Introduction To Meditation Session #26 Spatial Awareness
Welcome to session #26 of our thirty (30) session introduction to meditation course! We’ve covered all foundational skills of meditation. In our last 5 sessions we going to explore a few odds and ends. We have concentrated on breath and body awareness, awareness and equanimity. Learned to calm and ground ourselves. Today we’re going to have a little fun and play with the space of awareness. We’re going send our awareness into our bodies and then send it out into space and then back in again. All in a super relaxed way. Let’s explore it together. Enjoy the meditation!
Transcript
Well,
Welcome to session 26 of our 30-session Introduction to Meditation course.
And so far,
Over the last 25 sessions,
We've covered pretty much all the foundational skills of meditation.
In our last five sessions,
We're going to explore just a few odds and ends.
We,
In the beginning,
Concentrated a lot on breath,
Body awareness,
Awareness itself,
And then equanimity.
And those are really the primary pillars of meditation.
And first and foremost,
And to what we were just talking about,
Learning how to use our skills and resources to calm and ground ourselves when things get a little tense.
Now,
Tonight,
We're going to have a little fun and play with this idea of space.
The space inside us and then the space outside us.
We're going to practice sending our awareness from our body out into the room in which we sit and then back in again,
And all in a super relaxed way.
I think it should be pretty fun.
Now,
Before we start,
Though,
I did want to take a moment to just recognize how unprecedented the times in which we live are.
And start by just acknowledging that,
And that when we do start to feel wobbly or stretched or anxious or whatever these feelings are,
They're real,
And we need to pay attention to them because if we don't,
They can kind of internalize and maybe even make us sick.
Humans in general crave stability and predictability.
And we don't like so much uncertainty and change.
Change brings two things with it,
Always comes along with change.
One is grief over what's been lost,
And anxiety over what's coming next and uncertainty around that.
This morning as I was walking up to the middle of town for our morning meditation group,
I saw a mom pushing her son in a stroller on their way to daycare.
And he was quite upset because as I overheard,
Because I was walking next to them,
He's no longer wearing diapers.
And he was really concerned that he might have an accident at daycare or not being familiar with the whole process of going to the bathroom in a new place,
He wouldn't know what to do.
And his mom did a super good job of helping him feel okay with this uncertainty.
So whether this change brings loss through losing a partner,
A beloved one,
A change in the environment,
A change in our situation,
It always brings grief.
Grief of loss of what we knew,
What we held dear,
What we felt we could rely on.
Anxiety over an uncertain future.
Change brings this huge range of emotions,
Feelings,
And thoughts,
All of which we feel in our bodies,
Real things happen to our bodies.
Our blood pressure increases,
Our heart rate increases,
And our adrenaline and cortisol increase.
And we really do feel these things,
They can actually make us sick if we don't have some resources to help us moderate this stuff.
And meditation,
As we're learning,
Gives us some resources.
It's not a panacea,
It's not going to fix it,
But it's going to help us be aware of what's going on,
To see what's happening inside our bodies,
And giving us this space to be with it,
Not judge it,
Not criticize ourselves for having these feelings,
For somehow feeling inadequate because we feel upset,
Simply to be aware,
To return to our breath,
And to use these skillful means that we have to manage turbulent times and take care of ourselves.
Like a mother taking care of the child,
You can be your own parent and give yourself some loving kindness as we learned over the last few sessions.
Now our format for tonight is going to be a little different,
And that will continue through the next few sessions.
Tonight our third period will be quite a bit shorter,
Because I want to focus the next few sessions on giving you some concrete,
Real techniques or resources or skills that you can use during the week on your own.
You've heard me say this over and over again,
One of my greatest aspirations is that the things you learn in our group,
You're able to take back into the week on your own and internalize them and use them when you need to,
And even if you're able to build a regular sustainable daily practice that you can then build on.
So what we're going to practice today really takes about five or six minutes,
And it's something that you can use as a go-to when you need it.
And that's going to be the end of our opening comments.
So just take a moment,
If you would,
To double check that your different devices are in Do Not Disturb so you can enjoy meditation without interruption.
And let's go ahead and begin.
Enjoy the session.
Coming now to sit.
Entering into our meditation.
Setting your intention to be here,
Present and alert.
Finding your way into your favorite meditation posture.
Sitting as tall as you can with the least amount of effort.
Back straight,
Upright,
Aligned.
Body relaxed,
Surrendered to gravity.
Resilient in the balance between effort and ease.
And begin with three deep calming breaths.
Breathing in through your nose and gently exhaling through your mouth.
And as you exhale,
Letting the cares and worries of the day fall away,
Setting them aside.
