Right-Brain Meditation - With Birdsong

A six-minute introduction to right-brain/left-brain differences, followed by a guided right-brain meditation commentary. The second in a series of right-brain meditations. Recorded live with minor editing. Some background noise, including birdsong.

Transcript

This is based on my understanding and reading of the master and his emissary by Ian McGilchrist.

And the idea is that it used to be thought the left brain and the right brain did different things,

But then it was discovered that actually it would be quite hard to find anything that only one hemisphere of the brain would do and the other half wouldn't do at all.

So the idea of the differences,

Of significant differences between left and right brain became a bit unfashionable in neuroscience,

In brain research.

The argument Ian McGilchrist puts across is that although both half of the brains do most things,

They do them in different ways,

They have a different view of the world.

They're kind of like two different personalities.

And the left brain likes to think of things in an abstract way.

It likes to grasp things.

So if we go to grasp things,

We go usually with our right hand because that's controlled by the left brain.

And so it likes to analyse,

Abstract,

Grasp,

Manipulate.

It likes certainty,

Absolutes.

It's more interested in knowledge than wisdom.

And whereas the right brain is more interested in vagueness,

Not black and white absolutes,

In looking at the whole picture of context and relationship and about the actual lived experience of the world and being embodied,

Connected to the body.

So these are the contrasting ways of approaching the body and the world generally.

Philosophically,

A left brain philosophy would be materialism.

This is my opinions now,

Not Ian McGilchrist's.

The only thing we know for sure is our experience,

That we're having an experience right now.

The left brain materialist would then come up with this conception,

This abstract conception that there is something outside of experience,

Something that we can never experience and know directly because it is by definition outside of experience.

And this is the abstract concept of matter,

That there's this stuff that's non-experiential.

And then come up with a theory that that concept of something outside of experience somehow then creates our experience.

So that's materialism.

The right brain philosophy would be that the thing that we know for sure,

Experience,

That is the most important thing,

That is the foundation of reality and of ourselves.

And everything that we experience,

Including the experience of physicality,

Is just that,

An experience of.

So it's fundamentally still at heart,

Just an experience.

Then if we move on to meditation and then I'll do a commentary.

The left brain approach to meditation would be perhaps thinking about things in an abstract way,

Maybe detaching yourself from the body would be maybe,

For example,

Counting the breath or categorising your thoughts,

Be trying to change your breath in a particular way or change your thoughts in a particular way.

These are left brain approaches of abstracting and manipulating.

So the left brain approach to awareness in particular is about concentrating and focusing,

Narrowing down.

So right brain approach to meditation and to awareness is about having an open awareness and seeing the whole picture and experiencing living relationships.

Left brain deals with the non-living,

The right brain with the living.

But the brain categorises music and food as living.

So that's in the right brain.

So a right brain meditation would be about being embodied,

Because that's the right brain likes to be embodied rather than abstract.

So it's about being embodied.

It's about being in the spacious present,

So the present moment as we experience it,

Whereas the left brain approach to time would be time as being an abstract thing.

So the present moment in a left brain view of the world is an infinitesimal tiny slice of time that has no duration.

The equivalent in space would be an infinitesimal point.

So an infinitesimal point in time.

That's the present moment.

So it's kind of almost nothing.

But a right brain approach to the present moment is the spacious present that you're experiencing right now,

Which is the spacious present within which all your experiences happen,

Where we can experience the continuous flow of music,

For example.

And all our experience of the past and the future happens within this spacious present.

Right brain meditation,

Open awareness,

Looking at the whole aliveness,

The flow of the spacious present.

So I'd like to invite you to join me for a right brain meditation rather than the left brain one.

So for me mindfulness is a good example,

Or can be a good example of right brain meditation.

It's about awareness and accepting things as they are,

Allowing them to flow.

OK,

So I'll do about 20 minutes commentary,

Putting into practice these ideas of the right brain approach to life and awareness.

