Good morning guys,
Afternoon,
Good evening.
So one of the teachings that you find in a lot of traditions,
In the Buddhist traditions anyway,
It's called the wisdom of no escape.
And basically what we're trying to do,
Almost constantly,
Is trying to escape our experience.
And the reason we practice is that we notice those escape hatches and we stop going down them,
We face what's here.
And don't get me wrong,
I don't think,
I don't know anybody who does this all the time,
But the more we can do it,
The more we live a settled life,
The more we feel settled within ourselves.
We're not forever running away,
Battling with ourselves,
Creating merry hell,
Creating dramas,
Blaming others.
Blaming others,
That's a popular one,
Blaming others.
It's not me,
They made me feel like this.
We're just sitting here in silence and off we go,
Trying to find an escape,
Latest fantasy,
Made a problem.
And so again and again we turn back towards our experience here and now.
One way we sit in the chaos,
But the difference is we refuse the stories and we just sit in the physicality of it.
I don't want to do it all the time,
Particularly when things start to get,
Let's just say,
Interesting.
Oh,
Here we go.
But I find that the more I do it,
The more settled I am.
There's something in all of us that's scared,
Scared of this,
Just want to do this,
Call it ego,
Call it what you will,
Doesn't matter what we call it.
That's what we're doing,
Closing these scape hatches,
Being right here.
All the fantasies,
Escape hatches,
Going back,
You know,
When I was a kid,
When we scape hatch,
All those rides we go on.
So,
You know what we're going to do here,
Don't you?
We notice when we're looking for an escape.
And it might just be escaping from a,
Just a low level,
What's this?
Who is this again?
Don't escape it.
It's not what you think it is.
That's what I keep finding.
It's not what I think it is.
You know,
Those core beliefs are running the show.
I'm not good enough.
I can't do this.
Life is hard.
I'm unlovable.
Let's sit quietly.
That's why it's a bodily practice.
Take a deep breath and drop into the body.
And relax.
What's happening now?
Just resting in the body,
Feeling what's here.
Feel the breath if you wish.
Don't turn away.
Where are you now?
Just feel what you find.
A tight belly.
Relaxed shoulders.
A tense jaw.
Nice floor breathing.
Sound of a distant,
Of distant traffic.
Where are you now?
Relax.
Okay.
That's it for this morning.
