[127] Compassion Practice and Awareness Meditation Session – with Joe Parent
12:03AM Sep 12, 2023
Speakers:
Joe Parent
Audience Member
Keywords:
posture
awareness
rest
breath
breathe
body
filling
open
put
hang
practice
shoulders
session
chin
feel
eyes
emptying
soften
suffering
mind
Thank you. Nice to see everybody.
For today, I do want to focus on the practice and spend a little extra time on the compassion practice that we do there's there's certainly plenty of reasons to practice compassion these days. With all the natural disasters and all the wars that are going on. It's challenging. So one thing that's helpful is to put things in perspective. So when we do the compassion practice, we're we're kind of opening up our world and looking at what's going on with us and to the best extent to the most extent that we can do we do our best to put ourselves in other people's shoes, other people's places. So that's something that's common to a lot of fates, putting others before oneself, of thinking of others. It's it's sometimes challenging to to say, what would I be experiencing if I were in their shoes and and you know, we have this expression. If I were you, I'd do these things. But we don't know that we don't know what it would be like if I were you. So I think the expression should really be if you were me, we would do the this what we do know, somebody says, Well, I got to decide whether to do this or that. I said, Well, if you were me, you'd pick this because that's right. But I don't have any idea what you'd pick what do you know, show me in what what's going on. And the other thing I wanted to share was I was listening to a class that was taught by a Tibetan, very learned Tibetan teacher, who I've studied with and he was talking about the someone asked him a question. This is I found this interesting. Is there a collective consciousness? Is there one consciousness that goes through that we're all we all tap into? And he talked about the Buddhist teaching about that. And and the the Buddha's teaching in the word that's usually translated as egolessness or selflessness is I'm not mn a n a t ma n. Now when you put the letter in Sanskrit, when you put the letters A N in front of a word, it's the negation. So it's saying no atman What does atman mean? Well, the the reference there from the Buddha's time, as far as we know, was that the, the tradition at the time, and I don't even know if it would be called Hindu, but it was the tradition in India the time was the notion of atman as this collective one, this collective mind, this big self, that we're all a part of, so that the our deepest mind is part of this existing mind that goes through everybody. And he was saying that that's not the case. That there isn't this substantial independently existing mind that exists, that we're all part of it and so we, he said now, so there's a deep open consciousness called the outlier, or it's actually ground the ground of knowing it's the same word that's in the term Himalaya of the mountain range. Hmm. And then it's ala ya. But this Alia is not something that everybody shares. We each have our own ground consciousness which then gets filled with whatever seeds we planted in it from our karma from our actions, then grow into our personalities states of mind, that direct our action, our speech and our actions. So although we all share the same quality of that basic consciousness, which is the capacity to know and the capacity to feel, it is a capacity that we all have. But there isn't a thing there a thing that we all can see. That's the part of me that connects with all that because there isn't a thing there. And then we look at the notion of no self. It doesn't mean no personhood, no individuality. Because we're all quite different. Even identical twins are quite different in a lot of ways. They share very, very similar karma in a lot of ways as well. But there are differences. And if we look at the, what we call a self as a process, rather than a thing that doesn't take away its unique individuality of the particular shapes that this process takes. It just takes the thing Enos away from it, the solid permanent, for there isn't a solid, permanent part. And so, I think that it was very helpful and I wanted to share that with you. This understanding that this basic consciousness, sometimes we might call it Buddha nature. It's not one Buddha nature that we all have a piece of. We're all that Buddha nature isn't a thing. It is our capacity, or are potentiality for enlightenment that we all have, but it manifests in its own way. So that's the interesting thing for us. To explore. And not to think, Oh, I'm separate from that and these other people are all connected to this collective consciousness. And I'm left out in the cold so we don't have to compare ourselves to others of how how much they're tuned into the collective consciousness or not because there isn't one. We can say that person has less overlay they have more insight into how things actually work. And that's a person that we might regard as a teacher but not somebody that has something that we don't have.