I'm going to be aware of my body.

Being embodied is a right brain approach.

So feeling the sensations in my body.

Feeling the weight of my body and how that's being supported.

Feeling all the points of contact with the body,

So that idea of the right brain looking at everything in context and in relationships,

And the body isn't in isolation.

It's always in contact with something.

So being aware of how that feels.

So as much as possible with this commentary,

See if you can feel what we're doing rather than just think about it.

The left brain likes to conceptualise and abstract in thought.

The right brain is all about feeling the direct,

Immediate experience.

So feeling the body,

Feeling everything that's in contact with the body,

In relationship with the body,

Aware of the immediate context of your body.

So the context of the body isn't just what you can feel,

But there's all the other senses of the body.

So being aware of what you can see.

Being aware of the environment within which your body exists.

Having that sense of awareness of the whole.

So looking with the left brain you'd focus on something on an object,

You'd isolate an object and think about the properties or qualities or the name of that object.

Perhaps compare it with another object.

But looking with the right brain,

You're seeing the whole picture,

The whole landscape.

And you are part of that landscape,

Your body,

Your eyes,

Just as much a part of this world as everything that you can see.

So an open awareness rather than a focusing or concentration.

So a relaxed,

Open gaze.

And the other main sense we can experience is the sense of sound.

So again,

Listening with the right brain,

We want to see if we can get a sense of the whole soundscape,

As if all the sounds happening now are one piece of music.

So if you're listening to music with the left brain,

You may isolate one instrument or one voice and focus on that.

You may want to write down the abstract notes of the music.

With the right brain,

You want to listen to the wholeness,

The completeness of the music and experience the flow of the music and the feel,

The emotion,

The experience in the body.

So let's listen to all the sounds that we can hear in our respective environments in that open,

Flowing,

Embodied,

Felt way.

It may help to feel as if you're listening with the whole body.

And again,

Your body,

Your ears are just as much part of this soundscape.

You're not separate from it.

You're within it,

Part of it,

Having a relationship with it.

So the experience of listening is one experience,

One relationship.

With the left brain,

We'd want to divide it into objects,

The listener,

The ears and the sounds out there.

There's two separate things.

With the right brain,

We're having one experience of listening.

So it brings together the listener and the sounds in one experience.

So seeing if we can get a sense now of another level of holistic awareness.

So in a sense,

We've been dividing things up into the senses of the body and sight and sound.

So let's now just allow your awareness to be the space within which all your experiences are happening.

So within your open awareness,

All sounds,

All sensations,

Everything you can see and feel and touch,

And all your thoughts and emotions,

Everything of the mind also,

All happening together,

All joined,

Combined in one indivisible whole of this present moment,

This spacious present.

So not dividing your experience of this moment,

Being aware of the wholeness of it within your open awareness.

We find it quite a natural experience,

The right brain awareness.

The left brain is more into the artificial,

Technological,

Mechanical,

The non-living.

The right brain is about natural nature,

Living things as they are,

As we sense them through the body.

And again,

Letting go of that idea of separation,

That there's me and the world outside me.

Instead,

Just having a sense of there's one experience happening right now.

Everything that I think of as me,

My thoughts,

My body,

My emotions,

These are all just parts of the one experience of this moment.

So allowing my mind and body to be completely integrated and part of the wholeness of this experience,

Of this spacious present moment,

Flowing effortlessly within my open awareness.

Enjoying a feeling of simplicity and naturalness rather than a conceptual complexity.

So that sense of just being rather than doing,

Allowing everything to be as it is rather than trying to change and manipulate things.

So if we become aware of the breath,

Maybe ponder for a while how you may experience the breath in a left brain way and a right brain way.

Just using the breath as an example to explore those two different approaches for a couple of minutes.

I'll share some thoughts on that after a few minutes.

So experiencing the breath with the two personalities of your two halves of your brain.

