Guided Meditation: Body, Feelings & Mind

This half-hour guided meditation follows traditional Anapanasati contemplations of the body, the feelings, and the mind. (Note: The recording is from a meeting of the Pittsboro Recovery Dharma Meditation Group. The meditation begins a little suddenly as prior comments were edited out.) Periods of silence are part of the recording. Breathe deeply. Be rooted. Enjoy!

Transcript

Make sure your breathing is unobstructed, Hands relaxed in your lap or if you have a mudra or hand position that you use. Just take a minute to do a short scan of your muscles in your face, Your head, Your neck, Shoulders. Take some deep breaths. Feel where your tension lies. With each breath settle more deeply into your posture and let those tensions go. Bring a sense of gratitude to the space around you. The safety it offers you is a place of practice. The expression of gratitude as a spiritual practice. Set an intention in this time, In this place to practice with your breath full awareness of breathing in the company of this small sangha. The Anapanasati Sutra begins this way. I heard these words of the Buddha one time when he was staying in Savatthi. Senior practitioners in the community were instructing those who were new to the practice. Some instructing 10, Some 20, Some 30 and in this way those new to the practice gradually made great progress. That night the moon was full. The Buddha, The awakened one was sitting in the open air and his disciples were gathered around him. After looking over the assembly he began to speak. Friends, Our community is pure and good. Such a community is rare and any pilgrim who seeks it, No matter how far she must travel, Will find it worthy. Friends, The full awareness of breathing if developed and practiced continuously will be rewarding and bring great advantage. And what is the way to develop and practice continuously the method of full awareness of breathing? It is like this. The practitioner goes into the forest or to the foot of a tree or to any quiet place, Sits stably holding his or her body straight. And practice is like this. Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out. Allow a sense of mindfulness to begin to form. Invite it. Welcome it as an old friend. It's been said that this moment is where our greatest chance for happiness lies. And it's only with mindfulness that we can dwell there. Gently bring your awareness to your breath. The breath is the foundation of all that we do, All that we have. Our closest friend and ally, The first thing we do in life and the last. Be grateful for the breath that you have right this moment. Feel the flow of your breath. It's nature. It's length. It's depth. Get to know it. Remember that in meditation your breath does not need to be a certain way. It doesn't need to be deep. It doesn't need to be long. It only needs to be yours. Your breath, Your mindfulness. This moment. And yet as strong as our awareness of our breathing can be, As good and as pure and connected to our lives, As our breathing can be, Breathing is temporary. Breathing is ever-changing. Not just from one breath to the next, But within each breath. Constant motion. Our breathing is not us. My breath, Not me. Let awareness extend to the body. Awareness in one encompassing flow. Encapsulating body, Joining body and breath. Bring your mindfulness down from your mind. Let it suffuse throughout your being. Let it flow through your body. We can be grateful for our bodies through which we live our lives, Through which we love. But like the breath itself, Our bodies are ever-changing. Impermanent. And not ourselves. We look for things that we can hold to as a sense of self, But the body, Nor the breath, Don't hold that solidity that we seek. Ever-changing. Impermanent, Unable to be grasped. We can be grateful for our bodies through which we love. These moments of quiet breathing. They bring a sense of contentment. Present in the moment. Exploring the freedom of non-attachment comfortable in the breath. Contentment, Even a sense of joy can arise. I encourage you to be open to a sense of joy in the moment. It may be simply a small spark down within us. But with time and welcoming practice it can flare up, Billow out. Joyfulness. For just a moment bring the corners of your mouth up into a very slight smile. Find your rudeness again in your posture. Take a joyful breath. You'll find that this fades, All things do. But the sutra in encouraging us to experience contentment and joy gives us a place of stability from which to do the work of insight that comes. We have feelings. And just as joy and meditation rises, We experience it and it falls. All of our feelings do. Joy is just a reactive pattern to the beauty of meditation. No different than irritation. More pleasant. But a reactive pattern, Our feelings come, Our feelings go. A real awareness of the changeability of the five skandhas which form our being. Body, Feelings. A real acceptance that this is the case, That impermanence is real and it's not a bad thing. It just is. And in fact it's a gift, The realization of impermanence. Our bodies change, We grow old, We become sick. Our feelings rise, Some of them are pleasant, Some of them are unpleasant. It's when we cling to them that we suffer. But they are impermanent. What good does our clinging do? Our feelings are not us. They're nothing secure and stable that we can cling to and claim as something that somehow forms our identity in a way that is unchanging. And so when they come we see them rise. We be with them as they express themselves. And with them as they fall, Aware of the entire changing cycle. And from a position of non-attachment we lessen our suffering. Breathing in, Sutra says, I calm my feelings. Breathing out, I calm my feelings. Breathing out, I calm my feelings. And as our attachment to our feelings releases and they begin to fade, They begin to calm. We are better able to use our mind to discern what is right action. What is right effort? Because as our feelings calm, Our awareness of our mind itself deepens. The content of our mind, The nature of our mind is revealed. And we often find difficult things here. It's in our mind where some of our most deeply seated suffering resides. Hurts that we carry, Dreams that we've lost. Fears that we hold. As well as joyful things that we remember. Hopes that we have. Again, The nature of our thoughts is not necessarily the point. But our clinging is. How our version is. And just as the feelings, As the contents of our mind rise, We are aware. We hold our thoughts with compassion, Care, As they exist. And with open hands, We release them as they fall. Over and over. Thought by thought. Each time an expression of our understanding of impermanence, Our practice of non-attachment. And an expression of ourselves as no-self. For our thoughts, Too, Are not us. They change, They move, They come, They go. Their nature today is not their nature yesterday, Nor will it be their nature tomorrow. And as we practice with mindful awareness, Open-handed release, We begin to find places between the thoughts of things to which we cling. Places of calm, Open space. A place where true nature resides. Actual nature. And when we're open enough to experience this place, We can be glad. The sutra says, Breathing in, I gladden my mind. Breathing out, I gladden my mind. As I let things go. Without attachment. Without fear. And in this place, Our concentration grows. And in this place, In this concentrated space, We begin to find liberation from a life of clinging. A life of aversion. And in this place, Our concentration grows. And in this place, Our concentration grows. And in this place, Our concentration grows. And in this place, Our concentration grows. And in this place, Our concentration grows. And in this place, Our concentration grows.

Reviews

This is the best Anapanasati
I have ever practiced
Thank you so much

Wonderful.
Practicing being 'detached observer' is the key to live the life with equanimity. We often get pulled away from this "neutral" position. Thanks for this realization. Namaste 🙏

My emotions are what interrupt my meditation. Thinking about the past. Great practice vto put that down. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏

Deep and cleansing.