Okay, so, just thought I'd share that. And it's an interesting thing to explore. How do I take things? Do I take things that aren't solid and real to be solid and real? And as we know, in dream work, do I take what's really a dream to be real? Only to find out that it's a dream
and notice our inclination towards separateness towards thingness. towards trying to get a handle on it and it's comfortable to get a handle on things but until you let go, you can't
ride ride the current of the river towards enlightenment. So interesting to contemplate. Now, what we're doing in our practice, is meditation that relies on some object of attention, but doesn't have a particular form. So it's not really a contemplation
in working with thoughts, we can be aware of the patterns but we don't chase after them. So in our working with our thoughts in the practice, we don't particularly analyze and we don't particularly judge Oh, that was a good one. That wasn't a good one. And believe me, when you have thoughts, there's part of you that knows that wasn't, it wasn't very nice to think. In other parts to go, oh, that's, that was a nice thought. But we don't have to go you know it without having to think about it. If you see something, you don't have to think I am that I see that flower, it's red. You just know it without having to add a thought on top of it. So you can have a sense of knowing of what the last experience you had was what the last feeling was what the last thought was, what the last sensation was, without having to then repeat it to yourself to make sure you had that experience. You had it and can let it go. So touch and go is the nature of our practice.
So let's get started. And then we'll have time for some discussion afterwards. It's good. If you can not be looking directly into the screen. Not good for your eyes because part of this practice we're going to do with our eyes open. And posture is is helpful when when we slumped over like this, you get very drowsy. If we sit and let our head go back and our chin go up, we get kind of spaced out. So we really want to go back to when we were kids and the teacher said sit up and pay attention especially if we get startled to do it. Suddenly we sit up and pay attention and we find that without getting rigid. we've straightened up or back. And what I'd like to encourage you to do is to open your heart, open your chest as well. Excuse me. We will get to that but let's let's work from the ground up. So actually sitting, a being being solidly seated. Find your seat and find your balance so that you're not tilted too much one way or the other. Your legs. Now we get to the ground, feet flat on the floor. And if your knees are higher than your hips, you'll want to just cross your legs straight about where your feet were, but but bring both of them in a cross at the ankles are higher just however you need to to let your knees be lower than your hips and your feet aren't pulled in too far or stretched out too far away from you. And now feel that base your lower body. You can weigh your toes a little bit feel your feet calves, ankles, you size and shift a little back and forth and really feel how your legs connect in to your hip joints. Now feel your hips and your pelvis. sit bones pressing into your seat. That's your lower lower part of your body.
Your torso we talked about straight back. It's not literally straight is just the idea to feel that it's straight up and a straight line between your tailbone and not just up to your shoulders but to the top of the back of your head. Or if you still have hair, it's where your cowlick is right there. That corner where the top and the back meet. And feeling like that like that's a straight line. Let your arms hang straight down from your your shoulders and leaving your elbows where they are. Just swivel your hands up so that each hand is on their respective home down on the respective thigh. not reaching out and not pulled too far back so your upper arms are basically vertical. And now here's the point. Find that spot, but a third of the way up from the bottom of your sternum. Sometimes people measure it in a finger width at the tips of your fingers for fingertip widths. From that notch in your ribcage that's the bottom of your breastbone.
