Deepening Presence - Day 3

This is a recording of a live event: Day 3 of Five Day Meditation Retreat focused on improving your daily practice, deepening inner peace and connecting with the true self. Each session will include a brief intro, guided meditation and Q&A.

Transcript

Welcome to day three of Deepening Presence, Our online meditation retreat. Happy to see you here. My name is Tomek. I am a teacher here on Inside Timer, Also a scientist. But most importantly, Like yourself, A seeker, A meditator, Always evolving towards better, More fulfilled, More empowered life. And hence this retreat I organized for you and for myself. How are you today? I already see Familia faces. Hello, Rosemary and Caroline V. Karen Ronan. Hello, Sharon. I see you there, Too. So hello, Christina. All good to see you here. Mary and Diane. Beautiful, Beautiful. Natalia. How lovely. Leslie. Oh, Basia. Wonderful. Basia also made it on time this time. That's that's great. Good to see you here. Hello, Sarah from North Queensland. So good to see you all. I'm always curious, As you know, This is a tradition to ask all of you who are here for the first time to raise your hand. And say hello so I can welcome you to the retreat. And those regulars who are amongst us will also welcome you and make you feel at home. Because it is important that we approach this as a collective, As a community. And this way we can have all a wonderful experience because deepening the presence, Which is the topic of this retreat, But also an intention behind the treat, Cannot happen in isolation. It is and it is a collective movement and a collective endeavor that we all together are here to make happen. We have Jyoti. We have me from Sweden. Eileen from Netherlands. So good to see you. Beautiful. As you can see and as I can see, There are so many of us from the US, From Europe and from Australia and from all over the world, Which is great because I'd like to see, I'd like to find a time that is suitable for everyone because of the time difference. Sometimes it's difficult to accommodate everyone, But I'd like to see you all at the same time. So good to see you. And I'd like to thank you first and foremost for all of you who attended the past two days and are continuing on the journey of deepening the presence, Deepening the presence. The way I find it is the antidote for mental constructs that we so often subscribe to in our life. I call them mental constructs. Some other people may call it ego identity. Some other people may call it personality. But one thing that flows out of connecting with the presence and becomes so obvious to me of the past two days, When we meditated together is that we are not those. We are not our ego personality. We are not. Our work positions. We are not. Just the identity that we take on sometimes and most, Most of the time unconsciously and carry on through our life. We are not those. And you may ask me, Why not? And the reason for that is simple. Hardly any of us, Certainly not me, Feel fulfilled and satisfied. Once identified with just those personality traits, Identities, We may have been told million times this or that. It's good to be done. It is this or this or that way. The right way to behave. But there is something underneath in us always that is calling to be explored and to be touched upon. And hence, Deepening the presence is the antidote for all those things. That's the only way how we can truly find out for ourselves, Not because somebody else told us what this is really all about. And for me personally, That was the key for, As I mentioned at the beginning, For empowered. And more fulfilled living. The empowerment doesn't come from others. Nobody tells me, Even if somebody told me, Be empowered, Do the right thing. It means nothing until you connect with your true self through deepening the presence and finding out what is really true for yourself. You are your own teacher, Your own mentor. And even though I call myself a mentor, I cannot really tell anyone what to do. I only can inspire you. And that's my intention here to put you on a path of self discovery. And find out for yourself what are those true, What is truly your quality, What is in you and is different to each of us. We are individuals, Unique individuals. And I'm so excited, Therefore, About this retreat, About our togetherness here, Because it's much easier to discover those things in a good company in the same way as you go on holiday and you're on your own. And certainly that has a certain quality to it and a certain merit. But when there are other souls, Spirits, Personalities that we are surrounded with, It seems like it's easier. And therefore, I always say that when I meditate in a group, My experience is improved or the presence is even deeper. So there you are. Hello, Katie. Hello, Sandy. Oh, Nima. Good to see you here. Hello, V. We have Jane from Scotland. How wonderful. Hmm. So there you go. For those of you who joining us on a day three. There'll be a bit of introduction and me trying to once again rephrase