What is This?

The purpose of this meditation is to use a fairly simple, and ultimately unanswerable question, "What is This?" as a prompt for discovery.

Transcript

This is a Meditate.

Io inquiry practice called,

What is this?

The purpose of this meditation is to use a fairly simple and ultimately unanswerable question,

What is this?

As a prompt for discovery.

To begin with,

As we do with all meditations,

We're going to start by checking in with our posture and finding our seat.

So we'll be seated for this practice,

Making sure that our sit bones are firmly planted on the seat or cushion beneath us.

Hands can be resting on our thighs or in our lap,

Eyes open or closed,

Whichever you prefer.

Aligned and balanced from front to back,

Left to right.

Sit bones moving toward the earth downward,

Back of the head lifting toward the sky upward.

Inviting the body to relax.

May the body relax.

And inviting an energized and alert attention as well.

Calm,

Relaxed,

Vigilant and alert.

Now that we've found our seat,

Allowing our attention to begin to inhabit this posture.

Dropping down from the head to the neck,

Upper torso,

Shoulders,

Arms,

Down into the stomach.

To the core of the body,

The pelvis,

The legs,

Knees,

All the way down to the feet.

Allowing attention to be pervasive and ubiquitous in the body.

Settling downward,

Inward.

And once you feel connected and settled in your experience,

We'll begin to work with the inquiry question,

The prompt.

What is this?

The way we'll do that is first by repeating it either silently to ourselves or out loud.

And just dropping the question in,

Asking sincerely,

Authentically.

What is this?

Staying with the question after you've asked it.

What is this?

At some point you'll lose the question or the inquiry itself will trail off.

And at that point you just return back to the question,

Back to the prompt and repeat again,

Ask again.

What is this?

And each time we ask,

We bring a renewed curiosity,

A renewed openness to the question as if we're asking it for the first time.

What is this?

Staying with the inquiry,

Following the question,

Letting it lead you.

What is this?

In a similar way to if you lost your keys or you lost your smartphone and you're looking for it.

There's a vigilance,

A kind of consistency to the looking.

We don't let go of looking,

Otherwise we'll never find.

So in the same way with this practice,

When you ask the question,

What is this?

See if you can stay with it,

If you can maintain that consistent looking,

That consistent wondering.

When you lose the question,

When you wander or when the inquiry trails off by itself,

Once you've noticed that,

Come back to the question with fresh eyes,

With a fresh heart,

Asking again.

What is this?

And in this next few rounds of inquiry,

Of asking,

I'd like to just invite you to ask the question with a little bit more softness,

A little bit more spaciousness of heart and mind.

Seeing how this changes the question,

How this changes the meditation.

So softening,

Relaxing,

Being more open in the heart and the mind.

What is this?

Holding the question gently,

Not knowing,

Allowing whatever arises to arise.

Confusion,

Knowing,

Insight,

Blankness,

Whatever it is,

Holding it with the question,

Vast and open,

Curious and uncertain.

What is this?

And now in this last couple times,

What I'd like to offer is a suggestion,

And that suggestion is to this time ask the question with as little effort as possible,

Letting it be just a small echo in the mind.

A small whisper on the lips.

What is this?

Allowing the space to respond,

The inquiry to be gentle.

What is this?

Allowing the question to trail off into space.

What is this?

What is this?

What is this?

Reviews

An interesting practice as both inquiry and mantra, changing as the question is asked more and more quietly. Intriguing, calming, revealing. Thank you!

Thank you! This is such an effective anchor to practice that I am sure I will be using the technique often, on the cushion and in daily life. Great teaching.

What is this? (A gentle yet rigorous inquiry)

My favorite question that I first heard when starting meditation.

Simple, powerful and very grounding. Thank you ✨🙏🏻✨

Simple but profound.

I found this very centering and enlightening. I’ve never experienced such a mediation yet I will definitely return to it again. I feel a sort of radiance around me! Very powerful!

Interesting! Namaste

Very good for focus. Thank you. 🙏🌸

Many thanks, seemed to end too soon for me. I stayed longer after it had finished....🌸🙏🏻

Really great, insightful

Very relaxing. I enjoyed this meditation. ☮

Lovely soothing voice! Different, will return to this again

This was amazing! Thank you. This will be bookmarked. First off the voice and cadence resonated with me. The prompt for discovery surprisingly flowed easily for me. My 'challenge' prompt came with the word 'viligance'. How can I be viligant and meditate? Those were contradictions in terms for me because of my para-military background. What a wonderful call to action for me. I now know how to be viligant and meditate. This for me is significant. Thank you.

Thank you so much I love it

That much closer to knowing what this is.

Wonderful. Cried through most of it. Just the releas I needed. Thank you

I love this. Such an important tool to approach any situation with a clearer mind - it makes room for intuition and intuitive thoughts to come in ❤️🙏🏻 grateful.