Journey Deeper into Sacred Awareness Talk + Meditation

How can we be aware of the sacred aspect inside? How can we focus our energy to manifest a life that is vital and full of joy? Several clues are in this guided meditation.

Tony Samara, world-renowned spiritual teacher and author of 16 books, has been sharing deep spiritual work and energy transmission for the evolution of consciousness for over 25 years. Combining meditation, detoxing the body, a plant-based diet and a simple lifestyle, he is best known for how his work touches more deeply than words.

Transcript

You you you you intention today is to go a little bit deeper into awareness not just the awareness of the mundane aspects around us because we so very often have a very focused awareness that tends to look at things mundane things such as I'm hungry or I'm tired I'm worried I'm stressed there is very much energy that's put into the awareness of mundane things today I'd like to speak about the more subtle aspect of awareness and just what it means to be aware of different things that are happening beyond the mundane different things within ourselves so very important to understand that awareness is central in meditation without awareness meditation really doesn't make sense so it's important to understand what this central and very important aspect of meditation truly means to define it so that we what we are doing in meditation becomes focused and very very clear rather than just grappling in the dark or trying to sort of understand what's going on by just going from one thing to another and hoping that's at some point it will make sense it's important to create a certain structure within awareness so that our energy which of course is infinite and limitless but within this physical dimension unfortunately unfortunately it's not for most people at least and it's important that the energy is focused in a place which gives you energy focused in a place that helps to manifest that energy in in a way where the energy just multiplies rather than gets depleted so as we know if awareness is focused upon say lack of abundance or lack of things flowing in a way where you're happy or joyful or not challenged by the negatives around if that's our focus that is where our awareness goes and the tendency is that energy gets depleted it's obvious of course but I'm just creating a creating a definition of how to structure awareness so that it's not falling into that place which most people find easy to fall into the mundane we know that energy is on some level on this manifested reality level and depleted by negativity and depleted by just the mundane even though it's it's important to be part of the world it's important to satisfy basic needs and it's important to do certain things that we have to do here in the world what is most important is the structure that is behind what we're doing so our thoughts the way that we think it's very very much what either depletes us or what helps us to expand within this life energy vibrancy that is possible if we focus our attention and awareness and our perspective in a space of awareness that feeds our energy rather than depletes our energy so we know this and we know that our thoughts are really in the end one of the most challenging aspects meaning that they can either help us to be excited about life or help us to be curious about life and want to learn more or can be a burden heavy usually because of negativity and usually because of worry and stress and deplete the energy within our bodies physical bodies emotional bodies energetic bodies but also within just life energy itself we will begin to feel depleted if our awareness doesn't move beyond the mundane into sacred into the sacred realm and i use the word sacred just because our minds are sacred the thoughts that we have are sacred whatever thought you are having in this moment is an experience that allows you to touch upon the sacred or that which is beyond the mundane so even if you are caught in the negative thought the energy that is behind the structure that allows for this thinking is sacred so if we approach our thinking from a perspective where we are looking at the structure of our thinking as if the structure of our thinking is a beautiful temple then what we put into the temple or how we walk into the temple changes it's not like walking into i don't know just some restaurant or bar like some people do and you just think okay i'm going to do whatever here and it's all about entertainment and it's all about doing whatever because i'm sad so i'll drink or i'm unhappy so i'll do this or whatever um people do in the mundane world it's about recognizing that now you're moving into a space sacred space the temple within yourself which is the heart of course and you're moving into the space and what you bring into this space is important so if you bring the mundane meaning if you bring the mundaneness of the mind into the space of the heart and the heart feels very disturbed and this is what depletes energy so if you it's like falling asleep at night if you bring the negative worry worry stressful thoughts into your sleep and you're connecting more to your heart as you relax and let go of the world to fall into a deeper state of consciousness if you bring that worry into the world that you're falling into then that world gets very disturbed by the mundane so you get restless in your sleep or you begin to dream dreams that are tiring worrying or i guess they just don't provide the energy life vibrancy that is possible during sleep so it's the same when we fall into the space of the sacred it's important that our hearts are nurtured and treated with the type of awareness that we would have for example walking into a temple that we love for the religious the historical monument but a temple that feels like coming back home what do we bring into the temple we bring an attitude of beauty an attitude of harmony we repeat the mantra we focus on the beautiful things the most spiritual aspects of life we let go of the mundane so this is how we can approach the awareness of the structure of the structure of awareness that allows you to move to a space within your thinking that is not only different not only new for most people this approach to the mind is totally different and very new but it's also transformational so it's not