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Guided Meditation: Protecting the Wholesome

Warm greetings to all of you, and I am happy to be here.

At some point, as meditation begins to show us our potential—our potential for some abiding peace, potential for love, for wisdom—when our life experience shows us our potential for something wholesome, one of the tasks is to protect and preserve that peace, love, and wisdom. One of the functions of fear is to help us with that.

Fear is often seen as unfortunate, but there is a wholesome fear. There is a beneficial fear when it helps us, supports us to open, to allow, and to protect the wholesome from the unwholesome. It preserves the wholesome so we don't fall into the unwholesome. This is not to set up an opposition between what's wholesome and unwholesome, but rather it's to appreciate, value, love, and support the wholesome inside of us to keep growing and developing.

There is a healthy fear, a cautious feeling of, "This is worth protecting. This is worth preserving." Once it's there, a certain kind of caution, a certain kind of fear, a certain kind of hesitation or holding back arises out of the goodness that's here within us.

So for this meditation, perhaps as we go on in these minutes we have together, at some point if you tap into or touch into something that feels wholesome here within you—it doesn't have to be dramatic, it could be something subtle—maybe there's a freeing way or a nourishing way to protect that, or stay close to that to preserve it. Where there is, in fact, a feeling of a little bit of caution or a little bit of reluctance. A clear reluctance or a clear kind of, "Oh, to go in the other direction, to what is unwholesome, is not really in my best interest. It is not really true. It's not really what's worthwhile pursuing or being engaged in."

Posture and Breath

So, take a meditation posture. It's always good to give care to the posture you take. Physically, to the best of your ability, whatever your physical condition is, see if you can find a posture that allows the best in you to come forward. It could be as simple as letting your chest open up a little bit, almost like there's a hinge right down the middle and you just open there. Or it might be that you put your hand on your heart, which works especially well, I think, if you are laying down.

Sometimes I have meditated with my palms facing up. I usually have the palms of my hands down if I have them on my thighs, but there have been times where I had my hands pointing upwards to the ceiling. Partly it was nice, that feeling of openness and receptivity of open hands that traveled up the arms and maybe even into the chest—receptivity and openness.

Sometimes, you can take the crown of your head and imagine there's a string from the top of your head up to the ceiling, and that it's pulling you gently up, lifting you gently up. There's a little bit more space between the last vertebra and the skull, and the chin comes down a little bit. And then, if you haven't yet, softly and gently close your eyes. Perhaps you can allow there to be a gentling within. Let there be a wave of softening through your body.

Then, very simply and directly, become aware of your breathing. Become aware of the body's experience of breathing, noticing as if you've never noticed your breathing before. Notice how it is now. Think that maybe breathing is like snowflakes: no two snowflakes are the same, and no two breaths are the same.

Gently, however much is gentle for you, gently take some deeper breaths, fuller breaths. Not only does your front ribcage expand as you take deeper breaths, but maybe you can feel the back ribcage also move or expand a little bit. The expansion of deep breathing is in all directions.

As you exhale, let go of your thoughts and your concerns, maybe imagining that they float away. "Floating away" imagery is one of gently letting go. Imagine maybe, as you exhale, that your awareness gently settles into your body, like a pebble would settle through the water onto the bottom of a lake. Settle into your body and soften, relaxing your belly.

Sometimes it is possible to even let there be a softening in the belly as the belly expands with the inhale, and a softening of the belly even with the exhale. Not the whole belly, but parts of the belly can release and soften.

Whatever sensations you're feeling in your body are also sensations of our lived experience. Sensations are only present in the present moment. Sensations are an expression of being alive, and the pulsing, vibrating energies of our being are expressed in so many different ways in the global experience of the body breathing.

Observing and Protecting

As you're sitting here, whatever is happening for you, whatever is happening in the present moment, gaze upon it kindly. Observe it. Simply observe it, so that the observing of the experience is itself wholesome in that simple observation. No greed, no hatred, no delusion^[1], just observing. Observing from a quiet place, a peaceful place. And if you're agitated, can you find or imagine that you're watching the agitation from a quiet place, a place that's not agitated?

Then very gently and lovingly, or kindly, is there something about how you are right now that is worth protecting and preserving? Something to be cautious not to get pulled away from?

Is there something wholesome here? Even if your experience is difficult, it can be phenomenally wholesome, onward leading, and freeing to stay lovingly present for that. It's in the observing, the presence we offer, that's where we find what is to be preserved and protected. To protect our capacity to be present, to observe—perhaps to observe^[2] our experience with a sense of freedom, just here. Cautious about any forces that take us away from our ability to be here in a relaxed, caring, soft way just now.

When the mind wanders off in thought, and you let go of it, or you begin again, see if you can begin again from the place within that is worth preserving, worth protecting. Not expecting it, holding on to it, or clinging to it, but settling into a way of being, a way of being aware that is nourishing and maybe freeing. Some quality of satisfaction to be present, even for the difficult. Some way of being that's worthwhile to protect and preserve.

And to protect and preserve in a way that is wholesome, in a nice way, in a way that itself is worth protecting and preserving, because it's a movement of not giving in, opening, and staying free.

Reflections

And then, to come to an end of this meditation.

Whatever you're feeling now that is wholesome, that has a goodness to it or rightness to it—whatever your feeling or way of being, or whatever motivation you have, inspiration you have—it's worth protecting and preserving. Imagine from that place that you look upon the world. You look upon the people of your lives, what you learn about in the world, and in what forms generosity, love, care, or kindness flows from you from a wholesome place within.

If you imagine by remembering from the past some feeling of wholesomeness and goodness that lives within you, can you imagine how that flows, how it can flow out into the world?

To be in touch with yourself deeply, so that your heart flows outwards in generous, supportive, kind ways for the world. That that's the inclination of the heart, and that from that place then, riding the waves or riding the glow or the radiance of your care for the world, riding out on the kind gaze.

Maybe I'll end this meditation with a wish and aspiration that others be happy. That others also experience what is nourishing and wholesome within. That others experience the appreciation of others for what's good inside of them. That others experience respect and love for who they are and the depths of their being. That others can live with freedom, health, ease, and love.

And that for this day, for the next days, that this is more than just a wish. That in small ways, middle ways, big ways, you do things and act in ways that promote the welfare and happiness of others.

Sooner or later, it's not possible to do this practice of mindfulness if it's only for ourselves. Sooner or later, this practice spills out; it wants to spill out into benefiting the whole world.