without lifting your chin what you'll find that does is it it it opens your chest it pulls your shoulder blades slightly together and your shoulders slightly back and you can really feel your ribcage as your lungs filled with air
as I said you don't tilt your chin down or let it float up. But when you raise your chest a little bit your chin comes in naturally. Your lips just slightly parted is if you're saying the sound ah ah so relaxed jaw slightly parted lips. If you're more comfortable you can have them very, very lightly touching. But we don't want to clench your teeth. Tight lip be tight lipped. about it. If you wonder what to do with your your tongue, you can either just let it rest naturally or let it float and just lightly touch the upper palate behind your front teeth. Wherever your tongue the tip or further for the back whatever touches there. It should be as natural as possible and we're going to start with their eyes gently closed
do a body scan. We have our posture now. We really want our spine to be like a tent pole and the rest of our body to be able to relax. Just hang loose from the tent pole like Canvas before it stretched out into a tent. There's a little bit of effort of feeling like the back of your head gently extends upward in your chest is raised just a little bit up and forward a tiny bit. Everything else let it soften around you your face muscle muscles in your scalp your jaw without letting your mouth hanging wide open. Just let it soften let the tension melt and run down. And out of you and into the earth. Shoulders really let them hang our neck and shoulders. We clench your jaw tensor our neck and raise our shoulders and don't even realize it. Breathe out them hang up her arms chest and upper back that uplifted quality without tension without extra tension. ribcage all around, lower back stomach and deep belly
with them all soften just hang there like that Canvas without losing your posture
covered region hips and buttocks
forearms and thighs and knees. Freeze out and let it all soften.
Calves, ankles and feet
and let your awareness return deep core of your torso. Again, a few finger widths below your navel. With deep in your torso. You have depth front to back as well as with feel like it's just in front of your spine. Put your awareness rest down there. Your lower torso expands and contracts as the breath goes in and out. It's your diaphragm pressing down pulling the breath in pressing up and pull it pushing the breath out. Your lungs are passive receivers of the air the action happens from deep in your core. Feel that expanding and contracting feels like your core is filling and emptying. Your whole torso filling and emptying. Mainly breathing through your nose. If a little air escapes on the way out through your mouth, it's not a problem but inhale through your nostrils mature awareness rests in the core of your torso
feeling that filling and emptying. Like ocean waves just coming gently up onto the shore and then pulling back into the ocean. Filling a natural rhythm let your body breathe itself be an observer more than a controller
is the gong fade slit your eyes gently open about halfway without losing your posture just look down. Be aware visually of the space your body is sitting in. You're only looking at a couple of feet in front of you. Rather than looking at something your eyes rest in that direction and then soften. So you see the whole space that you're sitting in that your body is sitting just a few feet in front and to the sides. So there's a there's a visual awareness of your posture as well as the internal feeling
so aware of your posture. Wherever the space you're sitting in. Let the main focus of your attention beyond that be on that feeling of filling as the breath comes in and doing as the breath goes out. If your breath gets very quiet, it'll be a very subtle feeling. The rhythm will still continue and If your mind wanders into a thought and then another and then another and you find that a series of thoughts of taking your attention away and you're no longer aware of your posture. Space you're sitting in while you're breathing. Have a sense of humor about that. Just smile because at the moment you realize it. You're already back. And if you'd like you can label that moment. It's kind of a code word thinking or thought. Meaning I was lost in thought. I'm already back. Now return to awareness of posture, space and the feeling of filling in empty we'll do that for a couple of minutes.
If your eyes closed can you get sleepy and your posture kind of filled downward. Open your eyes wide array raise your posture up and raise your chest further out
return to the feeling of filling and emptying and include your chest in your nostrils or within your deep belly.
If your mind was filled with runaway thoughts so almost every moment you felt like oh I lost track of the breathing key triggers or focus more on the all the details of your lower torso your core chilling as the breath comes in, in a gap, a transition a moment of transition and emptying is the breath goes contracting. Expanding transition contracting all the details of that process continual is your object of focus
going foods you can move a little bit refresh your posture
reconnect with your seat lower body. torso, chest. Head and shoulders open your eyes normally that extra wide not not partly closed and you'll find if you maintain that good posture with your chin not floating up. Your eyes naturally. Look out in slightly downward. Soften your gaze and relax your face muscles. To open up to your widest peripheral vision.
Open your awareness of the space you're in. In front to the sides. A sense of all around you. Open a pure hearing to whatever sounds are happening in your environment near and far. Be open to experiencing sensations of your body.
