Right-Brain Meditation - Talk

Talk followed by a guided commentary on the difference between how the right-brain and the left-brain approach the world and meditation. Recorded live with minimal editing and some background noise. Based loosely on my impressions of The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist.

Transcript

So I'm reading a book by Ian McGilchrist called The Master and His Emissary and it's about the left brain and the right brain and its thesis is that people used to think that the left brain did some types of things, Activities, And the right brain did some other types of things but then as research developed it was kind of discovered that it would be hard to pinpoint any one activity that just one half of the brain did. The brain was so integrated and the hemispheres, The two halves of the brain, Worked together so much that it became a bit unfashionable to talk about the left brain doing this and the right brain doing that. For this Ian McGilchrist has reviewed a lot of the neuroscience research and has put forward the idea that although both half of the brain do just about everything they do these things in different ways, So rather than different activities, Different approaches of the brain and he describes it as really like different world views that the left brain looks at the world and interacts with the world in a different way to how the right brain does. Some of the points he made struck me as making me think of different ways that you can meditate. So one of these activities that both parts of the brain is involved in could be meditation but is there a left brain way of meditating and the right brain way? So I'm going to describe a left brain approach first and then a right brain approach and then do a commentary which will be, From my understanding anyway, A right brain approach. So a left brain approach to things is particularly in terms of like awareness and attention. The left brain focuses and concentrates and it abstracts and is interested in non-living things, So abstract things, And it likes to categorise, Whereas the right brain is more about holistic awareness, So looking at the whole picture, Looking at relationships, Looking at how things fit together. It's much more comfortable with ambiguity, The left brain likes certainty, And it's about the embodied experience, It's about living things rather than abstract things. Obviously he's not saying that one's better than the other. What he is saying, And this is later in the book that Hamlet got to, Is he feels like society, Particularly sort of Western society as a whole, Has become imbalanced to the left. So we're too disconnected from the body and we're too stuck on wanting things to be certain, We're too stuck on abstracting things, And we're too utilitarian, So we value less and less the arts and music and poetry, The things of the right brain, And science is the new religion. Well, He says science can be both and should be both, But it's become quite left-brained. To tie in with my other sessions on mindfulness and metaphysics, I think materialism is a very left-brained philosophy and idealism is a much more right-brained philosophy, But the right brain also, This ties in with the type of meditation, Is about newness, Is about experiencing things new and fresh, Whereas the left brain deals with things when they become repetitive and not new, Mundane and repetitive. So, And here's the title of the book, Master and his Emissary, His argument is that the right brain should be the master and the left brain should do tasks, Should perform functions, But under the guidance and the overall vision of the right brain, Because the right brain can, Acknowledges and accepts the left brain, But the left brain likes to think it's the only thing that wants to ignore the right brain. So in terms of meditation, Then a left-brain meditation would be perhaps going for an abstract experience, A disembodied experience, A very detached experience, Whereas a right-brain meditation would be more about really feeling the body and being present in the world. A left-brain meditation may be about concentrating and focusing, Whereas the right-brain approach would be about having very open awareness, Accepting everything as it is within your awareness, Not analysing. Left brain is also about manipulation, Grasping, Changing things. Right brain is about accepting things as they are. So I don't know if you get a flavour there of the different approaches of the left brain and the right brain and how that might apply to meditation. So another example for a breath meditation, A left-brain meditation could be where you're counting the breath, So it's quite a cerebral mental process, You're abstracting the experience of the breath into counting and using that as a way of concentrating and focusing, Whereas the right brain would be more about really feeling the breath in the body, Really embodying the experience of the breath, And about experiencing the breath within the context of where you are. So it's not the breath isn't just something that happens to the body, The breath is a very good example of how completely dependent the body is on the world around you. So the breath is an interplay, An interaction. What I'll do is I'll do a commentary and maybe a few other thoughts of the difference might occur to me as I'm doing the commentary. Okay, So I'm going to do a commentary for about 20 minutes and the idea is it will be a right brain approach, So it'd be the idea of an open awareness rather than concentration, About embodied feeling rather than abstract, And about accepting things as they are rather than trying to change them. So a left brain meditation would be like positive thinking, Like I'm going to change my thoughts, I'm going to make myself think positively, Whereas a right brain meditation would be I'm just going to allow my thoughts to be as they are and be aware of them within the context of everything else at the moment. I'm going to take a few deep breaths in to start with, Just to create a little break and a pause from talking. So as you may want to join in and take a few deeper breaths, So that's a good opportunity to really start experiencing this idea of really being embodied in our meditation, Really feeling the breath in the body as you take that breath in, Bringing your awareness into the body and feel the aliveness of the body, The presence and the aliveness. So rather than thinking about the body or concentrating on one part of the body and then another, Or analysing the body in any way, See if you can really live the body, Feel the body. So not feeling any separation between the idea of self and the idea of body, Being the embodied self. And using the breath to really help that transition and that experience, Really feeling the breath enter the body, Feeling yourself enter the body, Become one with the body. And of course to do that we need to be completely present because that's exactly where the body always is, It's always right here and now, It can never be elsewhere, Although sometimes with our mind we can abstract ourselves away from the present moment. So by bringing the awareness into the body with the breath, We're bringing ourselves back into the present moment where the body always is. Now remember the right brain is perfectly happy to accept and integrate all the activities of the left brain, It doesn't want to exclude the left brain. So if there is any left brain activity going on, Abstract