[181] Cultivating Mindfulness and Compassion - with Mayra Lorenzana – Miles

NNight ClubNov 26, 2024 at 10:32 pm54min

Unknown Speaker

00:08

Hey, beautiful people,

SSpeaker 1

00:11

who are you? I see some of my recidivist people. You know what, recidivism. How are you?

MMyra

00:22

Thank you for joining us. I just want to take a little time to just see this name. So thank you so much, and just remember, ooh, look

Unknown Speaker

00:34

at that. Hi, hi, hi,

MMyra

00:37

and some of you have been seeing another thing. Thank you. Thank you for being here. So I was, Oh, Dr, parent is here, which makes me a little nervous. I am designated here. This was his night, but he's feeling a little bit tired after wonderful I'm what I've imagined to be a wonderful retreat, and so I've been provoking him a little bit to see we can teach a couple of things that I have some ideas. So get ready for me, doctor, parent. What do you guys think about that was that would be nice. So thank you for joining us here. I think I was thinking as I prepared that one of the best things, I think you all know me. Myra, yes, I think you all do one of the best things that happens when I have the opportunity of sharing with you is that I have to think about it and prepare and meditate before I join you. So it's almost like my meditation begins for 24 hours before I even see your faces and have this moment. So I want to thank you in advance for that, because it gives me a pause, because I feel so fortunate for the opportunity of this platform and the people that we meet here for me to share, and as I was thinking about things, in thinking about why this matters, I have a funny story, and I know it's a funny story, but the funny story is, which I think it is. Is last time we were talking a little bit about that dissonance in life, and how sometimes we go so fast that we don't see. And what this practice give us the opportunity is to see. We call it awareness, the pause. We may call her mindfulness. We want to maybe see angels or guides or be creative or see items. But in actuality, what is happening is that we are experiences a shift in the view of how we see life, and one of the things that we begin to appreciate in nature is animals and trees and flowers, and we begin to connect in a different way. So I was in Puerto Rico visiting my father, and we were working in the yard at 630 we're raking leaves, because he doesn't like any leaves on the ground, and he's 88 and I love his wisdom. So he's the kind of person that is so attached I say, is he going to rain today, because I still put my clothes in the line and I have to watch the wind and the sun. He said, Well, I think by one o'clock. So if you put her right now, because it's going north or south or it's going this way, and I just want to absorb the knowledge in such a different way. So we're having lunch. So what I'm having for lunch? So I'm going to fry this little cheese with like an empanada. So I go to the kitchen, and I'm trying to do it very fast because he's hungry, and I come out and I it was really not tasting good, and he's trying to eat it. I fried too, and he's just like this. Just doesn't taste the same. And then there was a rooster that is always in my yard there, and it's just this elegant rooster that you can tell some royalty in his life, the way that he is. And I see some crumbles in the ground. I take those crumbles and I bring it to the ground and I I throw it at home to eat. And all this sudden, my father and I looking at the same time, there's a pause. It's actual pause in life. And the rooster looks down and he goes, and like 15 chickens came all at once from all the corners of the yard to eat. To eat. First, he shared his bounty they would have never known if he doesn't make the call, they would have never been fed. And he took care of the breast of the chickens first. And for me, that was, that's bodhicitta, that's an enlightened heart in taking care of the others. He was. Taking care of himself, and all that came when all these chickens came down. But the most important thing that there was this connection between my father and I, I said, you know, that is communication, that is heart, that is what is all about. And we talk about that we still laugh, because you would have never seen another chicken in the whole yard until he made the call. And it was a question of seconds, and I said, all the things that we're not seeing in life, all the life that we don't see, all the pauses that we don't take, all the smiles and laughter and hugs that we just go by. And I think this is what this group gives gives us. This is what it is. And then I was looking at my telephone, and John Halifax

SSpeaker 2

05:53

just posted this. Oh, what is it?