Softening your forehead,
Eyes,
Cheeks,
Jaw,
Mouth,
And shoulders,
Arms,
And hands.
Belly,
Groin,
Legs,
And feet.
Feeling the points of contact between your body and the surface that supports you.
Feeling your breath as it passes in and out of your body.
Just resting here for a bit with your breath.
Enjoying the sensations of breathing in and out.
Enjoying the short pause between the in-breath and the out-breath.
And remembering that if and when your mind wanders,
Which it will,
Because that's just what minds like to do.
Notice that your mind wandered without judgment or criticism.
Smile for noticing.
And then gently escort your attention back to your breath and simply begin again.
Now expand your sense of awareness outwards just a little bit.
See if you can hover your attention over the whole of your body.
It's almost as if you're observing yourself from outside.
Seeing your body as this container of sensations,
Feelings,
Emotions,
Perceptions,
Thoughts.
Notice the space your body occupies.
All the while,
Connected to the feeling of your breath coming in,
Going out,
And your sense of your body as it sits here.
Now expand out a little further.
To the sensation of space all around you.
Of the volume in the room in which you sit.
All the sounds.
The creaks and rustles of your home as it breathes.
The distant sound of traffic.
People walking outside.
Allowing your awareness to come back into your body and then expand back out.
Exploring the whole room.
Where the windows are.
Where the doors are.
And stay with this on your own for a bit,
Anchored in your breath.
It does take some active concentration.
So when your mind wanders,
Smile,
Return to breath,
And let your awareness float around the room.
Good.
We're doing this kind of cool thing with our awareness.
We're noticing sound and space in us and around us.
And we're still connected to our body with our breath.
Our body and breath is kind of an anchor.
A home base.
It helps to let yourself get really,
Really still.
Feeling this sense of space inside and outside.
See if you can feel it as a continuous space.
Where there might not be any separation in your awareness between what's inside and what's outside.
It's just one large whole.
Complete.
Space is everywhere.
Extending through your body.
And what's really cool about this,
This wide open sense of space,
It's your awareness.
You are bigger than just your body.
See if you can stay with this for a bit.
Another minute or so.
Good.
Now take a deliberate big breath in and blow it out through your mouth.
Notice how the body settles on the exhale.
Notice the comforting weight of your body on the ground.
Being home in your body.
Rest here for a bit.
Just drifting with your breath.
I know I am breathing in.
I know I am breathing in.
Breathing out.
I know I am breathing out.
Over time,
As we develop our meditation practice,
It helps us to find more space.
And we learn to live in this larger space.
As we do,
We feel safer,
More relaxed,
And more connected.
Our challenges seem more manageable.
It's really a beautiful training.
Slowly,
Gradually,
Beginning to emerge from your meditation.
Relaxing and releasing your meditation posture.
Wiggling your toes and your fingers.
Rolling your wrists and your ankles.
Rubbing your legs.
And as you do that,
Rocking side to side,
Bringing a little bit of motion back into your body.
And taking a deep breath in and stretching your arms up high in a nice big stretch.
And as you lower your arms,
Letting out a sigh.
Rubbing your face,
Your forehead,
Your eyes,
Cheeks,
Jaw,
Nose,
And mouth.
And breathing in,
Opening your eyes into your hands.
And as you breathe out,
Slowly lowering your hands,
Returning your awareness to the room around you.
Now for the next few minutes,
I'd like to share with you all something that I think is an easy technique that you can use at home.
And I call it the 10-10-10,
Or 3-10.
So it's that same three-part format where we sit silently,
And then chant,
And then sit silently.
And the 10-10-10 is that on your own,
At your own pace,
Breathing in 10 times,
Sitting silently.
And then breathing in and chanting as long as you can comfortably.
And then breathing in and chanting on your own comfortably 10 times.
And then sitting with your breath silently for 10 breaths.
And depending on how fast or slow,
This takes about five to six minutes.
So let's do it together.
And when we get to the chanting part,
It's almost as if you're chanting under your breath quietly.
You're not trying to match my tone,
My breath.
So just you'll hear me,
Of course,
But just go ahead and do it on your own.
Again,
10 breaths silent,
10 breaths chanting,
And 10 breaths silent.
And then I'll ring the bell again,
And then we can say goodbye.
This is something that I think you can do at home anytime.
Takes about five minutes,
And it's easy to learn.
Finding your posture.
Finding your breath.
10 breaths.
10 breaths.
10 breaths.
Namo myoho renge kyo,
Namo myoho renge kyo,
Namo myoho renge kyo.
Namo myoho renge kyo,
Namo myoho renge kyo,
Namo myoho renge kyo,
Namo myoho renge kyo.