thoughts, Analysis, Attempts to focus, Concentrate, Any left brain activity, Then the right brain is perfectly happy just to allow and accept that, That's just another experience it can be aware of. So within this open holistic right brain awareness, There's the body, The lived breathing body, The living body and there's thoughts going on as well and that's absolutely fine, Both are happening in this moment. So I'm an embodied and thinking being. The left brain may want to deny or ignore the embodied experience and just be within the the world of abstract thoughts, But the right brain can accept both quite naturally. The right brain knows how useful thought can be and knows it's most useful when it's connected and embodied and in the present moment. So let's just check we're being aware of the whole picture of this present moment. So we started off with the body and the breath, A good way to really bring ourselves into the present moment, Feel ourselves in the body. Unlike the left brain that likes to treat things in separation and isolation and in abstract, The right brain knows and experiences the body as being very dependent, Interdependent and connected with its environment, It knows the body can't exist on its own. So be aware of the environment within which you find your body right now. We can notice how the body is in contact with its environment through the skin, So feeling all those connections, Those points of contact across the whole body. And we can feel the weight of the whole body and the right brain can be aware that this is a feeling of a relationship with the earth, Between the body and the earth. It's the mass of the earth pulling the mass of the body towards the earth and that's the feeling of weight that results from that relationship and that connection. So experiencing the weight of the body in this way is a manifestation of a living, Continuous, Ever-changing relationship between the body and the earth. There's nothing you can experience in the body that originates and ends just within the body. Everything is an interaction and a dependency on its environment. So when we think of the environment, From a left brain point of view, There would be this idea of separation. There's the body and there's the outside world. These are separate, Independent things. But with the right brain, It's more likely to experience the between-ness, The relationship, The combination. So for example, The senses, We can hear sounds, We can sense contact, We can see. And it's the senses where the body and the world come together in one experience. The sensory experiences, Sensory inputs are the experience of the togetherness of the body and the world. The left brain likes static things, Likes the certainty and the abstract and the static. They're still timeless. The sense of being outside of time in an abstract way, Like maths, Is timeless. But the right brain is very comfortable dealing with vagueness and change and flow, Nothing ever being the same moment to moment, Constant change. So getting a sense of the body and the environment in this present moment, Constantly changing from moment to moment, Never the same. New sounds, New sensations, New thoughts, A new breath. And not analyzing or focusing on one change or another, But just experiencing all these changes, A wholeness of this flow of change happening within an open awareness. So the left brain wants to grasp and manipulate, The right brain wants to hold, Observe, Allow and welcome, And welcome everything, The wholeness of the experience. The left brain wants to be separate, Detached and neutral, A view from nowhere. But the right brain knows it's very much part of the environment, Integral, Inseparable, And partial and subjective. And the left brain is about following a method, A pattern, Rigidity. The right brain is more about approaching things creatively, With an open mind, Just seeing things, How things are and how they change, Without a fixed goal or expectation. So not having any goal or expectation for the meditation or any experience you're trying to get to, Not trying to change your experience in any way. That feeling of naturalness, Organic wholeness, Embodied, Things as they are. So the left brain is more about doing, Manipulating, The right brain is going to be more at home with this idea of being, Of just being with things as they are and being part of things, Being part of the whole. It doesn't need to be over and above or separate. The right brain is perfectly happy to be part of the picture, Just as your body is just part of the environment. So the right brain doesn't strive to achieve, But it's free to play within the world, To flow and interact. So if you're feeling the aliveness of your body right now, And you're feeling your body within the environment that's around you, You're experiencing yourself to be part of this whole moment, And you're feeling the flow of change. And this is an example of experiencing a right brain meditation. And you have no desire or aim to change anything that's happening right now. You're allowing everything to happen within your open awareness. I'll just share a few other thoughts of the right and left brain as we continue to be with the body in this moment. So the left brain is perhaps best known for being the main place for language, But language in the way of abstracting from experience. Whereas the right brain is essential in language for metaphor, For humour, Context and poetry. The left brain deals with the non-living, The right brain with the living. So as we are listening to the sounds of our environment now, The left brain may want to name and label and focus on one sound or another. Whereas with the right brain we can listen to the wholeness of all the sounds, A natural music, A continuous flow of rhythm, A melody in the sounds of our environment. So finally, The final idea is the left brain looks at reality as created by matter, Which is an abstract idea, And believes reality can be fully described with maths and physics, With measurements. But the right brain sees reality as composed entirely of experience, Of experiences and interactions happening within awareness, A living non-abstract thing. So the left brain quantities, The right brain qualities. The left brain description, The right brain experience. Okay, So final few moments, Couple more minutes. Without further commentary, Just allow yourself to become part of this moment and just allow everything to be as it is, All experiences just as they are flowing within your open awareness. So if we finish off as we started feeling the breath in the body, Feeling the aliveness and presence of the body. Thank you all very much for joining me.

Reviews

Loved this talk. It makes perfect sense. It helps me to understand left brain dominant personalities much more easily. Never understood quantity over quality when it related to one’s goal in life.
Things over people.
Thank you, for this truly excellent experience 🌷

Very nice, thank you!

My experience was so nice and light especially when listening to the detailed commentary from Stephen. The flow of my thoughts was so good and found it easy to allow, acknowledge and let go of them. My breathing helped me to establish a strong anchor in the here and now state. I was very relaxed 😌 - it felt so beautiful.

The talk was superb, - the Free Will experiments proofed that Free Will does occur and was proven in this meditation - excellent results and commentary - thank you 🙏🏻♥️🧘‍♂️