So I'll be teaching tomorrow morning. 9am Pacific Time, and Alyssa is going to post the link and then I'll do a couple in October as well. And so it's nice to see Barry from 2001 A Space Odyssey it's nice to see some of the people I can see many of you it's nice nice to see you. I was mentioning that. Sometimes the dog barks next door and I was exploring the relationship with sound and I remembered and I think it was Andrew said you know instead of thinking that sound is bothering me thinking well, I'm creating the bother so I'm actually bothering the sound. It's just a sound. We we talk about
we talk about appearance. Emptiness, the things that we see as our perception of them rather than how they actually are out there. We don't know how they are out there because the only experience we have of things out so called out there are ones that images that come as light through our eyes get transmitted to our brain in the visual cortex and then produce what we would think of as images. And in fact, what we see isn't even the whole picture because our brains aren't capable of processing all of the light that comes through. So our brain actually picks and chooses based on past experience. There there are some optical illusion things that we can we see the one of them is somebody you write out in three lines. Paris and and then in the and then the spring and people just see Paris in the spring because we're so used to just seeing it that way we visually ignore some of the words. I I've written several books and in editing them I have the experience. I read it and I read it the way I I'm thinking it and I don't see what's actually on the page. That's why it's very hard to proofread your own work, because you don't really see everything that's that's there. So we call that sight, sight or vision visual vision and emptiness, appearance, appearance, emptiness and then their sound emptiness and that is again. What are we hearing something out there? Well, we're not actually hearing it out there. We're picking up vibrations through our ears that are going into our brain and in the oral center of our bring that into sounds when their sounds that are familiar and and it's very interesting our experience of the sounds is extreme and and visuals extremely determined by our attitude. I remember one time in a in a long practice program. There was a guy who had a mala Mala has a string of beads that you count when you're when you're doing certain practices. You can even people sometimes use it even when they're counting their breaths and or mantras or whatever they're counting. And he had they were really big wooden beads and when he did count them with his thumb counting through them. I'm going to show you right back
so disappeared into the mountain stabilized stabilize for a second. There we go. And so this this is a model that wouldn't be then you count them like like that and go have your thumb moving them. But his his were really big and they would go click, click, click, click every time you did, and that's all you could hear. That's all you would hear because it's a little group selling meditation. It was driving me crazy. And I so wanted to say you know, you got to stop this. It's driving me crazy. But then something happened and he befriended me in a difficult situation. And the next time we had a group practice, and I went in there and I heard the motto. Oh, that's my friend. That's such a soothing sound knowing that he's there with the click, click click. And so it was an entirely different experience of it. I was listening the other day. I was practicing the other day and listening and I have some wind chimes outside and they make a certain volume of sound very pleasant to me. Then I heard the neighbors across the fence in the backyard talking on some she was talking on the phone and it was really irritating. You know, come on trying to meditate here you know and then I realized the volume was almost identical to the volume of the wind chimes. But the wind changes were so pleasant and soothing. And and her voice was not unpleasant but it was more like you should know better. So we have this version of the world that we and how we'd like things to be and what we see and what we hear have those are all colored and shaped by our attitude towards towards things. Now though, so we have appearance emptiness sound emptiness, and then we have our own thoughts. And this is what I wanted to mention today. Thoughts. We also talked about as thought emptiness and that is that they arise and then they're there. They unfold for a little bit and then they disappear. And if we look carefully, they don't really unfold for very long, they're only there momentarily. But even on a gross observation level. We the thought arises where you can engage with it a little bit, and then it disappears. Sometimes if we get caught up and we're in a cycle of one. It feels like we're thinking the same thing over again, but we're really just recycling it and thinking the same thing over and over and over again. And the image that's used in the Mahamudra tradition is the thoughts are good and bad, happy and said all thoughts vanish into emptiness like the imprint of a bird. In the sky. It goes by it doesn't leave any imprint. That's from Qigong Trungpa Rinpoche so, so a way of working with thoughts because it's really important in our meditation. That the kind of the point of the meditation experience it's not to try to stop thoughts, but to dis identify with them. When we identify with the thoughts, they fill our mind and it feels like that's our mind our mind and the thoughts are exactly the same thing. But in fact, we have thoughts but we are not our thoughts. So the thoughts arise, lasts for a little bit then subside, and they come like waves and actually feel sometimes when they're connected with strong feelings and energy of emotions. They're like waves that wash over us and sometimes sweep us away. The really big the really big beautiful ones are like tsunamis. But what we are what our mind is is more like the ocean. And the thoughts are the display or play of the ocean that arise from the ocean and subside back into the ocean are they different than the ocean? Yes and no, are the same as the ocean? Yes and no. But they're not the same depth as the ocean.