difficult when we know what we have to do when we create a habit out of what we are doing so that we don't fall into the old ways of doing things but create a new structure a new perspective a new focus so that when we come back to the state of awareness that's natural state of awareness that's within the heart and our focus says oh okay we've done this very often we always fall into that little trap but now that i'm aware that my focus comes back to a sacred attitude then i understand that i'm coming back to a space that may be a little bit difficult sometimes we like to worry for whatever reason about different things may be a little bit difficult to let go of the mundane and to come back to the space of sacredness or humility or just this space where we approach our mind with tender care with loving you know with a loving and nurturing attitude so we're not just bombarding our minds with the worries oh let me think about this another problem let me worry about that we are treating the mind as if the mind is a transformational space a vehicle that allows us to quantum leap into the space of deep awareness so we treat our minds with respect but with with a sense of the mind is important we won't just fill it with all sorts of mundane worries and stresses we will look at it from a different perspective this means that you have to notice what happens when you're thinking your thoughts this means that you need a lot of energy to be able to notice your thoughts in this way to have an awareness that allows you to perceive thoughts as they happen rather than the consequence of thoughts rather than the reaction to thoughts it's very easy to be aware that you're upset because that's a reaction to a situation or thought that you may have had or a focus within your thinking that allowed you to react in such a way where you're feeling upset or experiencing what it means to be upset that's very easy but to capture your thought as your thought is happening that requires a little bit of energy because it means that you have to really look at what's going on this is what awareness means you need to look at what's going on so being coming back to a state of sacredness doesn't mean that you're just dressed up in nice clothes or pretending to be sacred it means that your attitude has to change your attitude happens when your mind is aware of what is going on in itself so if your mind is just capturing the reactions to situations to your thoughts so you're having a thought you don't even know you're not even aware having a worrisome thought or a stressful thought but then you become aware that you're feeling agitated that's not what i'm saying what i'm saying is that you capture your thoughts as they're happening so oh i notice just now that my mind is drifting into that heaviness you perhaps notice the way that your breathing and your attitude changes because you are burdened by a certain situation say a lack of abundance or say a lack of feeling good a lack of tiredness ill-health notice it doesn't mean that you have to try to resolve it you're simply coming back to an awareness where your thinking doesn't just create reaction but where your thinking is being observed so just see what is that what what is the structure that you're creating through your thoughts what is the temple that you're creating through your thoughts the temple of course is your heart but your thinking your mind and heart come together to a space that is manifestation if if part of that temple say the front door of the temple is blocked with all sorts of rubbish you're going to just you're you're not really going to experience the beauty of what is possible what is of your potentiality you're simply going to get caught in oh that's what this so it's the same with your mind if you make sure that your awareness is right there capturing the moment of your thinking rather than the moment after your thinking then you're coming back over to a state of presence notice this as you come back to your home within yourself where you are the home or the temple within yourself where you're coming back to a state of presence notice this now see how different it is when your mind is not just given the space to move in all sorts of directions and explore all sorts of thoughts without awareness but now that you are bringing yourself to a more present aware state notice how your thoughts change because of course that's what happens when you're not just following one reaction and then reacting to that reaction and then reacting to the reaction that you don't even remember reacting to and creating a paradigm of belief systems of course if you come back to an awareness where you are present and your thoughts change and reflect your presence and so your thinking becomes sacred your thinking becomes aware of itself and there is a state of awareness in the mind that is possible when you keep practicing meditation and the meditational attitude in this way so it's almost like exercise you know if you you can't just do it once you have to keep practicing it's enjoyable anyway maybe in the beginning exercise for most people I'd rather sit and watch a movie or I'd rather sit and eat chocolate or whatever so exercise isn't you know it doesn't give you an immediate mundane satisfaction for most people requires a little bit of discipline and requires a little bit of structure you give time to make it possible to exercise five minutes 20 minutes meditation you need to create space where it's easy to fall back into such such a meditational attitude I think it's the same with your thoughts immediately when you begin to practice meditation in this way where your awareness and the structure of your awareness comes back to observing your thoughts and observing all the things that are happening within your thinking structure it's like exercising in the beginning I don't really want to do that I just want to sit here and relax my mind and just see what happens requires energy just like to begin to exercise requires energy you're exercising the structure of your thoughts to come back to stent of awareness this means that you allow the flow of your thoughts to lead you back home to your heart and rest within your heart but it's important to clear the front door of the temple because if it's full of all sorts of worries and reactive states of mind then