Be open to thoughts person through your mind. You can let them come and go they don't leave a trace, like a bird flying across the sky
in through your breath. As your breath comes out. It goes out and mixes with the air, the atmosphere in the room. Ride the breath out be one with it so that as your breath goes out, your awareness opens out. Less thinking about or feeling here. more open to that not so much this more that of an out at the end of the outbreath is an opens opening and letting go into the spaciousness of awareness. The body breathes in by itself you're aware of it but it's not the object of your attention. Out open, let go in that gap rest in spaciousness as the breath comes in. And again out. Open risks and spaciousness. If the mind wanders, it's the same process. Reconnect your posture, your open awareness pick up on the next out breath out. Open and rest. We'll do that for a few Minutes.
Going phage raise your gaze further look out over the horizon. Imagine that your awareness extends out beyond the space that you're in. Now to the horizon and beyond it out to the sky
imagine that your awareness extends out in all directions as far as the sky above and all around.
You might even imagine it extends out into the night sky out as far as the for the star rest for a moment in that openness.
Now under that sky, all over the world are living beings all who seek peace of mind. Happiness, health and contentment
all of whom want to be free of struggle, suffering and disease. We all share that in common
whatever struggle suffering, illness does discontent you know that there are millions of others feeling the same way. So as you breathe in, imagine that you can take that from them
wishing them to be free of that suffering
and as you breathe out, imagine that whatever makes you happy content of peace of mind
you can send out to all of them. They all those beings find happiness and have the causes of happiness, peace, health and contentment
they'd be relieved of their suffering illness, struggle, fear
take that into your heart of compassion, all of their struggles of their fears and suffering. radiate out as you breathe out. Peace health and happiness
if a particular being or groups of beings come to mind, work with take on their suffering, absorb it into the loving heart of compassion that dissolves it and radiate out. Peace, health and happiness to those beings.
To go with go of your imaginings. just reconnect with your posture your body your breathing. Lower your gaze again
for a moment in prisons
body space breathing.
When we do these sessions, because we're practicing compassion we want to continue beyond the session and take the energy of what we experienced and share it with others. And continue to put others before ourselves as best we can. So we dedicate the benefit of what we've just done. And you can repeat after me or put it in your own words. May the practice we have just done we have even more benefit others than to ourselves
so thank you and you know the interesting thing is by giving that away there is less less concern for ourselves and more concern for others and it is to concern for ourselves at the expense of others. That causes so much suffering in the world for ourselves and others. So that's why it's mutually beneficial to dedicate it in that way. So we have a few minutes and if you have to leave right at the top of the hour, that's fine. You don't need to say goodbye. You can but put it in the chat if you'd like. And we'll stay for a couple of minutes past so if you have any comments or questions and I'm always curious as to what your experience was of that particular move of raising that heart center slightly forward and slightly up.
Thank you for your comments and
more comfortable to place my hands on my thighs. Oh instead of letting them hang down. I think that there's that was I apologize if that wasn't clear. The idea is to bring your hands up on top of your thighs. Palms down. I'm sorry, have you heard hang down. Sorry about that. So you, you let your arms hang down and then you swivel your hands up, leaving your elbows where they are, bring your hands up. The only reason to let your arms hang down is to find that vertical feeling of your upper arms. So yes, you do put your hands palm down on your thighs one on each thigh and another traditional hand postures to put your hands one on top of the other like this. See if we can get the mic my camera doesn't want to do that. Like this with your thumbs very lightly touching fingertips there and just let that rest in your lap just below again below your navel
any other comments or questions about the practice or? I think someone Dennis is Zen golf the sound of one hand putting its cue cute Emma's like that?