why we are here. Then we are going to jump into the practice practice of deepening the presence so you can find out for yourself where you at. And in the spirit, What I just said, You will very soon find out the moment you start practicing. All those thoughts, The inner dialogue, All those things that you've been unconsciously practicing throughout your life and you do practice throughout the day. Will come forth. In a shape of of bodily sensations, Maybe an ache, Maybe an itch. There'll be a discomfort of some sort. There'll be sounds coming that your attention, That the awareness responds to. And most importantly, This my my case, A lot of thoughts and in a commentary that again comes from that ego identity, Well-trained personality that we subscribe to and we identified with. But then the trick is to let that simply be. There's no there's no need to ignore it. We are not here to annihilate and destroy any part of us simply here to understand it better. And the way to understanding it through deepening the presence. So when the thoughts come, You simply bring yourself back to the presence. And now there you are. I call I even give a name to my to my thinking mind. I call it the professor. It is professing all those things that never happened, By the way. Like like in the quotes, I worried about many things, Most of which never happened. That's my professor talking to me all the time, Trying to make sense of the reality. But on this occasion, I choose to. Hey, Katie. Again, That's that's the inner self. I'm trying to speak really every and every single word word and sentence. I try to speak from the presence, Try to bring myself over and over again so the professor doesn't take over. And I'm telling you, It is so much easier speaking out of presence. I don't have to think about what to say next. It simply flows. And that's my invitation to you to connect with the presence in you. That is always there. That is, By the way, The source of all the creativity. That is you. Your creative expression flows from. That presence and that inner self, That essence which you are. And those personality traits, The identity that you take upon is simple and overlay. To it, But it's not it. And this is the important thing is very it's a very important for you to. Grow a healthy ego and recognize all those things that have been doing throughout the life as an overlay. Well, I've got my physical body. I don't know. In my case, I'm one one meter and 80 centimeters tall. I weighed that much. But this is not it. This is just an avatar. This is an overlay that helped me to express the inner self in that way. That is fulfilling and empowering as opposed to make me miserable. Because every time I'm maybe this is this is an important thing. Before we jump into jump into the meditation, We are being called to discover and to connect with the inner self by the experience of suffering. Because that inner self, The true self always wants to be expressed. And every time it's not being expressed because it's suppressed by by the personality traits, By our identity, By our thoughts. We feel that we feel we sense that discord between one and another. And in that discord, There's a suffering that drawing us back suffering. It's a reminder. About who we truly are and the moment that we are connected. And that's another revelation that happened to me and from my own experience when I am connected with that presence in me, The essence of me. All the suffering and discomfort disappears. And obviously that doesn't happen all the time. As a matter of fact, That doesn't happen most of the time. Most of the time I have to deal with all those identities that I have with me, That I trained. Some of them are now conscious. I brought them to the light of consciousness. I'm using them for my purpose and some of them still direct my life and make me miserable. And then when I realize I'm miserable, OK, What is what is guiding me right now unconsciously? And I bring it more and more and more. So, Yes, That's what it is. Suffering is the reminder that perhaps we are not truly yet ourselves and we're not coming from the place of the self. But perhaps we are subscribing to something that is that's been taught that is us. But it is not. That's where our retreat comes handy. Hmm. OK. I think that's enough talking unless you have any questions with regarding with regards to what I just said. I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention to the comments section. I was in the present moment. But if you have any questions, Maybe I'll answer one or two before we jump into meditation. You must please don't say each. My ego acting up now. Yes, My ego is acting up most of the time as well. Alice says, My goal is to do just one thing at a time, Which is so challenging. Absolutely. Absolutely. This is a great point because we've been taught that multitasking is a positive trait, Even though science shows clearly that multitasking is a horrible thing to do. It actually all the experiments that that were done to to to show how