So sometimes when there's powerful, powerful thoughts that are that like a rumination that just keep coming and they have some feelings that go with them. It's helpful to say, well, these are thoughts. These thoughts are waves. But my mind is the ocean and I find it's helpful. It's not helpful. It just happens that way when you say it that way. It's like the the first part is kind of high pitched. These thoughts are like waves. But my mind is the ocean and the contrast actually just from the different words and different images changes your feeling expectation, your feeling and and expectations and relationship with them. So then the thoughts can be thought emptiness they don't have a substance to them. They're an arising. They're they're an accumulation of impulses and experiences that we've had that something in the present moment triggers arising. So up they come like a wave and they happen and then down. So if you've ever body surfed and you have to go out pass the waves. What you do is you don't fight through them. You dive under them. And the waves are still crashing up there. But you're down here where it's quiet, then you come up on the other side. So it's the same kind of image of that relationship that you let let the thoughts go by up here. You drop down and be with the mind that's bigger than the thoughts and one of the admonitions Trungpa Rinpoche gave was Don't let your mind take the shape of the thoughts. Now don't let is not really quite the way it works with. Notice. Notice if your mind has taken the shape of the thoughts. Now, the second you you're you are aware of that. In that very instant, there's something more because the only time that your mind is taking the shape of the thoughts is when you're completely occupied with them in an essence in a daydream and completely convinced that what you're thinking is how things are
it's never what you think is never happening. So anytime you tune into how things are it's not thinking about it, because then you're thinking about how things are not realizing how things are. So in that moment you have recognition, which we could also call recollection that you recall. Hey, wait a minute. I am not my thoughts. It's like on your computer when you when you hit full screen than what's on the screen is everything on the screen. And then you get caught up and you go oh, wait a minute, I can hit escape and you hit that escape button. And that window shrinks down. You see all the other windows that you have around it. You'll see your desktop you'll Oh, that's just one one program on my desktop nuts, not the whole desktop. But when you hit that here I'll do it on your share the screen. Here you go. Okay, up. No, that's not the screen. So, oh, wait a minute. It was just a screen. So you don't have to be the whole thing. Understand. Once you realize that in that moment, it's like when it's that moment when you're doing your meditation, and your thoughts pop up, up, up, up, up, up, and you go. There's a moment of recognition that you're not simply being with the breath, but you're off someplace else in thoughts. And then you go, whoa. And at that moment, you've hit the the escape button got hit and the screen shrunk down. And you know what you were thinking like you remember a dream or a daydream. But you realize oh, I was thinking that? Well if I was thinking that then I and that are not the same thing. You know, I was talking the other day and we're talking about Western philosophy and Descartes is as the famous thing, I think, therefore I am. But the from the Buddhist point of view, he thinks therefore he thinks he is. And that's pretty much that's pretty much where we leave it that we are not our thoughts, so it'll be helpful. When in your post meditation when you find yourself all caught up to remember. Oh, that's thinking that's the waves My mind is the ocean now I want to go through a sequence of practices today of leading through just as to reconnect for the people who've experienced these already and for new people to introduce you to the to the practices, but they go through a sequence that starts with grounding. And we do the grounding because that's we drop down under the waves. You know? I don't think anybody I can say I think with with Oh Melissa had to go and buy milk Okay, I hope she finds some the that was in the chat. I'm pretty sure nobody has heard the expression down tight. Yesterday was kind of I got kind of down tight. That's because it doesn't exist. No one's ever down tight. We're just uptight. And that's what happens. Our energy gets up in our body and the waves are up here. So we need to move down under the waves. So we'll do the grounding practice. Then we'll do taming the mind which is staying with the internal sensation of filling and emptying with the breath. And today we're going to work with that deep in our torso like down in the in the depths of the ocean. And then we'll work with more open awareness of mixing mind and space on the medium of the breath. And if we have some if we have time, we'll do a little bit of compassion practice as is so sorely needed in as a friend. of mine likes to say these troubled times.
