Please make yourself comfortable.
You can sit upright,
Lie down or rest in a chair.
Let your hands rest naturally.
Gently close your eyes or soften your gaze.
Take a slow breath in and a long unforced breath out.
Again,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Let the breath be natural now and simply notice that you are breathing.
There's no need to control it.
Just feel the gentle rhythm.
Rising.
If the mind wanders,
That's okay.
Gently return to the breath.
Nothing to force,
Nothing to fix.
Simply knowing.
I'm breathing in,
I'm breathing out.
Now gently widen your awareness to include the body.
Feel the weight of your body.
The contact with the chair,
The floor or the bed.
Notice any areas of discomfort,
Tension or pain.
Just allow what's already present to reveal itself.
If nothing strong is present,
That's fine.
You can work with subtle sensations.
If there is pain,
Gently bring your attention toward it.
Not to analyze it,
But to feel it directly.
The Buddha spoke about two arrows of sensation.
The first arrow relates to the physical pain or suffering that we encounter.
This is a lived experience and one that no one can avoid.
The second arrow,
However,
Relates to the mental suffering,
Which we will explore as we go along in the meditation.
For now,
Though,
As you come into contact with the physical pain or sensation,
Silently note.
First arrow.
This is the raw experience.
You may experience it as pressure,
Heat,
Tightness,
Throbbing or aching.
Let yourself feel it just as a sensation.
Stay close to the direct experience in the body.
Is it steady or changing?
Sharp or dull?
Localized or spreading?
Let curiosity replace resistance.
Simply feel the raw experience.
See if you can make space for the sensation.
Not shrinking around it.
But letting it be held in awareness.
You might imagine the breath gently surrounding the area.
Breathing in,
Aware of the sensation.
Breathing out,
Softening any resistance.
Now notice the following carefully.
There is the physical sensation itself.
And then there's the mind's reaction to it.
I don't like this.
This shouldn't be happening.
When will it stop?
This reaction is what the Buddha called the second arrow.
With the second arrow,
Emotions follow contact with these sensations.
You may notice a reaction of frustration,
Fear or irritation.
When you notice this,
Gently label second arrow.
But don't make a judgment about it.
Don't try to push it away.
And don't make it into a personal failure.
Just recognize this is the mind adding something extra.
This is important as we often add on a story to the pain.
The first arrow is the body.
The second arrow is the struggle.
See if you can gently separate the two.
Let the sensations be there.
But soften the resistance.
You don't have to like it.
But you also don't have to fight it.
So where you can,
Stop feeding any story about or around the pain.
You don't need to argue with thoughts.
Just don't continue them.
Let them pass.
Like clouds moving through the sky.
And at whatever point in the meditation,
You notice a second arrow forming.
Wherever you see the mental layering start up.
This is terrible.
I don't want this.
Whatever comes up in the mind,
Within the emotional reaction,
Silently label it.
Second arrow.
No judgment.
Just recognition.
This practice is not about suppressing emotions.
Or pretending things don't hurt.
And neither is it about tolerating harmful situations.
Or causing yourself to add physical injury.
So you have to be sensible.
You have to know what you can tolerate.
What you can bear with.
But what we're trying to do is to see clearly what we're adding on top of reality.
So if you can,
Let the sensation be exactly as it is.
No pushing away.
No tightening against it.
As if you're making space around it.
Or even within it.
Let it move if it moves.
Let it change if it changes.
And just see what happens when you stop interfering.
Rest in simple knowing.
Sensations arising.
Sensations passing.
The breath moving.
No need to interfere.
Unpleasant sensations may still be present.
But notice if it feels any different without the extra layer.
More fluid.
More workable.
Less overwhelming.
Just resting in awareness.
You're not becoming numb to the feeling of pain.
You're becoming less entangled.
And now gently bring your attention back to the whole body.
Feel the contact with the surface beneath you.
Notice the breath again.
Take a slightly deeper breath in.
And a long breath out.
If your eyes are closed,
Slowly open them.
And take a moment before moving.
As you go about your day,
Remember.
Pain may still arise.
This is the first arrow.
But mental suffering is shaped by how we relate to it.
And it is something you can learn to release.
You're learning to feel directly only the basic sensation.
To soften resistance.
And to rest as awareness itself.
This is the path of freedom.
Even within discomfort.
So may you be free from all mental suffering.
