I'd like to start by settling yourself into a comfortable posture for yourself in meditation.
Closing your eyes very gently,
Much the same way you might close your eyes to go to sleep.
Slowing yourself down and relaxing by taking a few deep breaths to yourself.
Breathing in the cool,
Refreshing air from around you.
Breathing slowly and smoothly out again.
Again,
Breathing to the full extent of your lungs.
As you breathe out you may feel that you are letting go of any previous worries or concerns you may have had.
From there we do our normal pre-flight check to make sure our body is properly relaxed for the meditation ahead.
This involves scanning down through the whole of our body to make sure each and every muscle of our body is properly relaxed.
So relaxing our forehead,
Releasing any tension in the muscles there.
Relaxing our eyebrows and our eyelids.
Taking care that the way we have closed our eyes is as gentle as possible.
There's no need to squeeze our eyes tightly shut.
It's only necessary to close our eyes to the point where our upper and lower eyelashes are just touching together.
And we allow the muscles of our face to become soft.
Relaxing our jaw,
Taking care not to clench our teeth together.
And avoiding even pursing our lips.
From there we relax the muscles of our neck.
If our shoulders are tense we allow them to drop to their natural height.
We relax both arms,
Our forearms and eventually our hands and fingers.
So that the way our hands rest in our lap is as light as possible.
And we continue by relaxing all the muscles in our torso.
Relaxing our chest,
Our trunk and eventually the whole of our abdomen.
In particular care to relax the muscles across our stomach.
Relax both legs,
All the way down to our feet and our toes.
Eventually all the way from the top of our head right the way down to the tips of our toes,
We feel satisfied.
There's no remaining part of our body with any sort of stress or tension anymore.
We do notice places where tension seems to linger on,
We do our best to relax it as far as we can.
Which leaves us with a sense that our whole body is something we can forget about or as if it seems to melt away into the atmosphere around us.
Allowing us to turn our attention instead to the feeling on the inside.
A sense of warmth and well-being or a sense of inner space.
And even this feeling on the inside is something we can relax further.
If we're able to let go over a few moments of all the normal worries and concerns,
We associate with our everyday life.
The urgent things we try to put on one side for now,
Perhaps with a promise to ourselves that we can come back to think about them at a later time.
We try not to dwell on any regrets in our past.
So avoiding the temptation to make plans for the future.
Being very much in the here and now.
The present moment is the only place we can really make any difference in our life.
So we try to focus on the task in hand.
Gathering our attention back from any possible distractions in the outside world.
To a place of peace and serenity that lies inside us.
Generally the best place is somewhere around the area of our stomach.
And by maintaining our attention inside us.
It will help our mind to absorb the positive energies of the inner world.
At the same time although we may be aware of what's going on around us.
We find that what's on the outside doesn't actually perturb our mind anymore.
Instead our mind absorbs the positive qualities from the inside.
A sense of happiness and joy.
As if our whole mind were filled with tiny particles of happiness and joy.
Which then spread to fill the whole of our body and mind.
When we feel relaxed and refreshed.
Both in body and in mind.
Very gently using no effort at all.
Imagine the inside of our body to be nothing but an empty space or a hollow cavity.
Without any organs or tissues.
Without any muscles or bones.
Some people may prefer to imagine their body as being like a transparent bubble.
With nothing on the inside.
Others who've been meditating longer may have more of a sense that their body has disappeared completely.
Meditation is rather like inhabiting a great empty space of our own creation.
Whatever your experience of the inner space.
Allow the focus of your attention to drift slowly downwards on the midline of your body.
Drifting downwards until it seems to come to rest.
Somewhere in the area of your stomach.
In the ideal world of course the place will be the seventh base of the mind,
The centre of the body.
In practice we tend to use our feeling to tell us the correct place.
If it feels right then it generally is right.
For some people simply bringing the mind into place will already give rise to inner experience.
Which we can then adopt as the object of our meditation.
That is the case then any inner imagery or inner feeling can form the focus for our attention.
And our brief in the meditation would be simply to observe the way in which that inner experience transforms further.
However if you are newer to the meditation practice or if you are still in some doubt about the exact position of the centre of the body.
It may be necessary to conjure up some sort of inner object of your own as a starting point for the mind.
Such an inner object may be something you can feel or it may be something you can see.
An example of something you can feel might be like an invisible fruit,
The presence of which you can feel at the centre of your body.
It may be like a grape or a small nectarine.
The certain weight and texture,
Certain size and temperature resting at the centre of our body and acting like an anchor for the mind.
If you are more into a visual practice then it might be the picture of the sun shining with a bright clear light.
Not particularly mattering whether the picture is in focus.
Even if it is fake then we accept it anyway.
If we do find that our attention is distracted away by other things,
Each time we realise we simply bring the attention back again.
If we are new to meditation then we may need to persevere with bringing the mind back repeatedly.
