on this journey exploring vipassana in a more juicy and relaxed approach.
This has been Pravdhiraj with Insight Timer.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