multitasking works, Show that we even doing two things simultaneously, We are inefficient in doing either of those. So and this is this is something that we believe. Again, It might be a belief, A limiting belief system or limiting belief. It might be a thought pattern that we get if I do many things at the same time, I'm going to finish them much quicker, Which is simply not true. But if you believe it, You will still struggle doing very, Very, Very same thing. Caroline says I can enjoy my coffee whilst listening to you. That's that's very true. That's very true. I still enjoy my water and being present to you. So, Yeah, If that's what you call multitasking, Then indeed, I just finished my coffee and I was able to enjoy it. But the truth is, Even if you if you think about it on a deeper level, I take it obviously as a as a as a practical joke. But if I think about it, If I really want to enjoy my water, My presence for that microsecond or whatever time passes, It's in the water rather than with you. And then I obviously come back to you. So so we tune in and tune out out of one activity to the other. And we are actually must be present to to only one activity. We just don't perceive it because our body and our consciousness is this very intelligent design that allows us that seamless switch from one and the other. And we even don't have to pay attention to it. Most of the time we don't. But if you start actually exploring that, You realize if you want to be fully present, You actually sip water or your coffee and then come back and you switch. And then you no longer think about or a presence to the activity of of of drinking tea, Water, Coffee. And you switch your awareness to something else. OK, Let us practice. This is a retreat and every retreat always have to have the practical part, Which is the essence of why we are here. So I invite you right now to assume a position in which you feel comfortable, A position in which you feel. That you express yourself the best. And for me personally, This is upright posture, Limiting and the discomfort. I relax my legs, Place them on the floor, My hands, Palms open. There's no clenching. There's no striving. And. To limit that output or input, I allow my I allow my eyes to close. And the moment I close my eyes almost. Automatically. My gaze switches inwardly. I immediately start being aware of. The inner senses. Letting go of my six usual senses, Or at least deeming them for a moment. And direct my gaze inward. I recognize there's entire world in there. The world that usually I'm not aware of the world I do not pay attention to. However, The world that is as important as anything else that happens to me. And now I recognize that somewhere underneath all of this. There is presence. And I intuitively sense it. As. A substance of a sort. It's subtle, But it's there. And you may perceive it in a slightly different way. But nevertheless. Once you. Settle your body and. Allow yourself to simply be and switch from the. Customary. Ordinary thinking and doing. Into that mode of presence. It will call upon you. And I begin that journey inward by simply setting. An intention. That that's where I want to be and that's where I want to go. And you may find very quickly that. There are thoughts. There is, As in my case and in a commentary telling me. Oh, That's what it is. Oh, That's what it is. That's where you want to go. I acknowledge. That overlay. As I said before, I acknowledge it for what it is. Understanding it is just an overlay, But it's not the essence. And it stops bothering me at this very moment when I understand what it is. Understand all those things for what they are. And I continue. Deepening the presence. One breath after another. Being aware of you around me. And being your view with me. Extending the invitation for you. To join. Deeper and deeper. Allowing yourself more and more. And like every journey. There are challenges. There are no journey without challenges. And that's OK. Because it's much easier to take upon yourself those challenges when you are in a good company. I feel empowered by your presence. And I'm also holding the space for you. And I am by your side to assist you. If you need me. And at some point. You allow yourself to rest in this presence. Without having any particular purpose. Letting go of doing. Even though your mind tries to tell you otherwise. Just one breath after another. Because you can find presence in everything and anything. Since presence is the essence of everything. And everything flows out of presence. And if your intellect opposes this idea. That's OK too. That's the role of the intellect. To pose questions. To give commentary. And it's your choice to follow it. Or to for a little while. Let it just be outside on the outskirts of the presence. And to me. This present feels like a viscous substance. Within me. Pervading every single cell. Every single organ. Very dynamic. Expanding more and more. For the rest of you, Please order your Le babies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .