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Guided Meditation: The Body as the Instrument

Good morning and good day greetings. Happy to be back here Monday morning to sit with you and to somehow offer you something from my experience of meditation.

As an introduction to this, I would like to say that we human beings are endowed with a very sensitive instrument. If we care for it and learn to tune into it, this instrument of our body and our senses is quite phenomenal. For the purpose of Buddhist practice, really tuning into this instrument that we have—of this body that senses and feels, and all the different sense doors—is the vehicle for all three of the Buddhist trainings. It's the vehicle or the means for sīla^[1], for samādhi^[2], for paññā^[3]—for ethics, for developing the mind, and for wisdom. That a single instrument should be so important and so effective for these three areas culminates in this body often being considered to be central and foundational for awakening itself.

So we all have been given this wonderful instrument. Learning how to wisely attend to it, or wake it up, or to be attuned to this wonderful capacity we have to sense and to feel through the body is one of the great tasks of spiritual life. To feel and sense the body—and some of it is quite difficult—is to slowly and patiently learn to reconcile ourselves with the body or heal ourselves through the body.

So to begin, we begin with the body. And perhaps in the middle, we continue with the body. And at the end, we end with the body. So take a posture. Assume a posture. Enter a posture which embodies or begins to awaken your capacity to be aware through the body, with the body. It's not simply a posture that's comfortable, though that's ideal. It's about a posture which allows the body to be a little bit awake and present. Generally, that means to sit upright or to have something upright that requires some intentionality and deliberateness. For those who need to do meditation lying down, perhaps to have one or two of the arms pointing upwards from the elbow up. So the upper arm is resting, but at right angles, the forearms are pointing up, so there is some intentionality involved.

And then see if you can become aware of your body in a global way. Perhaps with an awareness which is curious to discover what is here. Perhaps with an awareness that is gentle or kind. An awareness that brings a kind of medicine to the body. A kind of awareness that maybe is not in the control tower watching, but an awareness which is relying on all these nerve endings for the senses of the body. Allowing the knowing, the sensing, the awareness of those sensations to be infused with a healing awareness. An awareness which is not in conflict. An awareness which is caring. An awareness which, provisionally at least, is like a doctor who's going to first explore and probe the body to know how to take care of it.

Perhaps feeling and sensing the shoulders. And perhaps as you exhale, to soften and relax the shoulders.

Perhaps feeling the chest, the area around your heart and diaphragm. Feeling it as if it's speaking to you, as if it's revealing. You don't need to think about it, but to feel and make room for what's in your chest. And perhaps as you exhale, there can be a softening and relaxing.

And the same thing with the belly. So much gets carried and held in the belly. To enter the sensations of the belly in a kind, maybe healing way. To just allow what's there to show itself. Feel it, sense it. And perhaps as you exhale, you can soften and relax the belly.

And then there's the face. Sometimes the face does a lot of work for us or is very engaged in our life, with the muscles doing a lot of work holding, tensing, expressing itself through the face. Maybe as you exhale, allow the face to soften and relax, to let the muscles fall away from the skull.

And then, for some people, the breathing. The body's experience of breathing, the movements of the body, the sensations that come alive as we breathe, can be seen as the very center or heart of the lived body. This body that reveals so much—the source of wisdom and samādhi and ethics. So feel the body breathing. Curious, interested in how the body is breathing now. How is it different from other times?

Or if breathing is not a useful center, perhaps the whole body is useful. Just the body, as it reveals itself. Perhaps a gentle, systematic scan through your body, if that helps you from drifting off in thought.

This body is a wonderful instrument, an antenna. For these next minutes of the meditation, perhaps instead of figuring anything out, you can just progressively, repeatedly, enter into the experience of the body. Becoming more and more aware and sensitive to the body. Perhaps through the breathing, inhaling and exhaling here.

Remember your body. In a sense, your body never forgets you. It's always here for you. Remember.

Reflections

And then, as we come to the end of this sitting, it may be useful to remember that this body of ours carries so much for us. It carries within it all the challenges we've had in our life, all the hurts. It carries within us all the love that we've received, or that we have for others. It carries within it our joys and our sorrows. And this body carries within it powers of healing, of reconciliation. And to learn how to be with the body in a wise, caring way. To learn the different aspects of the body and not to have fight or flight, but to approach and soothe, approach and nurture what is here.

And as we stay centered in the body, there's the opportunity to bring to mind, bring to body, our connectedness, our care for others. And to think of it not so much as a mind thing, but as a body and heart thing. Coming out of meditation to express, to always express our care, our carefulness, our connectedness, our goodwill for others.

And may it be that today, that through this body, through the heart in this body, through the actions of this body, may this body be a vehicle, an instrument of goodwill, helpfulness, support. May this body be an instrument for the welfare and betterment of this world. May it be that through our actions of body, speech, and mind, may all beings be happy. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free of oppression and fear. May all beings be free of disrespect and hate. May all beings experience the respect, the love, the care of others. May it be that we care for all beings.