Each time we do bring the mind back to the centre it will become a little bit easier to keep it there the next time round.
We wander and we bring it back.
The inner object disappears and we can conjure up a new one.
The object transforms and instead of changing it back we follow it in its new form.
And as for the problem of there being an excess of thought in the mind,
If you find that is the case,
You may be able to reduce the number of thoughts simply by ignoring them,
By starving them of attention.
If the number of thoughts in the mind is really too many simply to ignore,
It may be necessary to return to our good friend the mantra,
Hearing the sound of the words,
Sama-Arahang,
Coming up from the centre of our body or from the centre of that inner object.
Almost like a silent music.
Sama-Arahang,
Sama-Arahang,
Sama-Arahang,
Over and over again,
Lightly,
Gently and continuously.
Helping to keep our mind on track at the centre,
But also reducing the number of thoughts in the mind down to a manageable level,
Until we reach a point where the mind seems to have settled into silence.
We maintain our mind with the utmost of gentleness,
Never rushing the process,
Never trying to force our hand.
Continue in this way for a few more moments now in silence,
Until we come to the appropriate time.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
Sama-Arahang,
Sama-Arahang,
Sama-Arahang,
Over and over again,
Lightly,
Gently and continuously.
Helping to keep your mind on track at the centre of the body while at the same time,
Reducing down a number of thoughts in the mind to a manageable level,
Eventually to a point where only silence reigns in the mind.
The mind can focus on the inner object that we have chosen.
We find our attention wandering away to other things each time we realise,
We bring our attention back.
The object disappears,
We can think of a new one.
With changes we follow it in its new form.
If we feel uncomfortable we can try changing or adjusting our position,
But we try to do so in a way that neither perturbs the state of mind inside ourselves that we've built up for ourselves,
Nor disturbs the people around us.
We continue to keep our mind on track in this way for a few more moments in silence,
Lightly and gently,
Continuously at the centre of our body,
For a few more moments now in silence.
We continue to maintain our attention at the centre of the body the whole time,
Always at the centre of whatever inner experience we've built up for ourselves,
As a result of the meditation so far.
Some people the inner experience will add up to the sense of inner brightness,
In which case we can place our attention at the centre of the inner brightness,
Very gently,
In a way that allows the brightness to spread outwards from that central point.
Others for whom the meditation is something more like an inner feeling,
We can place the attention very gently at the centre of the feeling,
In a way that allows the inner feeling to become larger in size,
Spreading outwards from that central point.
Or rather still it'll be some sort of inner picture.
And in the same way we can place our attention very gently at the centre of the picture,
In a way that allows the picture to become larger in size,
Spreading outwards.
This process of allowing the inner experience to expand is known as the spreading of loving kindness.
Initially we allow our inner experience to extend in this way,
Until it fills the whole of our own body,
Making the wish at the centre of ourselves that we may be well and happy,
Free from all suffering.
Again from our centre but extending the loving kindness outwards beyond ourselves.
We allow the loving kindness to spread outwards to fill the whole of the meditation hall,
Further still outwards to the whole of the meditation centre,
While at the same time making the wish at the centre of ourselves that all living beings in the meditation centre may be touched by our loving kindness,
That those living beings may be well and happy,
Free from all suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony.
Again from our centre but extending our loving kindness further still,
If it's easier we can imagine spreading loving kindness across a map seen in bird's eye view.
We extend loving kindness outwards,
The whole of Azusa,
Further outwards to the whole of LA,
In all directions all around,
Extending our loving kindness so that it touches all living beings in the valley.
We wish that all those living beings may be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
And live together in peace and harmony.
Sending loving kindness to all of California,
To the neighbouring states,
And to all the states of America,
We wish that all living beings therein be touched by our loving kindness,
And all those living beings may be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony.
We extend loving kindness to the whole of North America,
Further still to all the continents of the world,
So that our loving kindness extends across the whole of the face of this planet.
We wish that all living beings whether on the land,
In the air or in the sea,
Be touched by our loving kindness,
And all those living beings may be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony,
And true peace might prevail on our planet,
Within the space of our own lifetimes.
We can extend loving kindness further outwards into the universe around,
In all the six directions,
Extending loving kindness in the forward direction,
Extending loving kindness to the back,
Extending loving kindness to our left,
And extending loving kindness to our right,
Extending loving kindness above us,
And extending loving kindness below,
And extending loving kindness without bounds or limits,
Till it becomes a sort of universal love reaching everywhere in the universe,
Touching all living beings therein without exception,
Again with the wish that all living beings,
Whether they are happy or free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony.
And we can extend loving kindness to particular loved ones,
Towards those for whom we feel a sense of gratitude,
To those who are still alive,
And to those who have already passed.
We can extend loving kindness in this way for the last few moments of our meditation practice together,
Until we come to the appropriate time.