MMyra

06:00

She says, May, May we meet our lives and this world with integrity, courage, love and compassion. Or, as the Zen teacher, young men advise a monk who ask, what is the teaching that Jackie Muni Buddha preached throughout his life, human reply, an appropriate response. So I think with meditation, with this group, with the readings, with mindfulness, or open awareness, or shamatha, or inside meditation, if we take it, if we take the time to see life through the deadlines, we will learn we're learning just an appropriate response. And this is the question, What about there's nothing else than that. I think that Andrew calls it contraception, because we choose the way that we're going

Unknown Speaker

07:02

to respond,

MMyra

07:05

and we stop that wheel that we sometimes in fancy ways with lots of colors we can call samsara. So the invitation to nine beautiful people is to rejoice in the magic of life, to rejoice in those things that we don't see. Just cut the aspiration to maybe open our hearts so we can pause and have an appropriate response. Especially nowadays, we're being called.

Unknown Speaker

07:39

We're being called to have the appropriate response.

Unknown Speaker

07:41

So what is that for all of us? It's

Unknown Speaker

07:43

only in your hearts you only know.

MMyra

07:48

So any comments before that, any other experience like that, that you'd like to share, where there was those moments that you pause and you just knew that there was Grace. So that was a blessing. You

SSpeaker 1

08:25

I see a little message here, yes, that I actually you can say that rooster was a t shirt.

Unknown Speaker

08:40

That rooster was the t shirt

MMyra

08:43

that and sometimes we it's within us so we can see it. So we just open up and we get rid of those COVID that we carry all day to to open our heart. So let's go through this process, huh? So find your seat. If you don't want to look at the computer, right, I'm going to be looking at you.

SSpeaker 2

09:16

Thank you. I like to tell the stories. So

MMyra

09:22

in the process, the practices that I do for the last 11 years, I have been doing a lot of meditation laying down. I know that there are some very strict T shirts that said that you make it dull and you may not practice. You know you are not aware enough when you're laying down. But if that is what your body needs, you're welcome. We practice that most likely we will be going to our transition not sitting. So it would not be a bad thing to learn how to be aware and awake while in a more restful position. Just knowing that the sitting position, though, that has something regarding the winds of the body and the way that the energy travels that promotes different kind of sensation. But we can do it also in a supine position. We can do it in a recliner, and I will try to talk once in a while to keep you coming back,

SSpeaker 2

10:24

so if you like, for the beginning, just to close your eyes,

SSpeaker 2

10:32

and before we go to any instruction, see if your mind's eye, you can see the rooster.

SSpeaker 2

10:50

See this scene that I describe, and notice whether you remember that just like a lunar memory, but also just like a scene or dreamlet. You

SSpeaker 2

11:12

it. What about this morning? What do you have for breakfast? Did you drink coffee or tea or just water.

Unknown Speaker

11:33

What about the clothing that you were or wearing? I

Unknown Speaker

11:46

what is in your kitchen counter right now

Unknown Speaker

11:59

that you're sitting here and looking forward.

Unknown Speaker

12:02

Do you know what is behind you,

Unknown Speaker

12:13

above you, to your sides? You

SSpeaker 2

12:33

What color are your pants or scourge or gown right now, without opening your eyes,

SSpeaker 2

12:50

and you remember the last conversation that you had before you joined the meeting tonight. You

SSpeaker 2

13:09

What about the feeling of expectation that you have to do something at a certain time? How did that feel in your body? I

SSpeaker 2

13:25

do you feel any kind of apprehension before you connect, not knowing whether you would be able to connect on time or not? I

Unknown Speaker

13:45

What about your body right now? How does it feel?

MMyra

13:57

And now, notice that with each one of those questions,

Unknown Speaker

13:59

there is a pause.

Unknown Speaker

14:08

There is an image.

SSpeaker 2

14:15

There are feelings and memories, emotions and

Unknown Speaker

14:26

and we're constantly running through things.

SSpeaker 2

14:42

So why do I begin today like that, without any other instruction? Because that's the way we go about the day, and that's how much more we can see when. We slow down.

SSpeaker 2

15:12

So noticing your body as it sits here right now, if your feet out in the ground, just feeling the ground and the sensations of your footprints,

Unknown Speaker

15:32

sometimes we can notice whether there is a part of the foot that is more in touch or not, and notice whether your toes are curling.

Unknown Speaker

15:56

The energy energy coming to your seat and noticing your sit bones,

SSpeaker 2

16:08

most likely we lean one way or the other. I usually like to make a song maker movements left and right and front and back, until I have the sensation of feeling like the bottom of my spine like a laser in the center.

SSpeaker 2

16:33

Many times, the body by itself, begins to find a sense of balance and weight from side to side.

SSpeaker 2

16:50

The shoulders are more or less over your hips if you're sitting and if you are laying down or reclining, trying to have some sort of straight line and

SSpeaker 2

17:12

the hands are placed in this tradition a little bit over up above your knees, towards the hips, but let them relax to the side. Sometimes we have a seat on the sides, and it's a little bit more difficult to let go of the shoulders. But try to find some comfort. If you're used to some sort of mudra or the universe, placement of your hands. Just go ahead, place your hands where they can stay still.

SSpeaker 2

17:55

I like to feel like there is a string that pulls the crown of my head up, and as it goes, chin goes back and down a tiny bit, and I feel the back of the neck Almost like opening like the head of a cobra. And

SSpeaker 2

18:28

relaxing the muscles of your face and the area around your eyes. The eyes are maybe close right now, but not tight and

SSpeaker 2

18:45

and you can place the tongue in your top palette, behind the top teeth. I like to sometimes allow it to float, and the lips are have a little bit of an opening, like you're saying, Ah.

SSpeaker 2

19:19

Now notice your pelvic floor and notice whether you feel stress or relaxing the area below your belly button and allowing weight to come into your sit bones.

Unknown Speaker

19:42

Just physical. Open.

SSpeaker 2

19:55

Your back is strong, but not stiff and.

SSpeaker 2

20:20

In use here right now, make any adjustments you feel like You need to make to Come to a stillness you

SSpeaker 2

21:12

before we let go a little bit more, we're going to practice Very gentle breath. We're inhaling to four, holding to six, exhaling to eight. We exhale. We're going to exhale through our mouth like we are blowing through a straw, very gently. So let's take an inhale first. And exhale to your mouth. One more inhale and let it go. And Now we inhale, 1234, fold, 23456,

SSpeaker 2

22:14

exhale, 234567, 5678,

Unknown Speaker

22:25

And stop. Breathe naturally.

Unknown Speaker

22:40

Let's do that again, inhale, 234, hold, exhale,

Unknown Speaker

23:00

and just let go.

SSpeaker 2

23:14

Then we're going to add a little bit more. So when we inhale this time, just inhale every stress, illness, things that do not fit, thoughts that we just want to gather from the body. And then when we exhale, we're just going to let it all go away. So gather them together. Inhale, 234, hold, gather it all together and let it all go out of your body.

Unknown Speaker

23:57

One more, inhale and gather and and Hold

Unknown Speaker

24:11

and release and

Unknown Speaker

24:23

and just be and

SSpeaker 2

25:10

Right now, maybe your breath has become a lot more obvious notice whether you feel it in your nose and your chest or in your tummy, and let's just witness our breath just to come together in attention A little bit sharper, just For a Few Minutes. And

SSpeaker 2

27:29

when you lose your attention and your mind begins to do but the mind does Just smile that you notice and know that you're back. We'll continue placing your attention, your desired part of Your breath and

SSpeaker 2

28:47

every time that you notice that you drifted away, that you became a little sleepy, that is the victory moment you

Unknown Speaker

29:03

just in A weekend moment you

Unknown Speaker

30:19

What was your last thought? I

SSpeaker 3

30:20

Where

SSpeaker 2

30:30

did it come from? Was it from the left, from the back, from the right? Does he have the location?

Unknown Speaker

30:59

They just stay that they just vanish away.

