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Guided Meditation

And as psychologists would tell us, in taking it personally, we're endeavoring to live. We're endeavoring to have the life we're living flourish. There is a way in which each moment of contact with experience stimulates something quite deep in us, especially when we're practicing mindfulness, when we're opening to it as it is. So with this notion of wisdom—it is what it is—and compassion, we have a deep impulse to take it personally and to find within some expression of our being.

So now I'll give some guidance around meditation. If you could keep that notion of wisdom and compassion: the practice of mindfulness is to be aware, to let each moment be what it is. And for us, with our human and psychological impulses, that can have a great variety of expression.

As we start to sit, if we can just let that proposition sink in. In this 30 minutes or so—this 25 minutes now—we will evoke the narrative of our life. We will evoke the psychological significance and associated thoughts, memories, and emotions that arise for us in the moment. And it is what it is, and it's a deeply personal experience.

It can evoke within us a kind of steady deliberateness. As you start to come into awareness of your being, noticing your state of mind: it is what it is. And it's also this ongoing expression of relating psychologically to being, with its psychological significance and its emotional expression.

In seated meditation, whether you're sitting cross-legged, sitting in a chair, or even if you're standing, there's a long-standing tradition of bringing awareness to the body so that as our experience unfolds, it's like we are embodying it. As you bring awareness to the body, invite the body to find a stability.

The classic way is that we notice where we're making contact with the earth, whether we're sitting on a cushion or sitting in a chair, however we're entering the moment of awareness. And if you can notice that contact in any way, sort of press down very gently. It makes sense to press down with the sit bones; usually, that's in the center of where we're making contact.

And then to find an uprightness^[1]. Anatomically, that can be described as the pelvis settling down, making contact, finding its stability, and then the torso rising up from the pelvis, from the hips. And as it rises up, the chest opens, the shoulders widen—not in a strenuous way, just releasing any way in which your body is contracting.

Each time we sit, we go through a process of discovery. What's going on in my body in this sit? How is it embodying this at this moment?

Letting the chest open, letting the muscles of the face relax. As we bring these guiding ways of paying attention, acknowledging that we're not trying to dictate, just trying to open up awareness in the body. And your body will react and respond in whatever way it does. It is what it is.

And then to become aware of the breath. Noticing what happens when you bring attention to the breath. What's noticed? The mind might have an agenda. There's the morning habit of judging^[2]. We can and usually do take anything and everything personally. So be it^[3], that's what it is.

Can you offer yourself, in this moment, a deep acceptance of what you are?

Sometimes it can be helpful to open with the inhale, to receive whatever is happening in the moment. A thought, a physical sensation, a memory, an emotion—just breathe it in and let it be embodied.

And with the exhale, release. So be it. Return. Let go. The nature of life is change.

Can your awareness have a compassion? Can it tenderly hold what's arising in consciousness? Can there be a deliberateness in acceptance of just now, just as it is? However it is. However it's being related to.

Dharmette: Sitting with Wisdom and Compassion

Each time we meditate, each time we practice mindfulness, we're opening to a greater being. I think we all know, especially if you've read something on Buddhism, the term dukkha^[4], which is generally translated as suffering. But this too: this is du and kha. Kha means consciousness, and du means constricted or contracted. And then there's another term that you may know. It's the same consciousness, but the su means expanded or opening, opening consciousness. And in the same way that dukkha is usually translated as suffering, sukha^[5] is usually translated as pleasant experience.

So, in this way, in sitting, we're inviting a deliberateness, a steadiness. We're inviting an acceptance. We're inviting sukha. We're inviting dukkha to soften. And we do it in the context of subjective experience^[6]. Each moment that arises for us is an extraordinary product of the complexity of being. There are all sorts of influences and habit energies that bring forth more. There are so many ways to dissect it: neurologically, psychologically, somatically.

And in the throes of all of that, we're taking it personally, whether it's inwardly arisen or the product of external influences^[7]—what someone said to us, what someone did. It can be met with this essence of mindfulness, which is inviting expansion, which is inviting acceptance, which is inviting liberation.

And then we carry the glimpses, the tastes of that liberation and expansion^[8], into our life. So maybe today you can think about that process, especially as you're in the midst of your activities, your interactions. Sometimes it's very helpful to ask ourselves: Okay, how is that being held in the body? Are my shoulders tightening? Is my chest constricting? Is my mind constricted and becoming agitated?

There's a way in which the emotionality of it all can be like an energy. When we open to emotion, we open to an intriguing way in which our body and consciousness respond to the significance of psychological being in that moment. In the midst of that motion, in the midst of that activity, can there be a kind of stability that arises from acceptance? And acceptance is the blend of wisdom and compassion. So be it. This is what it is. And we take it personally, and can that evoke a tenderness?

Because often, in taking it personally, we're imbuing it with something of our own anxieties, desires, and struggles. It's not like we will dukkha for ourselves; it arises out of our being as we are attempting to live, as we're attempting to make our life flourish. It's asking for compassion. It's asking for a deep appreciation of the human condition—our own and everyone else's.

Can we bring that opening to greater being to our day? Can you hold it on a feeling level? Can you hold it on a physical, somatic level? Can you hold it as an attitude? Like when someone says something aggressive or disturbing for you, can you remind yourself, with a kind of compassionate patience: "Oh, they're going through something. So be it."

So, thank you. Please enjoy your day and hopefully find moments of sukha. Thank you.