Resting In This Presence: Mindfulness Meditation

This is a live recording of a guided meditation practice from the, Meditation Learning Center of Mesa, AZ USA. Shane Wilson guides the meditator first through a body awarness related practice that is used to explaine how concentration meditation is related to a mindfulness practice. The meditation then is directed to a mindfulness meditation practice that takes the meditator into a resting in this presence, one's true nature.

Transcript

Feel free to close the eyes.

Bring your attention to some aspect of the body.

Perhaps possibly how the body feels.

This could mean the posture of the body or the temperature of the body.

So we're just kind of doing a self-directed body scan,

If you will.

When we focus on the body it can become very interesting.

We realize that the attention goes towards some area and it could be the hands or the skin or the breathing.

Our attention might fall on an ache or a pain or the warmth or a temperature or something.

All sorts of different things that it can fall onto.

And so when we do that we can notice that we're very present when that happens.

When I ask you to bring your attention to the body,

We're doing it in the present moment.

And it seems very comfortable probably.

It should.

And very easy to do.

It doesn't take any thought.

It doesn't really take any intention except for to just observe the body.

And so that's an activity that we can do in the present moment.

If we have an ailment in the body,

If something's bothering us,

For example,

We might catch ourselves thinking about the past and how that happened.

An old injury,

For example.

That can lead onto,

I wonder why that happened.

If I would have done something differently,

Maybe that wouldn't have occurred.

My back is sore because I did this kind of work or I was born with this type of defect or something.

And just as easily we can take that aspect of the body and think about what we might do in the future.

Something to help the body feel better in the future,

To look better in the future.

We might feel as if I wish the body would be cooler.

I hope it cools down in this room in the near future.

Maybe we want the body temperature to be warmer,

More warm in the future.

And if we're very,

Very sensitive to this,

We'll notice that bringing our attention to the body in the present moment is much,

Much easier,

Less conflict.

There's no judgment,

There's no decision,

Except when the mind goes into the past.

Such as that ailment in the body or when the mind goes into the future.

How can I fix this?

Something's not right,

I can make it better.

So this is the activity of the mind pertaining to the body,

Any aspect of the body.

When we bring our attention to the breath,

If we just feel the sensation of the breath against the nostrils,

For example,

We're being very present.

We're noticing something that's happening in real time in the present moment.

Staying with each breath.

If we notice that we're having trouble breathing because of an accident that we had in the past,

Then we can notice that there's judgment,

Concern,

Decision,

Commentary happening.

Which makes things a little bit harder to work with.

Just because there's a little bit of a stress factor happening.

Any time we go into the past,

And same thing when we go into the future,

As far as fixing,

It can pertain to anything.

So if we stay in the immediate reality of what is happening,

We get a chance to see our true nature,

Who we really are.

Our Buddha nature,

If you will.

And it's really pertaining to the activity of the mind,

The thoughts that we have.

When we're very present,

Thinking about the body in the present moment,

Focusing on the breath in the present moment.

We're not asking for anything to be any different,

Or any better,

Any worse.

We're accepting everything just as it is.

We might catch the mind wandering off,

And we lightly tap ourselves on the shoulder and say,

Let's bring that back to this present moment.

Which means bringing it back to the breath,

Perhaps.

And that's really the basis behind our practice.

If we were very,

Very strict with ourselves,

We could just work on that alone.

Keep bringing ourselves back to the breath,

To this present moment.

And many of us do that.

In reality,

It's very difficult.

And if we do that with too much intention,

And really look at that as the only peace of mind that we can find,

Just simply resting in that present moment,

It's almost like a falseness that we're finding.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with it,

And it's a very good practice.

But in the practice of mindfulness,

We are not being so strict with ourselves.

We could say,

If a thought comes to mind,

It's as if we can still be in the present moment if we are observing the thought,

Rather than being carried away with it.

In that way,

We can actually observe ourselves in the present moment thinking about something that happened in the past.

We can observe ourselves in the present moment thinking about fixing something without getting drawn into it.

In other words,

Thinking about the future.

There's a very subtle difference between having the thought and being aware of the thought.

Being aware of the thought,

We can still be present.

And when we practice this in meditation,

This is the proving ground,

The testing ground,

And then we can do this in everyday activities,

Everyday life.

We can be in the flow regardless of what we're doing.

The flow in this case is being very present,

Knowing where we are,

Knowing what's happening in our environment,

Not being drawn away,

Carried away with activities and experiences and thoughts.

So we can remain mindful of the breath and be very present.

And we use that as a tool to rest in this presence.

It's our foundation.

It's our place to come back to.

The mind wanders away and we come back to the breath.

The mind goes into the past or the future and we come back to the breath when we catch it.

But if we feel we can reach a point where the breath becomes very much a part of the background,

Just like the thoughts themselves.

Then we can actually be more present on allowing things to completely dissipate,

Being aware that there's a thought of the past and seeing it rise and fall or a thought of the future,

Seeing it rise and fall away without anything getting sticky,

Without identifying with anything as being mine or even being another's.

That's observing.

So at this point we are the witness of the thoughts,

Actually the witness of all the activities.

This way there's no this or that,

There's no good or bad.

There's no this way or that way.

And perhaps most of all what this points to is that nothing in our exterior world,

In the worldly experiences,

Has to change in order for us to be at peace,

To have peace of mind.

So this peace of mind is everyone's birthright because we can all rest in this presence.

It doesn't necessarily even take a lot of practice but just awareness of what this presence is.

And it's being aware of the thoughts rather than feeling as if we are thinking the thoughts,

Knowing that there is a difference.

Nothing in our true nature.

So we use the body to come into this presence.

We can focus on any aspect of the body.

Usually the breath is the tool of choice.

We notice that when we are even lightly focused on this aspect of the body that we are very present.

If a thought arises we see it arise and fall away,

Just like a passing cloud coming and going.

We might recognize that it's a thought of the past or the future.

Just let it float on by like a passing cloud.

A common analogy is imagining that we are sitting on the edge of a river.

Maybe there is a bend of a river and it's flowing kind of around us.

And that we are sitting there meditating.

And that there is bubbles and small sticks and different things floating down this river.

These are a representation of our thoughts.

We see these bubbles and these sticks and maybe some small debris.

Just going down this little stream.

We don't see it as good or bad.

We don't have any judgments about it.

We don't try to change it.

We don't try to grab it and identify with it.

Just let it float on by.

Just let it go on its very own way.

Watching all of this with bare attention,

Bare of judgment,

Bare of decision,

Bare of any kind of commentary of things being right or wrong or good or bad.

Meditation is the proving and testing ground for this.

If we can practice this in meditation then we can take it out into the world.

This is mindfulness.

If your attention isn't already there,

Bring it back to the breath.

And take a little deeper than normal inhalation of the breath and bring some energy into the body.

Notice how that feels.

Exhale and do this again.

Bring some energy into the body through the breath.

Let the lungs expand a little bit.

Exhale and do this one more time.

Allow yourself to come back into this room.

Thank you.

Reviews

Excellent ! I miss your classes at the meditation learning center in Mesa. You taught me a lot.

Thank you! I will utilize the inner picture of the flowing river for observing the thoughts passing by on the surface without being dragged my them nor by trying to change their motion.

Lovely and sweet. Just what I needed today. 💕

Great guided mindfulness meditation