Unknown Speaker

31:17

What about the next one I

Unknown Speaker

31:30

Is it related to The first one? Or are You having a conversation? I

SSpeaker 2

32:28

Let's come back to the breath. Just notice your breath, your preferred side. More accurately, we're going to inhale to core. We're going to hold then we're going to exhale,

SSpeaker 2

32:58

check on your posture and notice where the stress has come, maybe to your spine, to your seat, to your hands, maybe the shoulders. See if you have to readjust anything on your seat, or your have to just shift, just keep yourself permission be gentle and kind to yourself. Make any adjustment necessary, including going to a supine position you

Unknown Speaker

33:45

and scan your body for tightness, noticing cold or Hot and

Unknown Speaker

34:07

and sit to your lightness and

SSpeaker 2

34:27

maybe inviting a sense of gratitude for your teachers and the teachings for this moment, for the precious opportunity of sharing this model, and

SSpeaker 2

34:55

then we're going to be slowly opening the eyes looking forward. Towards the floor ahead of you, without focus,

SSpeaker 2

35:15

you're looking forward, but you are not staring with concentration in a spot.

Unknown Speaker

35:27

It's a gaze, gazeless gaze. It's almost like the space comes towards you instead of you're going forward.

SSpeaker 2

35:52

And I like the image almost stepping back to the back of my head, and

SSpeaker 2

36:04

my forehead goes up a little bit like opening The lens and

Unknown Speaker

36:34

with no specific goal and

Unknown Speaker

36:45

open and

SSpeaker 2

37:24

with thoughts and images. They call and go and you notice or you don't follow them. They call them and go and

Unknown Speaker

37:46

maybe now you can raise your case and

SSpeaker 2

38:05

again, you're looking forward, but You are not looking at specifically on any object. You

SSpeaker 2

38:26

if you put too much stress, the eyes begin to burn, and you may have to feel like you cannot keep them open. Just relax into the case. The eyes will close when they will and

SSpeaker 2

38:47

well, if this doesn't work well for you, just close your eyes. That's okay. This is your Meditation. You are your teacher. You

SSpeaker 2

39:38

images, thoughts, sensations, be calm and go. Just see him go by you.

SSpeaker 2

41:57

Now slowly, close your eyes a tiny bit, just do that first position just right in front of you,

SSpeaker 2

42:11

between a half and a quarter of your opening of your eyes, and notice how everything begins to kind of become a little bit more tense. The body, the energy comes down,

Unknown Speaker

42:33

begins to close and

Unknown Speaker

42:47

and then you close Your eyes slowly

Unknown Speaker

42:59

notice the sensations in your body,

SSpeaker 2

43:14

maybe bringing the attention to an area about two feet from your body and

SSpeaker 2

43:28

do your skin. It's almost like your body is reforming this version of ourselves getting denser, your bones, your muscles, your blood, Your organs, shoulders coming down. The body getting heavier and

Unknown Speaker

44:05

bringing the attention towards the heart area and

SSpeaker 2

44:34

again invoking a sense of gratitude for The moment and for the opportunity to learn, even if what is that we don't like or like, just to know that little piece of this moment

SSpeaker 2

44:56

we're just learning how to respond, how to react. Work.

SSpeaker 2

45:07

And slowly we open our eyes, I like to move my head from side to side, maybe making circles or moving my hands.

SSpeaker 2

45:41

What are we doing any questions before we close in a few minutes? We still have a few minutes.

SSpeaker 2

45:55

I think part of the way that I like to end it is because I think that we don't realize how far the energy goes, the energy body. And if you pay attention to the way that we begin to kind of

MMyra

46:11

get a little heavy in ourselves, we become sensitive to that subtle body that is there all the time that is just expressing itself in different ways, because it's all here. We just remember, we're just just using a different lens, and that's where the magical happens. It's in that area that's the magical part that we we experience. And then we try to find a way to share our experience of that magical moment that happened. And sometimes when we share that magic actually goes flat like a bad joke, because we cannot express everything we felt. Have you have all I see a smile there, you know. So sometimes we have experience that we we want confirmation from the teacher, from the friend, or for the leader, but that person can look at us and say, nice, nice. Thank you for sharing your experience. But we cannot transmit everything because it's something that is felt. It's somatically. This is our spaceship. This is the body. And through that is that we feel that we are so sometimes, when we come like that, we begin to feel like it's almost like it's we're becoming a little heavier and solid. So we feel that many times. If we're really, really tired, and we just feel in the couch, and we can feel the body. I like to tell people sometimes when we're sleeping too, if you have carry a baby that is really sleepy is so much heavier because it just really the weight all comes down. So that's what I was inviting to for you. Phil, well, thank you. Thank you. Relaxation is a way. The trick is just to keep there. But in relaxation is that all healing happens and all wisdom comes through, because we get out of the way. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, Dr Perrin, what do you think? Are you there?

