Vipassana Meditation: Day 7 - Evening Guided Meditation

Vipassana is the most powerful ancient technique for attaining mastery of the mind. Taught by the Buddha, Vipassana meditation is arguably the most famous & effective form of meditation. Retreats are held in cities and towns all over the world & have been instrumental in the transformation & healing of countless millions of people.

During the retreat, you will be guided to practice the foundational techniques of Vipassana, and follow the core principles of the philosophy.

Transcript

So let's just gently and calmly collect our awareness.

Let it come together and accumulate.

And by now we should start to feel that whenever we really anchor our awareness anywhere we start to magnetize the rest of our awareness towards us.

The rest of our focus naturally starts to gravitate towards that space.

All we have to do is patiently wait and feel sensation.

Just feel sensation as sensation.

And as we wait and collect more awareness we slowly go deeper into the sensation we're feeling.

What is this sensation really?

What happens if I feel it in more detail?

Is there something for me to learn by going deeper into this sensation?

More for me to feel?

More for me to be aware of?

More for me to feel?

More for me to feel?

More for me to feel?

And if we want to practice tranquility and focus simply stay in the same place and go deeper into feeling this place,

The sensations that live here.

If we want to practice vipassana,

Insight then slowly start to move through the body making sure that we always move with real awareness of sensation direct experience of sensation.

Step by step feeling everything,

Reacting to nothing.

If we come across areas that are indistinct or difficult to feel then we're in no rush.

Take your time to send your awareness into them to feel them and map them like a territory that you're unfamiliar with we slowly start to walk through all the sensations of the internal landscape until we've covered the whole area.

We'll start to walk through all the sensations of the internal landscape until we've covered the whole area.

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Moving in and out of the lips,

Touching the tip of the tongue.

Then shift your awareness to the sensations on the tongue.

And slowly follow these sensations down into the throat.

Moving steadily and slowly until you get to the centre of the chest.

Feeling every sensation on the way.

And taking your time.

Always moving with your direct experience,

Not your imagination.

Once you get to the centre of the chest,

Anchor your awareness here.

Feel the sensations in this area.

Then to bring this feeling of love to mind,

Think of someone that you love deeply.

That you wish well.

Someone who it warms your heart just to think of.

Feel this love inside of you.

Wherever they may be.

And then if your loving awareness is stable enough,

Slowly shift it towards another person that you love.

Whatever images,

Thoughts or memories of this person come up,

Just let them arise.

Where you maintain your focus on this loving awareness inside of you and directing it towards them.

However the object changes,

Your focus does not.

And then if your awareness is stable enough,

Allow your mind to move to someone else in your life.

Someone you feel more mixed emotions for.

And continue to focus on them with the same unchanging loving awareness.

Again,

Whatever images come up,

Thoughts,

Memories,

We simply focus this love on them.

May they also be happy.

And then if your awareness is stable enough,

Go back through your life and find someone that you've had trouble with.

Someone who when you used to think of them might bring up difficult emotions.

But now as you focus on them,

Whatever images come up,

Simply focus on them with this stable loving awareness.

Wish them well.

Wish them to be happy.

Don't allow anything that comes up to put you at effect.

If you cannot do this,

Then simply shift your awareness back to someone that you love deeply.

Someone that you feel unquestioning affection for.

And continue moving through the people in your life that you love and care for.

Sharing your love with them.

Otherwise,

Allow yourself to go through all your connections.

Whether deeply loving,

Smooth and easy.

Whether neutral,

Ambivalent.

Or whether difficult.

Just as with vipassana,

We can choose how deeply we want to dig into the subject here.

Make your own choice.

Practice at your own level.

Always working with the reality of the sensations within.

And practice at your own level.

And practice at your own level.

And practice at your own level.

And practice at your own level.

And practice at your own level.

And practice at your own level.

And practice at your own level.

And then come back.

Who do you love deeply?

Who can you just think of?

You know,

Bring a smile to your face.

Use them as your anchoring point.

Send love to them.

And then just feel this point of stable loving awareness inside of you.

And then come back.

And then bring your awareness back to the breath.

Slowly and gently collect your awareness beneath the nostrils.

Condensing our focus as much as possible.

And then come back.

And then come back.

And then come back.

And then come back.

And now we're going to start practicing transfiguration.

Training ourselves to meditate with open eyes.

Before we do that,

Keep your eyes closed.

And slowly start to move your awareness from the nostrils up to the point between the brows.

And then focus and stabilize your awareness there.

Here on site,

We'll practice this with a partner.

If you're at home and you're meditating with a partner,

Then when I give the instruction,

Simply turn to face them and continue to practice.

If you're on your own,

Then get your mirror and place it in front of you while you meditate.

Making sure that you can see yourself in the mirror.

How we're going to practice this technique is simple.

We're going to continue to meditate as we always do.

Focusing on the sensations inside.

Feeling everything and reacting to nothing.

And then we simply open our eyes and allow ourselves to see the person sitting in front of us.

Even if that person is you.

We allow our eyes to rest on them.

Our face remaining completely natural and non-reactive.

And we continue to meditate on the sensations inside of us.

Whilst we look at them with our eyes open.

If you find your mind wandering to other thoughts or ideas,

Then we treat it exactly the same way as we always do.

Let everything arise,

But don't be distracted by it.

We keep the entirety of our awareness on our sensations within.

Our eyes simply remain open as we perceive the person in front of us.

The person in front of us.

So let's work in partners here.

Matilda and Alessiana,

If you could work together.

Matilda if you could turn around.

Alessandra and Geraldine.

Josh and Jason.

Steven and Jay.

If you could just all turn to face each other.

Do your best not to communicate.

Break your silence,

Even in a non-verbal sense.

Start with your eyes closed.

Allow yourself to enter into meditation.

Recollecting your awareness at the space between your eyebrows.

Or if it feels more natural,

On the top of your head.

When your awareness is collected,

Steady,

Focused and non-reactive,

Then simply open your eyes.

Allow yourself to see the person in front of you,

Without reacting to them.

You are still your main object of meditation.

The sensations inside are still what we are directly focused on.

We simply allow ourselves to perceive the person in front of us.

As we take our meditation into this new position.

Whatever you see,

Just continue to meditate.

Treating it exactly the same way,

We treat any phenomenon that arises during meditation.

We focus on the sensation,

Feel everything,

React to nothing.

At first it might be uncomfortable,

Looking at someone whilst you meditate.

This is natural.

Just let the emotion rise and not throw you off your meditation.

If you get thrown into the habit of making your regular expressions,

And if your face becomes unnatural,

Then simply do your best to return to naturalness.

Stay in meditation.

Whilst your eyes remain gently open.

This way,

We learn to carry our meditation into our day.

One less sense,

One less area of our lives that can distract us.

And one more object that we gain from meditation.

And then when you're ready,

Slowly bring your awareness back to yourself.

And close your eyes as you recollect your awareness.

Focus on the OK.

Oh You You When your awareness is collected and stable Then move back to your original position Making sure that you maintain full awareness of the sensations as you do this Continuing to transition through the movement,

Through the change of posture Breathing in and out Breathing in and out Breathing out Breathing out Dylan's recentre ourselves back on our seats as we finish this sip.

As we take a short break before the evening session,

Just continue to carry our awareness into the break.

Let's practice some walking meditation,

And this time as you walk,

Start to let your eyes focus on the objects around you,

And integrate your sight into the meditation,

Always maintaining awareness of the sensations,

But keeping the eyes open and focused at the same time.

If you're at home,

After the break,

Continue to practice Pupassana,

And take a short session of Transfiguration in between.