So, to begin with, let's and then we'll try to leave some time for discussion at the end questions. If you have any runner, discuss, practice. So get yourself situated and really kind of sink down into your seat. Feel your SIP bonds. And let's start by connecting with our body really embodying ourselves, inhabiting our body. Start from the ground up, wiggle your toes, move your ankles, calves and knees and legs and just really feel lower body hips and pelvis. Then then your torso, lower back and deep belly and all the way up your back and feel feel some depth see if you can feel your thickness. So often we experience things as if we're two dimensional beings, but we have some depth. In fact, it's helpful practice sometimes to feel like you're actually breathing in into your core from all around and we'll experience a little bit of that to try a little bit of that. And then move your shoulders feel your arms stretch your hands out within your fingers. Fully inhabit your body, chest, upper back, shoulders and your neck in your head and now having fully embodied it. Hold the good posture upright but not rigid. Spine is the pillar or column. Sometimes they say tempo but that sounds kind of rigid but some you know basically, it's the upright quality and the rest of your body let it just hang from that upright spine like Canvas before attempt gets pulled out. We do we do hold residual areas of tension or body so you're going to scan down through and just find and identify any of them and and notice them and just by awareness of them. Let them relax as much as they will. You can't push the tension away because that just is adding more tension. So just let it relax as much as it will. And just notice that that was a place where you collect it. Start from the top of your head and the scalp. Forehead eyes ears, cheekbones, and jaw. That's a place where you might have some residual tension. You can even wiggle it a little bit. You want your jaw soft but not just hanging loose so that your lips they end up being either just barely touching or slightly parted. Your tongue rests just however it naturally rests and it floats up to the upper palate and touches there just leave it there. neck, shoulders collarbone, shoulder blades upper arms, chest and upper back. Keep breathing as you breathe. Move your awareness down.
ribcage
solar plexus, lower back stomach and down into your deep belly. Sometimes we have some tension there in our deep belly. Since you see it's an interesting exercise. Hold your upright posture. Let your deep belly relax. Just experiment with that for a moment
you may notice that when you really can do that. Everything above it softens and below it softens. That deep belly is the core where all the energy connects with hips and thighs, pelvic, hamstrings, quads, arms, hands knees and lower legs calves and ankles and feet
let your awareness drop down the thoughts the way we think about things feel like they're happening up behind our forehead so you can be aware of your thoughts happening there but then let your awareness itself your mind drop back and down. Down behind your throat behind your chest, behind your heart. Behind your stomach behind the solar plexus down behind your navel. Resting a couple of inches below your navel in front of your spine. Deep in the core of your torso
it's quiet down there.
Just gentle currents like the ocean below the waves
resting your mind there. Your eyes just open gently to be an observer of the sensation of your breath coming in and filling you and emptying out of your internal sensation deep down in your core as if your torso was filling with air and then emptying. So the object of our attention is this feeling of filling and emptying. With awareness of our posture. Your eyes are about half open looking downward aware of the space that you're sitting in aware of your body. Feeling itself fill an empty as the breath goes in and out
if you find yourself trying to control your breath try to let go and be more of an observer. And if your mind wanders off into a daydream the moment you realize that you're already back, you don't have to come back to the present. You're always your body's always in the present come back to your body the feeling of filling and emptying if you want to punctuate that moment you can say that was thinking or wondering. Return to the feeling of filling and emptying. We'll do that for a few Minutes.
The GM foods just relax striving and trying to get the practice right now reinvigorate your posture for a moment. Look out more straight ahead. If there's something distracting in your field of vision, you can look slightly downward, but not as close as we just did before. And if you're looking at your screen, it's fine if you want to turn to the side
and look out as the breath goes out what's happening is it's going out and dissolving into the atmosphere. You take your self consciousness, the sense of I'm over here, the environments over there. You take this I'm over here and join it with the breath. send that out and let that dissolve into space as the breath dissolves into the atmosphere. So this meanness this eye goes out dissolves and then you just rest
long as you're resting the body breathes in by itself. And you just pick up as the breath goes out, join it go out, dissolve and rest in the gap. Out dissolve rest. Again, if your mind goes off into a daydream the moment you realize that your back just reconnect with your posture and join the next step for us. Out dissolve and rest we'll do that for a few Minutes.
extend your awareness out with each out breath breathe out and imagine that your awareness extends out beyond the space that you're in out to the sky. To the sky in all directions, in front, behind to the sides and above you were three dimensional beings not just in front.
In fact, you can imagine that the breath is going out not just from your nostrils but from all the pores in your body. Breathing out and extending your awareness further in all directions. Open your awareness further out into the stars into the sky. Eons beyond the sky we can see as blue out into space behind the galaxies. Breathe out and imagine your awareness extends out beyond the farthest star and rest for a moment in that vast infinite openness that's basically no here and no they're become aware of the texture of your breathing. Imagine in the core of your body, that the breath coming in from all directions all around you. The breath going out through all your pores in through your pores to the core of your being.
