MA 42L Benefits Of Meditation In The Here And Now (Live)

Meditation from the Thai Theravada tradition following a modernized interpretation of Boran Kammatthana. This live recording of the meditation introduces some proven benefits of meditating that can be seen after a few months of practice including changing the shape of your brain, reducing negativity in the mind, unwinding the harmful effects of stress and anxiety, improving performance under stress, helping with sleep problems, boosting positivity and generally enhancing quality of life.

Transcript

So start by finding a comfortable posture for yourself in meditation,

Closing your eyes very gently.

You may be sitting on a meditation mat or on a straight packed chair,

But however you're sitting make sure that you're properly supported to give you that stable tripod-like position for the meditation.

Try to bring your spine up nice and tall to energize yourself.

Although you might allow your lower lumbar region to relax to its natural shape.

And allow your hands to rest palm upwards in your lap,

With the right hand over the left hand,

The index finger of the right hand touching against the thumb of the left hand.

And if you close your eyes then you should close them as gently as possible.

If you don't want to close your eyes fully,

Then you might cast your gaze softly at the floor in front of you,

Allowing your eyes to defocus.

And at this point in order to start to relax our body,

We invite a sense of softness to our face.

Feel the folds of skin in our forehead relax.

Feel the space between our eyebrows soften,

Relaxing our eyelids.

And you'll notice that even your eyes can relax themselves.

You can allow that sense of softness to flow down through your temples in a gentle wave.

You find that your lips touch only very gently together as the mouth relaxes.

The tongue softens within your mouth and your jawline also softens.

We allow our neck and throat to relax and let our shoulders drop away from our ears.

We allow our elbows to rest as far as possible.

And continue on down,

Relaxing our torso,

Abdomen,

Both legs,

All the way down to our feet and our toes.

And having relaxed our body,

We can turn our attention inward,

Letting our attention gently peel away from the outside world.

At the same time we relax our state of mind by putting aside any worries or concerns in our life,

Almost as if we were sitting alone in the world,

Like a person with no past and no future,

Entirely focused in the present moment and on the task in hand.

And within ourselves we might conjure up a sense of well-being,

As if that well-being were made up of tiny particles inside ourselves,

Particles of happiness and joy that seem to grow and spread to fill the whole space of our body and mind,

Until there seems to be no space left inside us for any other sort of thought.

And when we feel relaxed and refreshed,

Both in body and in mind,

Very gently,

Using no effort at all,

We imagine our whole body to be nothing but an empty space or a hollow cavity.

Or alternately you might imagine your body has been transformed into a sort of transparent bubble,

With nothing on the inside.

And when you feel ready,

Again very gently and using no effort at all,

You might bring your mind back to a picture of a bright shining sun,

Maybe yellow or golden in colour,

White or red.

It doesn't matter if the actual picture is as clear as you normally see it with your eyes,

Even if it's vague in your imagination,

Accept it anyway.

There may be some people who feel the warmth of the sun but don't actually see it.

Again you can use that tactile sense of warmth as the object of your meditation.

And in this case we allow the bright picture or that feeling of warmth to make its way gently downwards inside the space of our body,

Almost as if we are gradually breathing it down to the deepest point of our breath,

Or gently swallowing the object down to the very pit of our stomach.

And once the bright object or the sense of warmth reaches that point in our abdomen,

All we have to do is maintain it gently with a feather-like touch at the very centre of ourselves.

If we find our awareness wandering away onto other things,

Whether it be sounds around us or distractions,

Each time we realise we just bring our attention back again to the centre of the body as before.

If the inner object disappears we can conjure up a new one and it's not a big deal.

When we're new to meditation we'll find our mind wanders often,

But each time we bring it back it'll become a little bit easier to keep it in place the next time round.

Until before long we'll find that our awareness is spending more and more time centred inside ourselves rather than wandering,

At which point we'll start to have an intuitive feeling of the mind being able to stay at the centre almost by second nature.

And to help create a space between ourselves and our thoughts we tap into that still silent space between the thoughts.

If the thoughts return we do our best to ignore them,

But if ignoring the thoughts proves ineffective we can make use of that traditional mantra instead,

Hearing the sound of the words,

Samma Arahang,

Samma Arahang,

Samma Arahang,

Over and over again in our mind.

And it's as if the more often we repeat the mantra the more power we give the words of the mantra and the more they will be empowered to lead the mind towards purity,

Reaching and resonating into every cell of our body,

Every fibre of our being,

While gradually reducing the number of extraneous thoughts in the mind.

And with our meditation as with any sort of exercise practice makes perfect.

We don't just exercise for exercise's sake,

But we exercise for the benefits of strength or health in our everyday lives.

In the same way we meditate not just for meditation's sake,

But to impact our everyday lives in a positive way.

