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Guided Meditation (66) Ease and Easing Up

Good day, warm greetings. And here we are to continue on our adventure in mindfulness of breathing. The last tetrad^[1] at the end of this whole sequence of settling in deeper and deeper is to come to a place where we're able to observe things in a non-interfering, non-reactive way. Whereas observing by itself might not seem like a very interesting way of meditating, perhaps, or a little bit detached, it comes after a process of calming and relaxing the body and mind, and liberating ourselves just enough from our reactivity, our preoccupations, and our busy mind so that, rather than letting go at this point, we can let things be.

Letting things be can be seen as a very generous thing: to not interfere, to not assert the self, and not assert one's preferences, desires, and aversions, but to really just have the peacefulness to observe. Some things we observe are difficult. We might be anxious, we might be upset, we might be agitated in some way. But it is possible to come to a place where we just observe that and let it be. We don't have to let go of it, because we can just let it be and watch it, see it.

So the last tetrad is just observing things coming and going and starting to become attuned to the fact that in some way, or many ways, in profound ways, our experience is constantly shifting and changing and arising and passing. Now, to not be interested in the content of our experience, the content of our thoughts, the content of our feelings, but rather to be interested in the process by which they arise and pass—how they come and go. We're switching to process rather than content. That is a big shift for the human mind. To observe, to let be, and in a sense we're learning to ease up on our experience, not to get rid of it, but to be able to observe it in a peaceful way.

So, beginning with a meditation posture that allows you to both have some alertness but also to feel at ease in yourself, some easiness. Gently close your eyes. Take a few long, slow, deep breaths. Long, slow, deep breaths to fill yourself with awareness, to relax, and to settle in. Settle in, as you exhale, to some place within that feels stable. A stability. Stable in your body, stable in your heart, maybe stable in your mind. Not looking for great stability, but rather becoming a little more stable than you were. Stable here, definitively here and now, in this place, at this time.

Then letting your breath return to normal. Perhaps, as if there are waves of relaxation through your body, relaxing the muscles of your face. As you breathe, the waves of breathing are like waves washing through your face, softening, relaxing.

Waves of relaxation through the shoulders. Waves of relaxation through the belly, softening on the exhale. And waves of relaxation through the whole body.

Then letting yourself sit quietly here. Let yourself be easy, be at ease in your body. Or, if your body feels uneasy, ease up on how it is. Allow things to be, but ease up around them. It's okay. Breathe with it. Ease up and just observe experiences of your body.

Set your heart at ease. Maybe you can feel gentle, tender, soft in the heart here and now, at ease. Or if the heart is uneasy, ease up on that. It's okay, and for you to observe: this is how it is. As if the observing is accompanying the uneasiness you feel with care and compassion.

As you exhale, setting your mind at ease. It's okay to be here now. And if the mind is uneasy, ease up on that. So you can maybe just observe, and be at ease in how you observe. No need to strain or be afraid as you open up to observe phenomena.

The observing itself is a place of safety. We begin approaching a place of non-reactivity, non-harming, just observing phenomena.

One of the things you can observe is how you lose your ease, how you lose your calm, how you go in the opposite direction than easing up. Be sure that you don't overlook the moments of contraction, agitation, and reactivity. When you see it, when you know it, meet it with relaxing. Meet it with easing up, with observing: this is how it is now. Letting it be, but not being it. Letting it be, but not becoming the reactivity.

All along, breathing in and breathing out. As if breathing is the rhythm of the universe that washes through you, through everything.

Noticing ways that you get caught in thoughts, feelings, and experiences in the body. Being caught, preoccupied, or concerned is going in a different direction than being at ease, easing up, simply observing with the help of breathing.

Let breathing help you not get so caught in things. Stay with the rhythm of breathing so that you're in a better position to simply observe the comings and goings of reactivity, preoccupations, and contractions. The comings and goings of what you want and what you don't want. The coming and goings of wanting and not wanting.

Then, as we come to the end of this sitting, appreciate the possibility of easing up. One way this easing up is so helpful is to help us recognize an inner safety. As we sit and meditate, we don't need to be talking to people, interacting with them, or be out in the world driving our cars on dangerous freeways. For these few minutes of the meditation, you don't have to solve your problems or engage in the difficulties of life. It's a safe time just to let be.

And it's also somewhat private, what goes on inside. In this safety and privacy, without anybody needing to know, can you open your heart tenderly, caringly, to feel goodwill, to have kindness and love? First for the people in your life, it's relatively easy to love and have goodwill. Allow yourself the luxury of feeling that privately, without any complications of it being done publicly or overtly. Just feeling the simplicity of your care, your kindness, your appreciation of others. Perhaps breathe with it, breathe through those feelings, make room for it.

With this simple, useful connection to your goodwill, perhaps it's easier now, again in the privacy of meditation, to have thoughts of well-wishing for others. It would be quite wonderful if they could be happy, peaceful, safe, and that they could thrive and have a good life.

Then to give words to this goodwill, this well-wishing:

May they be happy.
May they be safe.
May they be peaceful.
May they be free.

May our well-wishing extend outwards throughout the lands and seas, and in all directions. How wonderful it would be if all beings could be happy. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be safe. May all beings everywhere be free.

With the support of our meditation practice, our mindfulness practice, may we, in our way, in ways that we can, contribute to that being possible.