Know what again
for this compassion practice, raise the point where the breath is coming into your heart center. Breathe in from all directions into your heart center. Breathe out reading out from your heart center. In all directions
imagine that you can breathe in and relieve the suffering of other beings. Take it from them and radiate out to them. cool moonlight of kindness first, just imagine the texture of dark smoke coming in. Purifying in your heart center and reading out as cool moonlight dark smoke comes in. cool moonlight radiates out. Usually we're afraid of taking in the negative and giving out the positive we're afraid we'll get stuck and we'll or with the bad and we'll run out of the good. Let's see the ground that we're doing this from is that vast open space mind as big as the sky as big as all of space. It accommodates the dark smoke there's infinite goodness that radiates out. It never runs out
think of those closest to you, your loved ones family and friends. Think of the pain and suffering they're going through. Imagine that, as you breathe in. You're drawing that out of them and gathering from them the suffering in their causes of suffering and reading out to them from your heart center. Happiness and the causes of happiness.
You can expand this to include as many beings as you can. People and all creatures great and small whatever your mind rests on it might be an individual it might be a nation
gathering their suffering and radiate relief, peace and happiness to them
imagine that you can gather it in through all your pores and radiate out that cool moonlight through from all your pores, all directions. The peace, health and happiness to the whole world.
There's the gong Feds like the visualization. Come back to your posture, your deep core filling and emptying in the present moment. We conclude the practice something called the dedication of benefit or dedication of merit that whatever good has come from the practice our intention when we started was to do all these practices not just for ourselves, but to better help be better able to help others. And then we do this practice of benefiting others. And then at the end we dedicate or we fulfill we fulfill our intention say and say May the practice in Nika. repeat this after me or use your own words. Made the practice I've just done the of benefit to others even more so than myself.
Now, at first when we do that we think we're doing even more than myself. But the interesting thing is, what we find is when we send out that we're that relief of suffering. We're sending it out in all directions. But we're, we're included. Even though we don't intention, intentionally do it. By extending kindness to others. We're extending kindness to ourselves. Or we think may they be relieved of anxiety. By sending out that relief, we experience it as well. And the other benefit is that when we think of the others more than ourselves, it actually prevents us from getting into the cycle of self protection. That usually turns out badly that when we try to get things for ourselves, we actually cause ourselves more trouble. Especially if we need things to come out a particular way for us to be happy. What that seems to do is just push happiness further away. So by abandoning that pursuit and saying, Well, you know what I really want to do is make others happy. Happiness comes to us on unbidden and asked for so that's what I wanted to share for today. Thank you for joining the practice. We have a few minutes. What I'd love to do is for everybody to please unmute themselves if you can. And Tim you can always post something in the chat and or raise your hand and the using the React reaction. Gonna be like higher Are you good there's Laura and her movement so any comments or thoughts? Tim has You're welcome.
was happy to
have her way to drain
Erica Thank you might need to mute it's coming. It's we're getting some echo.
So So is there any other or any alternative way of phrasing the mixing mind with space because honestly, I have a little trouble understanding what you mean.
Okay. The other way of another way of phrasing it might be opening to the environment we talked about letting go but you know, it's almost like to say try to let go is like saying on the counter three be spontaneous. There is somewhat contradictory. So I think that the I think the best thing to do is think of, it's just the just imagine what's actually happening to your breath in the atmosphere. It's going out and it stops being your breath and starts becoming one with the atmosphere. Right physically that actually happens. You think about in the winter where do you live
east coast
north New York so yes, we had went I lived useless near there. Yes, you breathe. Imagine breathing out what happens you see the breath that actually has a form and then it dissolves does it stop existing? Nope. No, it's still the the carbon dioxide and oxygen particle you know atoms and molecules, molecules. I mean, going out and mixing with the atmosphere. So you let your awareness mix with instead of self consciousness. Open awareness of the of the atmosphere. So open to the space is that better? You the breath goes out and you open to the space and just resting that openness. Not looking for something. Seeing without looking for something, being without being anything particular and then breath. The breath comes in by itself. And then you go out and I'm glad you asked that because as you practice this more regularly, there's a little feeling of Do I really need to pick up on that other that next out breath I was just resting in the open that's fine. Just go ahead and rest there. Don't worry about the breath at all. Until your mind wanders. And at that point, you come back to the body. You use the breath as your anchor for extending your awareness into Oakland openness and rest there for as long as it lasts.