And although there are long-term esoteric goals for meditation such as awakening,

Enlightenment,

These might be regarded as distant goals which we can head towards while for the interim focusing on benefits which are more in the here and now and more applicable to our everyday lives.

What sort of benefits might be realistic for us to expect from the meditation we practice on a daily basis?

Because even in the medical world the majority of medical professionals give their packing to some sort of practice of meditation.

Through the phenomenon of neuroplasticity it's been found that meditation can help to change the shape of our brain,

Helping to slow the ageing process while also helping to raise our pain threshold and generally reduce negativity in the mind.

It's been found that meditation helps to reduce the intensity of toxic emotions and simply by observing the thoughts that arise in the mind rather than encouraging them or interfering with them then we become better able to monitor and select the content of our own minds.

Meditation helps to unwind any harmful effects of stress and has also been shown to reduce anxiety.

It's also been shown that those who meditate tend to perform better under stressful circumstances and can reduce the length of time it takes for us to get to sleep at night.

Apart from overcoming the negativity in the mind,

Meditation has been shown to boost emotions on the more positive side,

Helping to activate the parts of the brain related to happiness,

Especially the qualities of resilience and optimism even for those meditating for no longer than two months.

Meditation seems to enhance a sense of wellbeing in life,

Whether it be our perception of it or just life feeling generally better,

Giving us a greater sense of self-control while maintaining a sense of brightness and alertness in our life.

So all the benefits I've described today,

Although being a mere fraction of all the benefits seen in the here and now,

For meditation are all substantial reasons to bring some meditation into our day.

So for now we continue to focus on our inner object at the centre of ourselves,

Bringing the mind back from any untoward thoughts or emotions by means of the mantra,

Each to our own meditation for a few more moments now in silence until we come to the appropriate time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The inner experience changes,

There's no need for us to change it back again,

It just becomes a question of following our inner object in its new form and our practice may become one of observation rather than visualization.

And the real art of meditation lies in learning how to be gentle with the mind,

Learning how to apply nothing more than the bare minimum of attention in order to keep our awareness in place.

If we are too forceful with the mind then we'll notice tensions creeping back into our body,

Or the whole feel of the meditation becoming rather heavy and dull.

If on the other hand we are too gentle in the way we apply the mind then we'll find our mind slipping away too easily.

Somewhere between the two extremes there's a sort of sweet spot for our mind.

It generates a sense of expansion,

Lightness and flow in the mind which we will recognize as telling us that we are on the right track.

And if we can remember what it feels like to get that balance just right then it would be easier for us to find our way back to the zone on subsequent meditations.

For now we keep our mind on track lightly and gently,

Each to our own practice in silence for a few more moments now until we come to the appropriate time.

You you you you As we're coming towards the end of our meditation We take a few moments to re-engage with a positive energy and sense of relaxation arising from inside us to reconfirm that we're still feeling calm and content feeling that sense of flow from the inside sense of well-being or brightness from within ourselves that warm fuzzy feeling that we might associate with doing the good things in our lives that we're proud of We allow that inner experience,

Whether it be brightness,

Inner imagery,

Our feeling of well-being to coalesce into a bright,

Clear crystal sphere inside of ourselves infused with a sense of thankfulness,

Gratitude for all the opportunities that we have to do good things in our lives for all the peace energy in our lives and from this haven of peace within ourselves we engage with that positive feeling that we have right here and right now allowing ourselves to feel cleansed on the inside without having to do anything special or worry about anything at all We make the affirmation to ourselves that through this peace energy may we feel happy and healthy,

Successful,

Fulfilled in our good wishes free from illness,

Danger while being surrounded by warm,

Wise and loving people while being inspired to remain upon the path towards the utmost happiness and from the centre of this peace energy we allow our mind to become ever brighter,

Clearer and purer through our meditation magnifying and multiplying the positivity until that inner experience seems to expand outwards all on its own filling the whole of our body,

Expanding beyond our body outwards into the room around us,

Outwards to all the people and beings around us expanding in ever widening circles to all the people we know,

To all the sentient beings in our lives and in this way we share our peace energy,

We share our loving kindness to all that we know to all toward whom we wish to express our gratitude allowing our peace energy to flow outwards towards them in all directions,

Without exceptions with the wish that those other sentient beings be well and happy,

Free from suffering fulfilled in their good wishes,

Free from sorrow or sadness we allow our loving kindness to expand in this way in ever widening circles across the whole neighbourhood,

Notionally across the whole of Barents County across the whole country,

Beyond its borders,

To the whole continent eventually towards the continents of the world covering the entire face of this planet with the wish that all living beings,

Whether on the land,

In the air or in the sea be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

Live together in peace and harmony that world peace might arise within our own lifetimes we continue to make good wishes for ourselves and others in this way for the last few moments of our meditation together Thank you for watching!

You

Reviews

Nameste 🙏

Another truly wonderful guided practice. May you be well and thank you for sharing these meditations. ☮️💖🙏🖖