Silent, Spacious, Timeless

Using the simple and effective techniques of mindfulness we will go from sound to silence, explore the spaciousness of awareness, and go beyond time to experience the eternal. A natural and sublime experience.

Transcript

And firstly just naturally,

Without any special effort,

Just noticing where you are and what's happening and how you're feeling.

Getting a sense of the body,

A sense of your immediate environment,

Where you are and what's happening around you.

And a sense of what's happening in your mind,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Emotions,

Just acknowledging where you are right now,

Internally as well as externally.

And that sense of allowing yourself,

Your attention,

Your awareness to arrive into this present moment.

Arriving into this space where your body is present,

Into this space where your thoughts are coming and going.

Arriving into this present space where all your feelings and emotions are unfolding.

Connecting to the breath,

Feeling the breath in the body.

Connecting to the present moment,

Through the breath,

Through the body.

Connecting to your environment through the body by feeling all those points of contact,

Of connection with the body.

Just acknowledging that the body is always in the present moment and always literally connected to your environment.

So by just naturally returning our awareness to be with the body,

We can have that familiar experience of being naturally,

Effortlessly present.

As we follow the breath in the body,

We can get that sense of naturally continuing to be in the present.

Just as the breath rises and falls and flows and changes but is always connected to the body and always in the present.

So we can join that flow of change,

That flow of the breath and ride this wave of the ever-changing present moment.

So noticing that actually there's an awful lot that's going on in the present moment.

So many different sensations throughout the body that we could explore.

The energy in the body,

Contact with clothing,

Tension,

Temperature,

The position,

The location of the body,

That feeling of living presence of the body,

So many different things.

And there's the breath and the awareness of the space around the body.

And there's all those different internal experiences that are all also happening right now in this moment.

All the thoughts,

Feelings,

Emotions,

Memories.

So a very rich and diverse place in the present moment.

And all of these things,

None of them staying the same,

All dynamic,

All moving and changing from moment to moment.

Too much for one mind to keep track of.

So let's just allow all of this just to be happening on its own,

Just in the background of our awareness,

Just allowing it to take place.

Let's just pick one thing of the present moment to be more interested in and to draw into the foreground,

A spotlight or a center of our awareness,

Our tensionless attention.

And that will be sounds to begin with,

Let's explore the soundscape around us,

All the different things we can hear.

So being attentive and alert,

Actively listening out for each sound and a variety of sounds.

And for the changing sounds.

So I'll leave a few moments without commentary just so you can really explore for yourself the unique blend of sounds in your environment where you are right now.

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So are there any other sounds maybe that you haven't noticed yet?

Maybe a subtle continuous background sound?

Maybe a quiet,

Very occasional distant sound?

So really exploring with interest,

With alertness,

Checking that you've noticed all the possible sounds.

And see if you can get a sense of holding all the sounds together as one experience within your awareness.

So rather than experiencing all the sounds to be happening somewhere outside of you,

You having to check and track all these different things happening around you.

Instead just relaxing,

Sitting back,

Opening your awareness and just allow the sounds to flow through you,

Within you.

Maybe getting a feeling that really there's just one sound.

Like if you're listening to a piece of music,

It's just one song.

You don't have to analyse and try and pick out all the different aspects.

So sitting back,

Relaxing,

Opening up the awareness and listening to the wholeness of the sound of this moment and just allowing it to flow effortlessly through your open awareness.

So if all the sounds are within your awareness,

If your awareness is that which experiences all sound,

Then your awareness itself must be beyond sound.

Any sound would be within your awareness.

So this space of awareness,

The awareness that is you,

Is completely silent.

The word nirvana means beyond sound.

So this simple experience of your own awareness,

Listening to all sounds,

Is your own experience of nirvana.

So the silence is what's at the core of your being,

The core of yourself,

Of your awareness.

And all the sounds you could possibly hear all happen within this silent space.

So the best way to experience silence is not to try to go beyond sound,

Not to try and ignore sounds,

Not to try and get to silence.

The best way to experience silence is to be silence.

And to be silence is exactly where you are if you attentively listen to all sound.

If you are listening to all sounds,

The only place you can be is beyond sound.

So don't try and get to where you already are.

Just notice what you experience from that place.

From silence you experience sound.

As we notice the sounds changing from moment to moment,

This is just one example of one thing changing.

So not just the sounds are changing from moment to moment,

Your thoughts are changing,

Sensations in your body are changing,

Your breath is changing.

Everything that you can experience is changing in one way or another,

Some more noticeably and more quickly than others.

So let's see if we can now just hold within our awareness this feeling of change.

It could be a changing thought,

A changing breath,

A changing sound.

And see if we can do what we did with the sounds and experience all the changes as one change,

One moment changing,

One whole experience changing,

Rather than exploring and analyzing this bit of change or that bit of change.

So one experience of continuous change of this moment,

Holding that within our awareness,

Allowing this change to flow effortlessly,

Riding that wave of change.

Your own thoughts are just one part of the wholeness of this experience of change.

So if we are aware of all possible change as it happens within our awareness,

Then what can we say about our awareness,

That which experiences all change?

So our awareness,

Our deepest selves must itself be changeless.

The experiencer of change is beyond change.

So as we observe change,

We do so from a position of changelessness.

And time is just a measure of change.

So we are observing all change and the passing of time from a place of changelessness and timelessness,

From a place of eternity.

Eternal being,

No time,

Not a long,

Long time.

So my eternal,

Timeless,

Changeless self,

Changeless,

Open space of my awareness,

Just sits back,

Relaxes and allows all change of this one whole moment to flow continuously.

So again,

Not making any effort to get to where we are already,

Not trying to slow things down or become still or changeless.

But be aware of all change that's already happening in front of you.

And the only place you can do that is where you already are,

Which is that changeless,

Eternal self,

Timeless,

Open space of awareness.

So I'll leave a few minutes without commentary.

So from this natural position of the silence and timelessness of the self,

Observing change,

Listening to sounds,

Just allowing the one whole moment to continuously flow within our open awareness.

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Reviews

Awesome; thank you Loved the journey into spaciousness! 🙏🙏🙏

Eternal Changeless self felt truly sublime✨👌🏻. I was feeling so free and peaceful. The exceptional commentary helped me to get closer to my true self and experienced the beauty of the conscious state. My body was breathed by the breath in a very soft flow. This made me feel peaceful to start a fresh day. This meditation is truly a precious practice and I loved the timelessness, changelessness and heavenly space created by Stephen.
Thank you so much🙏🏻✨♥️