Unknown Speaker

48:18

Here he is. I don't hear you.

SSpeaker 1

48:27

I think you're muted still. Okay, there you are.

JJoe Parent

48:30

I got the sign that said you're we're not allowed to unmute ourselves, and now we're now.

Unknown Speaker

48:34

You lost your license here. No,

JJoe Parent

48:39

I tried the laying down version, and I did. I did fall asleep. Well,

MMyra

48:44

you're coming from a retreat, so that's sweet drinks. That's okay, too. Sometimes that's what the body needs, um, sometimes the body needs sleep. And actually I practice that. Sometimes I put recordings or something. Because remember, that liminal state is the magical state that is all in your subconscious, in a way, so it's different. So thank you. He fell asleep. I put Dr parent to sleep, guys

JJoe Parent

49:14

and I wanted to I think that it's interesting to explore how similar our everyday thoughts are to our dreams. They're very, it's very Dream like, you know, because I there was sort of a dreamy thoughts, and then I said, That's not so different from my regular thoughts. They're really like dreams too, about the past or the future. Yeah? That's the observation, yeah.

MMyra

49:46

That is, yeah. I think that is, that is a lucid moment. So that's living lucidly, just to in is that I look back at all the instructions that I've been giving every. Remember the first time I asked for a mantra. I said, Please, please. And they gave me all money pad my home, and I said, I want something more, without with the ignorance that that was the Supreme, the Compassionate mantra. And we go through life like that noticing the magic of the moment, because we think that has to be something else, and so we skim through it. So that's why I like my rooster teaching me Fauci so thank you. Thank you so much. Anybody else did I put anybody else to sleep? Oh, good, relaxing, not falling asleep. Yes, yes. I learned that through ALAN WALLACE, because he does first satipatthana. He's the He's Mr. Shamatha, but he does a lot of supine. And I suffered at the beginning because, no, I have to meditate. And I was just with my Oh, you know, I look like a magazine, yoga, meditation person, and when I got to the state of really understanding the teacher, because I challenge teachers a lot, I'm so sorry. It's been magical. It's absolutely the supreme position. And one day he says, Well, you are most likely not going to go into the Bardo sitting. So being aware like in the supine position is is actually a very good tool to have. But thank you, beautiful faces. Where's your cat? Aaron. I saw him before. So next Monday, I think that we are going to be doing meditation for two hours. And it would be the dedication for peace we will get. I think Dr parent, Jeffrey, Chelsea and I, every half hour, it must be most likely if half hour, but we'd be different, but probably would be a little bit of just a few words and mostly sitting, I imagine. And I'm asking Dr parent to do tonguelin From the beginning, but I think that it remind me in the 70s, there was when meditation, transcendental meditation, there was a lot of studies of what the cells of a group of meditators would cause in a community or would will spread. And I think I we keep saying that we can make the difference. We are in the center of our mandala, and you are all in the center of your mandala, but we are all participating in this common moment in time. And I think that the love that we can spread, there's no more response, no bigger responsibility that we have, but to know that what we see out there is the direct consequences of our own hearts. So I think opening the hearts and not in like it's my fault, it's not that, but opening our hearts and sharing this community, and it's going to be open to other members that are not paid members, because I think it should be open to to everybody. And I want to invite you, for you and your communities in whatever you are, dignity hot has a little story that says that when it was in Vietnam, one person that kept the calm in the boats of the refugees that were escaping will really bring peace and calm to The whole boat, because one person can make a difference, and I need to believe that, and I I want you to believe with me that we can make a difference.

Unknown Speaker

53:51

Okay, so

MMyra

53:53

we end like always, we raise our arms, and the Palms come together in line towards the heart.

SSpeaker 2

54:03

All this vision mind, thank you for sharing your presence and your wisdom and your love. I feel privileged to have this opportunity. May your awakened hearts grow and flourish ever more and more. Namaste. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

54:27

Thank you. Myra, thank you. Thank you. Bye, bye, bye.

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