This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Guided Meditation: The Influence of Relaxation

Hello everyone, and welcome. Take a moment to just kind of relax, settle back, getting ready for this meditation.

One of the ways of helping support an ongoing mindfulness, a continuity of awareness through all the arisings of things in the present moment, is sometimes you want to be aware of what's happening, but also be aware of the influence that has on us and the ongoing impact. Some of it is getting out of the detail of whatever is happening, but also being aware of the influence, the impact, the way it lingers in us for a while.

For example, with tension, it's possible to be aware of tension and also to take time to feel what the influence of tension is in us. How does it spread out from us, and how does it affect our mood or affect our feelings? How does it affect the area around the place where there's tension? How might it affect the mind?

But for today, I want to emphasize something a little different, and that is when we relax, to be aware of what replaces the relaxation or what influence the relaxation has. It's one thing to relax the hand and that feels good, but then to really stay and be really aware of that good feeling—oh, that's how it is. It is kind of like you take it in, be aware of it, and let it register more deeply. As we relax the body, we can be aware of the vitality, the aliveness, the peacefulness, how things get lighter, how things settle down and release. If we feel the goodness of it, the wholesomeness, the niceness of what happens once we have relaxed, it doesn't have to be dramatic. It can be quite subtle, but that does a few things. One is it keeps us in the process of mindfulness, of awareness. Also, the benefit of what's wholesome can register more deeply in us. It has a deeper, good influence on us if we do it that way.

The opposite happens with taking in the influence of tension. Unless we react to it, it isn't that we feel worse. It actually lightens things up. It kind of loosens and opens the space a little bit. That's also this idea of being aware of the influence. Sometimes it's quite nice to do that on the end of the exhale. The exhale is a kind of letting go, and then with that letting go, is there any good feeling, or lightness, or openness, or kind of the absence of things? It feels really nice. That isn't always the case; sometimes the end of the out-breath can be a little bit frightening and uncomfortable. But if it is nice, take some time to really take a moment to feel that before the in-breath begins.

So assume your meditation posture and gently close your eyes. In a moment, take just one long, slow, deep breath in, and one relaxing, long exhale. Then feel what impact that exhale has on you. So go ahead.

Then do it again, and on the exhale, relax your body. Take a moment to feel the influence, the impact of that relaxation. What's left in the body that maybe feels nice?

Taking a deep breath in, and relaxing as you exhale.

And then let your breathing return to normal, but continue relaxing on the exhale.

If you're able to relax these different parts of the body, take in the feeling that's there that comes from having relaxed. Relaxing the muscles of the face, the eyes, around the mouth. If the lips are pressing against each other, let them fall away from each other a little bit, or if they're going to touch, touch lightly.

On the exhale, relax the shoulders.

And then relax the chest. If it releases a bit, settles a bit, feel that influence on you.

Relaxing your belly. Soften the belly. If anything feels nice about the soft, relaxed belly, feel that.

If there's any way that you're bracing yourself with your whole body, maybe a little bit braced, on the exhale, let go. Let go of it, let go of some of it, and feel what that's like.

As we settle in meditation, the body settles and relaxes, the mind settles a bit and calms. Feel the resulting way in which it is, what it's like to be alive. The energies, the feelings, the sensations of the body that seem to come with a deeper subtleness, a relaxation.

Allowing all your pores to be open to receive and feel the aliveness of the body.

And then, in the middle of it all, being aware of breathing in and breathing out. As you exhale, letting go of your thoughts and letting go into the body breathing.

Letting go of your thoughts, and opening up the body to receive the vitality, the animated qualities of the body. Allowing the body's feelings, sensations, and energies to flow through you with the idea that they blend together to become a whole, a harmonious and peaceful whole of vibration, buzzing. That, in a sense, the body receives, allows.

And then to feel the body again. What's the effect on the body from having meditated these minutes? What has shifted in your body? Is there any influence of any calm or relaxation that's happened, and what is that influence on your body? Rather than feeling it from the control tower, allow yourself to feel that influence. Let the body feel it more fully. The body receives. In a sense, the space of the body can become bigger, feel bigger, have more room in it. It's easier then to have room for all the challenges of life. The smaller, more contracted the body is, the less room we have to respond, deal with, and process the difficulties of life.

So to relax into your body. Relax your body.

Turn your attention outward into the world whilst keeping yourself grounded and centered in your body. Gently, modestly, wish well on the people in your life. Gaze upon them kindly. Stay calm and gaze upon the world kindly.

Learn from your meditation practice how to be present for others in an open, stable way where there's room for what's happening, without getting caught in it or reacting to it, so you can gaze upon it all kindly, caringly. There's a way in which we care for the world which is a simple expression of the freedom that comes from the meditation. Whatever ease, or calm, or freedom we have, whatever way that gives birth to a care and a kindness, let that care and kindness spread out from you into the world with these words:

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings everywhere be free.

Body (4 of 5) Restoring Wholeness in the Body

Yesterday's topic for mindfulness of the body was respecting the body. Respecting the body is partly also respecting the uniqueness of our own body and its needs.

There are all kinds of physical conditions and challenges in the body that are challenging to be with. To gaze upon that kindly, to have compassion, to respect the body for what it is, and to learn how to take care of it—how to care for this wonderful body that we have. We have challenging bodies, and the care that we want to live from in Buddhist practice extends to ourselves as well. Part of what mindfulness of the body can do is, as we get more attuned to our body, we can better feel what supports it and what debilitates it. What is healing for it or helpful for it? How to find the best posture, the best way of being with whatever is going on in our body?

