Morning,
Good afternoon,
Good evening.
So.
Very simply what we're doing.
Is having what we often call.
.
.
A direct experience of just a moment.
And what that means is.
.
.
Just being with the actuality of what's actually happening.
So,
The breathing.
Just as it is.
The sensations of the face,
Just as they are.
Just feel them.
The sounds of the birds or the traffic.
I'm just hating them.
Sensations of feet on the floor.
And when we do that,
When we enter that direct experience,
It's in Zen,
They call it like a portal.
What happens is.
.
.
That is what changes us.
Trying doesn't change us.
It just leads to desperation and frustration.
And so what we're often doing,
The problem is,
What we're often doing is looking for an epiphany.
A breakthrough.
I don't want to do all this sitting.
I just want to break through,
Just want to be free of all this.
Stuff.
And that keeps us stuck.
Just keeps us stuck.
So,
Would you set experiencing the body with its senses?
Just as it's happening,
Just feel what's here.
When I first came across that with Charlotte Joko Beck,
I thought,
Nah,
It must be more complicated than that.
But it isn't.
That's what changes.
Very gradually we see things in our life that are just subtly changing.
Very subtly.
She calls it the world turning.
The world begins to turn.
Our world.
Very gradually.
But if we force it.
.
.
So I'm just talking about direct experience,
How the whole of this is really about just being with,
Sensations of the face,
Just feel them.
Just feel the breath as it is.
Just hear the sound of the traffic or the kids playing as it is.
And that is what changes us.
That is what we could call melting the ice.
Because the ice doesn't try to melt,
Does it?
It's just the chemistry of the heat.
That's all we need to do.
But we often go into,
We feel something,
We hear something,
Then we go into a commentary about it.
And when we notice that,
We just let the thoughts dissolve in space.
Back here.
All we can say,
I'm having the thought,
I've done this a thousand times.
Wherever,
Wherever the thought is.
And then just come back to the stillness,
The silence and our true experience,
What's really going on,
Because what's going on isn't,
What the mind is telling you is going on,
Isn't going on.
That's why we're suffering.
What begins to happen is that our true experience starts to become more porous.
Starts to reveal itself.
We find a little bit more inner space,
Just a little bit more,
Just very gradual,
Goes at its own pace.
We just get out of the way.
Because there's something here that's infinitely wiser than.
.
.
Let's call it the ego mind.
The Eagle Mind can't do this.
So you don't have,
In one sense,
You don't have to do it.
You let awareness do it.
Let awareness do the,
What I call the heavy lifting.
Let awareness feel the tension in the belly.
The sadness in the heart.
Just feel it without any commentary.
Not easy at first.
Behind all is a subtle and eventually not so subtle,
More peacefulness.
What is?
And that's what Chogokai and Zen call a true self.
So,
Eyes open or closed.
And take a deep breath just to help.
10.
A sense of balance.
And then just allow everything to be as it is.
And just rest in this,
Call it a sense of presence,
What are you up to right now?
To experience something doesn't take effort,
So don't strain,
Relax.
Experiencing is just happening.
Our feeling is just happening.
That's something we have to do.
Where are you now?
Where is the attention right now?
Remember there is the breath,
If you are the mind is overly active Rest the attention on the end of the out-breath.
Kind of soothes the system.
Just checking that you're not tense and pushing.
Just take a deep breath.
And relax.
Be soft.
In the body.
But there is any tension,
Just feel it.
OK.
A little shake or wiggle,
Whatever.
