The Mindful Yogi

Using simple and effective techniques of mindfulness, experience the union of sound and silence, form and emptiness, movement and stillness, time and timelessness, the limited and the unlimited, the present and the eternal, the mundane and the ineffable. (Improved audio quality - March 2021.)

Transcript

We'll be using different ways to allow ourselves to settle into an awareness of the present moment so I'll describe the process I go through and you can use that if you choose as a guide or suggestions so that we can all gently come into the present moment together so first of all I'm becoming aware of the body I'm feeling the contact with the chair and my feet on the floor I'm feeling the contact of clothing against my skin feeling beginnings of a light headache and a slightly dry throat I'm noticing my breath is quite shallow and quite high in the chest I'm going to resist the temptation to change the breath into something more meditative and instead just become more aware of the breath and just see if it gradually changes on its own I'm going to allow the breath into the body and have that feeling of really letting go of the breath with each out breath and with the in breath I'm going to allow myself to become more present in the body and with the out breath I'm going to see if I can let go and release any tension in the body particularly around the shoulders and around this time in a meditation I may notice my mind drift away on some stream of thoughts so rather than trying to pull my attention away from that back into the body I'll take that opportunity to become more aware of my thoughts realising that I can only think in the present moment so I'll be present with my thoughts it's a good time to remind myself to really keep my awareness nice and open and light and not seek to focus or concentrate especially if it's my own thoughts that I'm being present with I don't want to create any extra tension in the mind but instead encourage a feeling of openness and ease and lightness in the mind so getting a sense of the thoughts flowing freely through the open space of my mind and awareness and bringing together the awareness of my thoughts and my breath so I can stay connected with the body and connected to the present moment via the breath whilst I simultaneously allow my thoughts to flow so let's spend a few moments just really allowing ourselves to settle into the body,

Into the breath allowing our thoughts to flow freely through an open awareness and enjoy the simplicity of connecting to this present moment just as I find it however I happen to be feeling,

Accepting myself in this moment just as it is seeing if I can let go of having any expectations as to what I should be experiencing and instead just encouraging this welcoming,

Accepting,

Open awareness so whatever's happening in my internal and external environment can just be as it is so beginning to get this really nice sense of being able to hold the experience of this present moment gently within an open awareness so keeping in touch with the body and the breath the body and the breath are always present,

Always in the here and now using that as my base,

My foundation to stay connected with the present moment and from there I can just allow my thoughts to go anywhere not seeking to control or change my thoughts in any way as well as not having expectation,

Really developing a sense of patience knowing that it takes time for the body to calm down,

For the thoughts to slow down so no sense of trying to get anywhere or making anything happen being with everything just as it is,

Moment to moment so next I'm going to pay more attention,

Have more interest in all the sounds that I can hear in the present moment so active,

Alert,

Listening this is a really nice opportunity to allow your awareness to be really broad and wide and open as I listen out for any and all sounds however loud or quiet,

Near or far,

Occasional or continuous so for the next few moments really explore for yourself the environment of sound that you find yourself in right now and appreciating that the unique blend of sounds in each moment,

No two moments will sound exactly the same so being open to and enjoying the newness of each moment of the sounds in your environment so and after a while of paying close attention to sounds,

Really listening carefully with attention,

With interest and alertness seeing if you can get a sense of being able to listen to quietness,

Silence this doesn't need there to be an absence of sounds because it's getting a sense of a silence that is always there between and behind all the different sounds so getting a sense of a quiet,

Silent space within which all sounds come and go so bringing together within our awareness,

Silence and sound and in a similar way,

You can experience all the things,

All the objects around us the body,

The room,

The other things in the room,

Whatever is around you in your environment all these things,

All these structures all exist within space so we can bring together objects or form with space,

So form and emptiness so just like silence and sound,

Sounds coming and going within the space of silence being aware of the forms of this present moment existing within a space of emptiness silence and sound,

Emptiness and form silence beginning to become aware of changes,

Process of change from moment to moment my thoughts change,

My breath changes,

Sensations in the body may change,

Sounds change whatever the form of change,

Just get a sense of this moment by moment change happening in the environment and in myself and then seeing if I can experience these changes happening within a changeless space another way to describe this would be getting a sense of the passing of time and experiencing that passing of time happening within a timeless space silence try not to fall into the trap of trying to experience timelessness or trying to experience emptiness or silence these experiences can arise naturally on their own if we just pay full attention with an open awareness two sounds,

Two form,

Two change all of these things happen within this one space,

The space of our awareness which just happens to be silent,

Empty and timeless if we gently hold this present moment within our awareness,

Without trying to change anything at all,

Without trying to achieve or experience anything at all just being with the moment as it is and maybe these qualities,

These experiences of the space of awareness,

The silence,

The emptiness,

The timelessness maybe they'll begin to creep into our experience,

Into our awareness I'll leave a few minutes without commentary so each of us can just explore and be with our own inner and outer environment just keeping your awareness nice and light and open silence silence silence silence silence silence so just a few more moments before we finish,

Just acknowledging and appreciating that wherever there is sound there is also silence wherever there is movement there is always also stillness wherever there is the passing of time there is also the eternal,

The timeless whatever my experience in this moment there is always my empty awareness within which everything takes place silence this whole experience is nothing more than echoes of my empty awareness silence okay so we can begin to bring the meditation to a close now