I think the first time I came across someone who was doing this was when I was a new Zen^[1] student a long time ago. There was a woman who had some serious knee issues; she'd been a runner. She used her attention to detail, attention to her body, which she was learning through Zen practice, to learn to walk in a new way. She was trying to find exactly the right way to angle her feet and how to come down and place her weight. With that, she found a way to walk that, for her situation, meant she didn't have to go for surgery. I don't know what happened to her in the long term, but I do know that I think it partly inspired her, and she went on to become a doctor. This care for the body, discovering what's the right thing for the body, and how to be with it. I've had a bad back at various times in my life, and I found it to be an exquisite time for mindfulness because there was such a strong feedback loop. The slightest little move would either hurt or relieve it, so it was right there to stay and be aware. Mindfulness of the body and respecting the body can give us the information to guide us to find a way to live with this body more caringly and wisely.

Also, one of the things that can happen as we practice is that there can be a restoration of a sense of healthiness, vitality, or harmony in the body. It's not just the practice of letting go; the letting go is a process of becoming whole, a process of not excluding anything. We can feel that a little bit. What I'm trying to say here is, if we get settled and relaxed in meditation—somewhat calm—and we start thinking about something that has some tension in it, we feel ourselves tensing up. At some point, it becomes really clear that following the tension, getting involved in that tension, and tensing up even more is detrimental. It's not interesting, and it's more interesting to not do it. So we relax, settle back, and come back to that more relaxed state. Partly, the motivation to do so is we see so clearly the disadvantages of tensing up. As we see this tensing just starting to happen, we let go and come back.

That's a kind of negative motivation. It's also possible to have a more positive motivation: as we let go, we start feeling the benefits of that in the body. It feels so good to feel this way, to feel whole, to feel subtle for the inner life, to feel peaceful, calm, settled, or harmonious.

You can feel how when we start getting tense or preoccupied about something, sometimes the whole physical system starts to lock up or get a little bit tighter. The micro-muscles in the body tighten up, or there's a disconnection—we lose touch with the body. It's quite dramatic. Maybe some of you have had this experience of minding your own business, meditating calmly, and the mind suddenly releases some memory from your teenage years—some difficult event that happened. It turns out there's still some charge around it. It has happened to me: suddenly this energy in the body goes upright, I get tense, the energy flows into my mind, and I'm thinking and having conversations about what happened and reviewing it. I've lost touch with my body. I've lost touch with a settled and calm body. It's quite dramatic to see that movement, and it's an education about how easy it is to disconnect from the body.

As we develop mindfulness, we're developing bodyfulness. We're developing the capacity to feel and sense the body, not only so we don't tense it, but because the absence of tension gives rise to feelings of healthiness, harmony, or wholeness that can be there even when the body is ill, when there's pain, or when there are different things happening in the body. There are challenges in the body, but there's a different kind of energy, a different kind of attentiveness in the body that is peaceful, calm, holistic, and sometimes even cozy. It seems to spread, open, and suffuse the body—a gentleness that has space to hold what's difficult that's there as well. So we're not preoccupied and caught by the difficulty, but the awareness is holding it more widely. It isn't just the mental awareness, but there's also a bodily awareness that can hold it. The remarkable thing is the body can start feeling like it has lots of space.

Some years ago, I went to a cadaver lab to spend some time looking at cadavers. I was surprised how all the organs were all squeezed in there, and how there was almost no space in there, because everything was packed with these different organs. What surprised me is that when I sit and meditate, I feel like there's lots of space in my cavity, lots of space in my torso, and that space just gets bigger and bigger as I sit and get quiet. Sometimes that space feels like it has no boundaries; it just opens up. The way we experience the body can be different than what's actually there. The experience of the body is the medium through which we're really creating room and space to be able to hold everything—not to deny anything, but to make more room for it. As things have more room, they have more room to move, to unfold, and more room to relax. But also, healthy things begin flowing more.

So this restoration with the body—having mindfulness support a restoration of healthiness, a flowing energy, a spacious calm in the body that can hold the challenges that we have. The wonderful thing is, as we have more space, we then have more capacity to be with difficulties. One of the great contributions of Buddhist practice is to expand our capacity to be with challenges, expand our capacity to be uncomfortable, and expand our capacity to be in conflict with people, because there's more space for it all.

Part of mindfulness of the body is not only to be aware of the body, but also to have a kind of receiving, allowing attitude that allows that space to grow. It allows the energy to start flowing more fully, to feel that, to feel the goodness that might be there, and make space for it. To hold it and be aware of it, not in a utilitarian way, like I'm going to do this for a purpose, I'm going to make this happen. The utilitarian approach to mindfulness is very limited. Rather than a utilitarian approach, it's an appreciative mode—to appreciate rather than to make something happen. In that appreciation, to receive, hold, and experience the body in a bigger way. This is the restoration of the whole body.

For me, one of the great gifts of meditation practice is the richness of living in this body that has come from the practice.

May your meditation practice, your mindfulness practice, help you rest in the richness of this living, vibrating body, and to learn the wisdom of it, the healthiness of it, and its capacity to hold all things.

Thank you very much, and we'll do the last day on the body tomorrow.