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Guided Meditation: Allowing the Flow of Experience

Good morning and welcome to our sitting together. I just delight in seeing all the names, and all the places that you're logging on from. Thank you.

As a way of introducing the meditation session today, I would like to say that in the teachings of the Buddha, he uses a lot of metaphors, and particularly metaphors from nature. Those metaphors are meant to give a more holistic sense, feeling, intuition, and embodiment of what the teachings are. In terms of meditation practice, one of the most common metaphors he used is water. Often it is the idea of water that's flowing, very clear, or very cool and refreshing. There are all kinds of water metaphors, and one that I'm particularly fond of is that of water flowing in a river.

Another idea I like is that of a plant growing. We don't force a plant to grow; we create the conditions for it, and then, in a certain way, we get out of the way for the plant so it can grow. A river which is blocked, a river which has a lot of obstacles, the Buddha talked about having lots of noise, like a creek gurgling and cascading. But a river that has no obstacles, that's large and strong and flowing, can have a quiet, silent flow.

So for meditation today, we will explore this idea that there's a river of life within us that flows. A lot of what meditation is involves getting out of the way. This deep, deep allowing, this willingness to allow our experience to be what it is, and to learn the art of getting out of the way. This means somehow not having our preferences, our desires, or our resistance in the way of the breath as it breathes in and out, as the flow of sensations in the body move through us, as sounds come in.

The idea is to allow what's deep inside to flow. I like the idea of letting what's deep inside—that is kind of beyond or greater than any small sense of self that we have, the idea of "me, myself, and mine"—make room, open up, and allow it to flow and express itself.

With that as a background, our experience is a river, and our job is to stay in the river but not put any obstacles in it, to flow along with it. The more we enter the river, enter the stream, and enter the current, the less self-preoccupied we will be.

So taking a meditation posture and closing your eyes, immediately noticing what is here for you now. Without even beginning the meditation, notice what is already flowing, moving, and happening. What is happening in your body? What is happening in your heart with your emotions? What is happening in your mind with your thoughts? And of what you're experiencing now, what percentage of it is all about you? About you as the agent, having you as the reference point for your preferences, your desires, and your fears—about "me, myself, and mine"? There's nothing wrong with that, except it does obscure the flow of change, the flow and dynamism of being alive.

Getting involved in thoughts, stories, the past, and the future all too easily obscures and maybe interrupts the flow of the river, the flow of experience. So taking a few long, slow, deep breaths, and as you exhale, relaxing the thinking mind. Softening your preferences, whatever physical sense of anxiety or self-concern that may be there for good reason. For now, it's okay to let it rest. Relax the thinking muscle. Relax that muscle of self that is often activated. It's okay for these minutes of meditation just to be. It's okay not to be self-concerned.

Taking a few long, slow, deep breaths, and as you exhale, relaxing the body. Softening in the body. Even when the body is uncomfortable, the body becomes something we can trust, something we can rest in. The body itself is kind of an alternative to excessive self-concern—the self-concern which is okay to lessen and quiet for the minutes of meditation. Instead, enter awareness into the body.

Letting the breathing return to normal. See if you can ride the exhale. Ride it like a wave to the end where it's quiet and peaceful. Gently for a moment ride the exhale. As you do so, allow the thinking mind to become quieter. Relaxing.

Relaxing the muscles of the face. Relaxing the shoulders. Relaxing the belly. Notice any sense in your body that you're bracing yourself against life, bracing yourself against the unknown. Perhaps for these few minutes, it's okay to relax. Soften the whole body, so that the sensations of your body—the flow and changing sensations of breathing, the sensations that tell of your vitality, the sensations that are part of your life coursing through you—open you to feel it.

As you stay present, come back to a kind of allowing, where you allow the immediacy of life, the immediacy of breathing, and the immediacy of the experience of your body to express itself and to flow. You are flowing in the river of the present moment.

Everything that's happening is in fact part of the flow of the river of life—everything we're experiencing here in the meditation. If something is not experienced as a process, as change, as movement, or as a flow, chances are you're fixated with your thoughts. You're thinking too much about it. You're too involved in your thoughts. Let your thinking become quieter. Maybe you can even allow your thinking to become slower. Maybe there are even pauses between your thoughts. In the space beyond your thoughts, between your thoughts, perhaps that is where the expression of life can flow through you.

As we come to the end of this sitting, take a few moments to aspire to have your care, goodness, and love be something that spreads outwards to include the others you know, those for whom it's easy to have goodwill and care. Let go of the clinging that causes the tension that blocks our love. Soften the resistance that doesn't allow love to flow. Soften the clinging that doesn't allow us to receive and give freely. To whatever degree that you can care and love, maybe you can aspire to express it into the world. Maybe even in ways that other people can't see because they are private acts, secret acts of love and kindness that you do.

May it be that this meditation we have done be a source from which we care for the welfare and happiness of the people around us, the people we'll see today, talk to today, and become aware of today through all the different ways that we learn about the world. May our meditation be a support for the well-being, happiness, and peace of all beings everywhere.