Laura
Yeah, I was I was focused with a lot of curiosity on that part. Have you done this before in your meditations? I love your meditation. Thank you. That's the part where we are letting our letting our awareness ride out with the breast into the into the rest of the world. And I always find that a bit challenging because when I try to identify for myself what is my awareness? far is my words going? Is it going as far as my miles and then how far did you go beyond that? Sometimes it seems like maybe it goes a couple inches. Young my mom and then when I thought about it, I try to focus on where I was where my word is being even if it was inside my body because that seems to be the default. My default assumption that it's contained inside my skin and then I really well in most of my body I'm not really aware of my heart just being there most of the time. Unless I really focus on it, and then I am what I'm really perceiving is is some sort of physical perception, perception of sensation.
Yes, that's right.
And so I'm not really sure whether that is what my awareness is.
Well, let's see. Awareness. The interesting thing is it's, it's basically knowing. So if you're looking out into the distance knowing that you're looking at the sky you know, you're looking at the sky when you're looking at the sky, right? Yeah, that's, that's how that's how big your awareness is. In fact, just thinking thinking about the stars, your awareness is as big as the stars. Okay? D so it's awareness. It's not a thing. The idea of the breath is a metaphor for you see, the breath goes out and our awareness or is usually focused on something rather than just open to whatever is coming. And so that opening of and not fixating on a particular thing is the idea that the breath starts here. So our awareness starts here. breath goes out. So let your mind open out. And imagine that you're looking at I wonder what's next Okay, that's when you when you wonder what's next. You know, if you're, if you're wondering what's next you don't look I wonder what is it going to be over there? Is it going to come from over here? Is it coming from over there? Is it gonna come from over here? No, I should just be open to the whole scene to see where it's gonna show up. And so it's that feeling of openness. And what I was going to explain this for so sometimes, if your breath has quieted down, and you breathe out and you open it up, it's almost like I don't really need to come back here to start over going up. I'm just gonna hang out and that's fine. To just hang out into in the open space. Now the only issue is if you're this versus that mind comes up and says, Oh, yeah, here we are hanging out in the open space. Yeah, it was pretty cool. And you don't realize you're thinking about hanging out in the open space. Suddenly you Yeah, it's really good. Reminds me of a time I was out on this picnic, and it will and off you go. So at that point, you smile and you're thinking now reconnect with the starting point of it going out.
Go out for a few. And then like I said, you can keep doing it that way out. Open, rest, out, open, rest and sometimes out. Open rest. Hang Out is okay.
Yeah, that's helpful. Thank you.
If you're struggling the question ask is am I regarding it as a thing? Or is it a process Oh, open mind process. Awareness going this far are only here thing how big is this? Is it like an accordion? So it's not a thing. It's a capacity. Potential energy. Good, and iPhone. I don't know the name behind it. But says the sternum move. subtle but beneficial opening. Yes. A lot of people felt that to Jerry
Well, you know, this is probably one of my favorite programs on the internet, you know, the the Monday and Wednesday sessions from 6pm to 7pm Mountain Daylight Time. And every week I'll get either a message into my email, giving me a wink how to get to the session, or else I'll sign into a nightclub and, you know, look down to the events and I'll click on the event you know, to come to this session. Well, this is always work. I've been with nightclub for years. Well today for the very first time. When I signed into my account at nine o'clock. It listed the event it listed the time but it gave no link how to get to the zoom session. So then I went to my email where you know, I get a message that says you know, there's a session tonight click on this link and it'll take you there. There was no link in the email.
But Jerry, this is an administrative thing that you should talk to Alyssa about. Okay, not even the slightest clue about these they don't come from me. So Alyssa, you're on. Do you want to put in the chat a, an email for Jerry to Yeah. Or a phone number for him to call Yeah, I'll
put in my email. Right. Good.
Admin.
Oh, thank you very much. I mean, like I say, this a wonderful, wonderful program.
Thank you so much for saying that. Appreciate it. I always want you to be here. Okay, well, anybody else? That's going once, going twice going bye. Bye. So thank you so much. And we'll see you again soon. I'm back here two weeks and two weeks from Thursday a week from Thursday. Is the is my program. On third? Thursday mornings. Okay. Bye bye. recording stopped. Thank you, Alyssa.
