Hello friends and thank you for continuing the path of developing your meditation practice as we continue reading the mindfulness meditation instructions from the Refuge Recovery book written by Noah Levine.
We're picking up on part two,
The breath and the body.
That's on,
Can be found on page 193 of the Refuge Recovery book.
Beginning the same way you did in the first meditation,
Finding a comfortable place to sit,
Closing the eyes and relaxing the body,
Bringing attention to the sensations of the breath.
Continue redirecting the attention to the breath each time it wanders.
Continue to be as friendly and kind as possible to your mind's tendency to wander.
After about 10 minutes of focusing the attention on the breath,
Begin to expand the attention to the whole body.
Bring your attention to your posture,
Feel the pressure of your body on the cushion or the chair,
Feel the contact points of your hands touching your legs or resting in your lap.
Direct the attention to the sensations in the body of sitting with the foundation of a present time awareness as established by the continual returning of the attention to the breath and body.
You can now allow the attention to expand to include all of the sense doors.
Begin with the awareness of hearing when you become aware of a sound.
Simply pay attention to the experience of hearing,
The bare experience of sound being received by the eardrum.
Although the mind wants to instantly name the object being heard,
The direct experience is just variations of sound.
Using memory and conditioning,
The mind immediately tries to label the sound as a car passing by or the wind in the trees or the refrigerator turning on.
In this level of practice,
Try to see the difference between the direct experience of sound and the mind's conditioned labeling of the experience.
Keep it simple.
It is just hearing.
Then begin to expand your attention to seeing,
Tasting,
And smelling in the same way.
Just seeing and the direct experience of what's being seen,
Color,
Shape,
Form,
And so on.
Just taste.
Just smell.
Notice how quickly the mind names and classifies things based on memory.
This level of mindfulness allows us to see how the mind is constantly trying to sort and name experiences based on memory,
Rarely allowing for new or fresh perspectives.
When the attention gets drawn back into thinking,
Simply return it to the breath.
Then continue to extend mindfulness to the direct moment-to-moment sensory experience of the whole body.
Allow the attention to be drawn to whatever experience in the body is predominant.
When sounds arise,
Know them as hearing.
When visions arise,
Know them as seeing.
Don't settle for the mind's labels and conventions.
Experience each moment as if it were the first sensation of its kind ever.
Bring childlike interest and curiosity to your present time experience.
What does this moment feel like?
What is the temperature,
Texture,
Or pressure of this sensory experience?
Continue to connect the attention with the felt sense of the breath and the body.
Begin refining the attention to the moment-to-moment flux of sensations.
Investigate the constantly changing nature of each experience.
With clear comprehension,
Receive the transient phenomena with non-judgmental awareness.
Attempt to sustain awareness of the arising and passing of each chosen sensation.
Continue redirecting the attention and reconnecting with the present moment each time the attention is drawn back into the content of the thinking mind.
Attempt to rest in the direct experience of the breath and body,
Relaxing into the present-time awareness of impermanence.
That,
My friends,
Is the end of this read.
We'll be together soon for part 3,
Exploring parts of the body.
Stay well.