So the left brain awareness of the breath,

The breath may include conceptual or abstract thoughts about the breath.

It may want to perhaps count the breaths.

It would probably want to approach the breath in isolation.

Single it out,

Separate it from everything else.

Focus,

Concentrate on the breath.

Maybe interested in the mechanics of how the breath works.

You may see a separation between the breather and the breath.

Whereas a right brain awareness of the breath would want to keep the awareness nice and open and experience the breath in relationship to everything else that's still happening within this spacious present moment.

So aware of the breath and still aware of the sounds I can hear,

The feelings and sensations in the body,

And how the experience of the breath blends and combines with all these other things.

And the right brain wouldn't want to change the breath in any way.

The left brain may want to use a method of breathing in this way or that way.

The right brain just allow the breath to breathe as it wants to.

Just welcome the breath as it is,

Not trying to change it in any way.

The right brain would want to really feel the breath,

Feel the breath in the body.

And experience the continual flow of the breath.

Rise and fall the wave of the breath in the body.

The right brain also likes metaphor,

This idea of the breath being like a wave.

And the right brain really interested in the living things,

So experiencing the breath of life,

The breath gives life to the body.

Without the breath,

There would be no life in the body.

And the right brain would probably be experiencing breathing,

The experience,

The act of breathing as one thing,

One experience,

Without the need to split and divide into objects of the breather and the breath.

So more interested in verbs and adjectives than nouns.

So including the breath amongst all the other things that you can be aware of within this spacious present.

Experiencing the flow of change,

The left brain really likes things to be static.

The right brain very happy with this idea of flow and constant change.

So see if you can allow your attention to wander freely within this spacious present amongst all these experiences that are happening together in this moment.

So that can go with the desire for control of the left brain and just notice where your attention goes,

Allowing it to wander freely,

Naturally.

The more we practice and activate this right brain approach,

And I think in my experience there do seem to be less thoughts,

As we fill our awareness with perception and experience and the body and the wholeness and continual flow of experience.

And we live in the spacious present and there does seem to be less need for thoughts,

Thoughts that are often conceptual and abstract,

Ifs and maybes and possibilities and calculations and concerns.

There is a separation that comes from a left brain approach and I think a lot of our thoughts arise from that feeling of separation,

Of difference.

That's when we feel part whole and integrated with everything that's happening.

I think that takes away a lot of the usual impetus for thoughts,

That running commentary of the mind.

But both halves of the brain do everything,

So maybe the right brain has different quality of thoughts,

Maybe more insight,

Wisdom,

Inspiration,

Creativity,

Intuition.

Okay,

So a couple more minutes.

Just enjoying,

Relaxing into the spacious present,

Just allowing yourself just to be as you are,

Completely part of this present moment.

Natural effortless awareness.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Reviews

Fascinating talk, wonderful way to think about forms and experiences of mediation - and a lovely meditation. Thank you.

A wonderful experience listening to the talk about the right-brain natural characteristics which are very different to the left-brains. Inspiring and learning so much from Stephen‘s talk. I keep wanting to learn more and more.

The right brain sees the world as it is experiencing the natural body and mind conceptual and open self-awareness. The living body and mind experiences in the present moment. The left brain sees the world abstractly and manipulates what it sees in mathematical models. Our body lives by breathing and the mind wanders and thinks all the time hence the right brain is associated with this phenomenon. Right- brain wins the argument vs the left-brain all day long in my books🎉🧠🤔👌🏻

The meditation was beautifully guided by Stephen, which adds super qualities to the mindfulness experience. It made my conscious state very real and got close to myself listening to the clear details where my right brain was in sync with my environment, feelings, emotions, touch and sounds. Wonderful space and listening to the bird songs in the background created a very relaxed 😌 body and mind of mine👌🏻✨🙏🏻 - Thank you, Stephen 🙏🏻

Very interesting information about the brain. Lovely meditation 🧘‍♀️thank you 🙏