2022-02-15 Satipaṭṭhāna (30) Choiceless Awareness of Sensations

Insight Meditation Center12min

Gil Fronsdal

00:02

This will be the last talk on this fifth exercise of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. The exercise is on mindfulness of the elements. I like to call it mindfulness of the properties: the earth property, the water property, the fire property, and the air property. This is a meditation of mindfulness of sensations. The basic sensory awareness exercise is to just be present for the sensations that are direct and immediate as they occur.

Gil Fronsdal

00:46

There are a variety of ways of practicing this. One is the way we practiced in the meditation today. Some people find this easier than meditating on their breath. That is to just be grounded in the sensations of the body. If the mind wanders off, come back to the body and the flow of sensations. The attention is not anymore directed to the breath, but to the whole body. It is just rooted in the body, floating, roaming around, and touching into the present moment with the different sensations as they flow through and come into being.

Gil Fronsdal

01:29

Some people find that breathing actually works as a better anchor to the present. If they stay there, they can develop their stability, concentration, and mindfulness. This is also a sensation meditation. It is the same meditation, but now we are aware of all the sensations that come into play as we breathe.

Gil Fronsdal

01:51

Technically, the four elements meditation is what we are doing in vipassana when we are tuning into the breathing. Now, the attention is in a much narrower, smaller area of our body – just in the area where the breathing occurs, or where the breathing is predominant. We are there with the flow of sensations. We let the attention float within the location where we are focusing on the breathing. We let the sensations come into that floating awareness or – let the floating awareness settle on the ripple of sensations that come into play.

Gil Fronsdal

02:34

As we get quieter and quieter, and the breathing gets stiller, it is easier to just stay with the simple sensations that come and go as we breathe. It is still a sensation meditation. It is still this four element meditation that we are doing, but because it is rooted in a particular place, some people find it easier. The mind does not wander off as much. It is easier to settle in – simpler that way. As I said, some people find it simpler to do the whole body meditation.

Gil Fronsdal

03:05

Sometimes in mindfulness meditation, I like to teach that we are rooted in the breathing. It is like the default. That is the place we cultivate stability and steadiness of mind – to stay in the present moment. But if some other sensation arises in the body that is more compelling, then we contentedly, relaxedly, let the attention float to that other place. We begin doing the sensation meditation in that place, in the knees, or the back, or wherever the sensations might be strong.

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