Yeah, I mean just Yeah, well, some something just just something that I noticed today. So I hope you have difficulty relating to it all the way all the way while that we've been doing this occasion. It's been somewhat anxiety. Like a feeling of actually you know, kind of dissolving. Yes. And but today obviously I had this imagination, one place in Central Park by the lake or like to sit and sometimes you know, when you sit there on a beautiful day, just kind of forget yourself and become one and become one with a with a space, same feeling. And I was I was wondering if I wasn't actually visualizing it, but I could relate to that feeling or feeling or state of being or whatever.
That's great. That's great. I have a question for you.
Is that why?
Yeah, I have a question for you. Yeah. When you were in Central Park. Did you dissolve and disappear No. Oh, it is very it is very common when people are doing the practice and they go out I go. I'm letting go of me. How will Oh, how will I know when to stop? If I don't have any thoughts? How will I know? Maybe I'll be end up sitting here forever. Maybe I'll lose my my whole consciousness. Yes. That's not uncommon, because we're so needing to be so I know who I am. I know what I'm doing. I know where I'm going. I know what's next. When we actually don't, but we think we do and so the identify with those thoughts. And so to let go of control is scary. And we think if I don't worry about if I don't have any particular thoughts arising if I just rest in this open space, I'll lose myself. Not true, I promise. Okay. After a little while. I thought it'll pop up. It's like the ocean doesn't stay without waves. The waves are going to happen so what did happen when you were Did you you lost that sense of yourself and just being in the environment right in Central Park. When did you get you back? Something
to look at my watch and see whether I have to catch the bus.
What what what got you to look at the watch. You see the the there's an energy there's an energy there, that will the another wave came up. A wave came up of whatever time it is. And suddenly you see so you don't have to worry. Go ahead. But I like that you're not trying to visualize yourself in Central Park, but you're going with that feeling of letting go of worrying about me. Most of the time we worry about me. What am I going to do? What is gonna happen to me next? What about me? Me Me, me me. Like opera singers? Me me me me me instead? Just that ah oh my god, I can relax this thing about me. It's so relaxed. It's just so refreshing and relaxing, just for a moment to let go. So Tim said the ocean wave analogy. Do you think our ego is just a wave on the ocean of the cosmic mind? Whoa, look at Laura's background is similar as I don't know if you can see attends Laura's background. That's the cosmic mind. Let's not let's not make it into mind. Into a thing. But it's just just think of it as it's the ego. Ego isn't just a wave. It's like the wind that blows the waves. But the ego itself it's that's a collection of waves that are made imagination. So it's not a thing. Yet clinging to this mirage. It's as if I claim to this mirage of ego and I'm going to be able to quench my thirst with it. But it's a mirage. And you think you can get it and it keeps receding into the distance. That's what keeps us going it's it's like that the stick over the donkey's nose with a carrot hanging down the end and and the donkeys the stick and the carrot to sow never gets there. So just relax and stop chasing it and that's what we're trying to do with this meditation. Then from that relaxation of what about me comes Oh, but what about them and that's the enriching part. Where you guys get me kind of jazzed up here. So I don't want to go over our time too much. But if anybody else has a question or comment, we can let's do one more.
Sanjaya say Oh, I just want to preface this with one thing. That period before I call on you is my favorite practice. It's waiting meditation leaving. When we're not doing anything. We're just waiting to see what happens next. That's the best. Okay,
I really liked the reminder that you gave us that were three dimensional and that it doesn't all happen in front of us that that we can breathe, you know, through our sides and through our back and up and down. And that was very, that really made me feel so much more spacious. You know,
I was on a group zoom session with an old old friend of mine. Some people may know named Tom path, and he was doing I can't remember whether it was felden Christ or one of those practices that emphasizes bodywork. He was doing bodywork and he was reminding. Were three dimensional beings that the the the most unseen place is the space behind our heart. Isn't that interesting? Because we're always thinking in front in front in front. So so it's just so ventilating to imagine it happening in all 360 in all directions. So that's why I wanted to be able to share that with you know, I heard it recently and it reminded me I hadn't been doing it that way for a long time. Thank you. Really good. Well, thank you, everybody. Thank you. I think I'm on a couple of times in October, and you're welcome. Tomorrow morning. Go back and look at the chat. I'm going to put it in again. Just so everybody can see see in case you can't scroll up. That's the place that you can find the link on my website. Nine o'clock Pacific time tomorrow morning. So I hope to see some of you there.
Okay, bye. Thank you.
Thank you. All right, thanks.
Very similar to what you do with us. Yeah, recording stopped very similar. Yeah, very similar to what we do. It's not a golf program. I used to do that, but I decided just to do the meditation. So very similar to what we just did. But not exactly the same. Bye everybody. Good night.