that's what you take into the temple and so what you look at around you in the temple becomes restless also becomes a reflection of the restlessness that you've brought in through your thinking so presence doesn't mean that there is some magical button that you're pressing and saying to yourself okay I'm present so let's get rid of all these situations that are creating the activity presence just simply means that you're observing your thoughts and they change given time they change because of course state of presence means that you're not worried about yesterday you're not worried about tomorrow you're more aware of what's going on right now and usually what's going on right now is very different from the way that the mind is structured and it's structured to worry about tomorrow and about yesterday so usually when you come back to a state of presence you begin to notice things more than just noticing your thoughts you begin to notice things for example certain structures that you've built around this manipulation are falling back into a space where you're not present to yourself falling back into the past belief systems past perspectives of your own world or future perspectives of your world usually when you come back to this state of presence all that becomes less important because actually for most people this moment is quite perfect and there are subtle levels of realization of perfection that can happen so for example you could just think okay it's not that bad really i'm making a big thing out of nothing because the mind tends to do that especially when the mind thoughts fall into the space of the heart the heart can be very reactive and emotional about things and that you're focusing on because they are important for the mind focusing on future perspective or past perspective becomes very important also then for the heart even though it's not really important for the heart it becomes very disturbed and the energy is depleted but if you are just present in this moment you might think oh well actually i've put things into perspective you know i'm actually quite happy to be alive i'm quite happy to just be able to meditate without pain or suffering i'm actually quite happy just to be able to sense this flow of energy that's within me without worrying about all the other things that the mind so very easily manipulated for them to see but when we begin to explore the present moment we also begin to explore the positive attributes that calm the heart down and so this exercise on this structural and reorientation of the mind allows for the heart to calm down and then the heart comes down and the level of tension that the mind creates simply because it's so lost becomes less acute given time becomes less acute and you're more able to rest in this moment and explore this moment from within its multi-dimensional experience so this moment isn't just looking at your thoughts your thoughts change and capture truly what is happening in this moment beyond just breathing and feeling and connected to life in the normal ways you know through your senses and through mundane aspects of your body you begin to recognize that the mind also contains within certain sacredness that the mind can transcend from mundane thoughts to thoughts that are beautiful that create deeper meaning and that allow you to see things from that deeper meaning perspective so it's just that we are addicted to certain thoughts that our minds continue to think and react in those thoughts and build upon those thoughts in in a way that create any sort of personality within our mental structure that's not the way we think mental structure and we identify that personality as the I this is me I'm my worrisome thoughts I'm my painful thoughts this is me we truly believe it who else could it be it must be me the mind justifies its sort of loss of structure and loss of awareness by justifying that these thoughts painful lost thoughts are actually part of itself but is it really a part of oneself when you come back to being aware of your thoughts then you become aware of how you are depleting your energy in such a way where you're made to think that it's part of yourself because you don't have the energy to explore anything beyond that which is going on in your thinking the worry stress that's going on you're thinking you don't it's not like you have two brains that say one brain is okay let me worry about this and then another brain let me be a little bit more detached from the situation and observe the beauty around me but we can't we choose your choice basically is made made for you if your mind believes that identifies with the belief system that those negatives that mind is so very busy thinking about are actually itself and so you identify your thoughts as you and there is no space to come back to the heart that is a mess and rubbish that you place in front of your heart that then prevents the natural positive healing that is innate in all human beings you can't rest in a place that is not restful so then you where do you exist in the identity of your mind that place within your mind that is so used to creating that identity that you don't even begin to question that that identity may be just creation of your own mind so this is why coming back to awareness the awareness of your thoughts from the space of presence is so very important so as you breathe in breathe out and let go it's so very important to let go of the mundane and just enjoy this present moment and be aware of the thoughts from this present moment as you allow this space to expand through your practice through your meditational attitude just notice how things begin to change it's wonderful to be aware of change and trust that that change is not just happening on some external level but the change is really transforming your belief system that things are different things are impossible the flow of positivity just isn't happening you're transforming these beliefs to come back to the heart that knows that the positivity of being alive is right here in this moment and you're coming back to this moment so as you breathe in and breathe out come back here and let go of what is out there deep breath you may wish to continue in meditation for a few moments just allowing yourself to move deeper and deeper into this beautifully still space thank you you you you