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: Knowing and Calming the Mind

Warm greetings everyone, and welcome to our meditation time.

One of the principles of mindfulness meditation, or one of the potentials, is to be equanimously mindful of everything. No matter what experience we're having, it's possible to have a relaxed, calm, clear recognition that this is happening. And in relationship to mental activity—the topic of this week, thinking—mindfulness meditation is not making an enemy of our thinking. It's not condemning it to some place where it's not supposed to exist at all, and we're supposed to get rid of it.

It certainly can calm down thinking, and it's quite nice to have it become quieter and stiller. Sometimes it seems thinking stops entirely, and it can be very peaceful. But that's not necessarily the point. The point of mindfulness meditation is to see clearly without being for or against the experience. Being for and against, that is a different capacity of the mind. It's a different function of the mind that sometimes has a role and sometimes doesn't. But for mindfulness itself, it's just a simple being present for our experience.

So, with that as an introduction, maybe just close your eyes as you are. And think that the principle for mindfulness meditation is that you're allowed to come as you are. It is a "come as you are" meditation. And so, when you sit and close your eyes, one of the possibilities is to begin first by just noticing how you are. Without any effort to meditate, just notice how you are right now.

What's happening for you in your body? What's happening for you in your heart? And what's happening for you in your mind?

And, in particular for the purposes of today, without any idea to be any different, notice your thinking. Allow yourself to think whatever you have to be thinking, but just become aware of it. Be curious. A simple recognition of what you're thinking.

Maybe a little bit as if you could step away, step backward a few steps, and then turn around to look at yourself. Look at your mind as if it's thinking. Thinking in words, thinking in images. Sometimes with just that clear recognition and allowance to think, the thinking quiets down or even stops. Sometimes it will come back. So just take your time and notice how it is.

And notice the energy of thinking, the pull of it. Is it strong? Is it weak? Do you have an attitude about your thinking? Do you relate to your thoughts in a friendly way? In a hostile way? In different ways? And what would it be like to neither be friendly nor hostile, and certainly not indifferent, just present and seeing? In the way that you would maybe look while walking down the street, you might look at a tree here, look up in the sky, and watch clouds sail by.

And are there any physical sensations connected to thinking? Is there pressure, tension, contraction? The experience—not what you're thinking about, but the experience of thinking in and of itself. As an experience, as something that has sensations, or you can feel it in some way. Is it pleasant or unpleasant?

And now, thinking of the thoughts you're thinking, imagine your thinking is like bubbles—thought bubbles. Take a deep, full breath. As you exhale, let those bubbles float away.

Deep breath in, relaxing the mental activity. Relaxing the pressure and tension. And now continue thinking as the mind wants to think, but can you think in quieter ways? Can you think with a quieter voice or calmer images? Maybe you let the images recede a little bit further away from you, or they slow down. Quieter thoughts, slower thoughts. Adjusting the volume and the speed of your thinking.

And then, instead of letting yourself think whatever you wish to think about, choose what you think about. And what I'd suggest is you choose to think instructions for meditation. Maybe I'll give you some now; you can repeat them to yourself in quiet, calm thinking, or you might have variations.

Gently, softly. Take a few fuller breaths, and as you exhale, relax your body.

As you exhale, softening the shoulders. Releasing the shoulders.

As you exhale, softening the belly. Letting your breathing return to normal.

As you exhale, soften the muscles of your face, around the eyes and the forehead. And soften what can be softened in the area of your brain. Even if it's softening around the brain.

And then to settle into the experience of the body breathing. And for these minutes, you'll accompany your breathing. Maybe imagining that you and your breathing are walking along holding hands. So there's continuous contact between awareness and the breathing. Breathing and the awareness.

And without leaving the attention to breathing, if while you're breathing mindfully you notice that it's easy to relax the body more, you might do so. If you notice that there are feelings of well-being, or contentment, or joy, allow it to grow, give it space in your body.

And if you notice it's possible to relax the mental activity, the thinking muscle, without leaving your breathing, maybe on the exhale, relax the mental activity. But all along accompanying your breathing. Awareness and breathing walking along, hand in hand.

Softening your thinking, slowing your thinking down, quieting your thinking. And with your thinking quieter, maybe it's easier to relax the mental activity, the drive, the push, the pressure.

An image for relaxing the mental activity is that of a flower bud that goes from being tightly closed to opening up wide, so the inside of the petals open to the wide open sky in space. So we relax the mind and intuit, or feel, the vastness of quiet space all around. And in that space, we stay rooted in the breathing. Relaxed and open, receiving the experience of breathing.

Maybe you can assume that for these next minutes there's nothing that you need to think about. Even though you might think, there's no need to invest any importance in your thinking.

And there might be a greater contentment available by dropping into your body, to feel what is more tender and soft and open in your body. The quiet, still place within, through which you could be breathing, from which you can be breathing.

Thinking can be a powerful storm, howling wind. And thinking can be a soft breeze, a soft refreshing breeze that lightly moves through us. And with the lightest, softest, maybe almost insubstantial or imperceptible thoughts, have thoughts of goodwill for others. Maybe thoughts of wishing them well, wishing them happiness and peace.

And see how softly, from a still, tender place within, you can silently in your mind evoke thoughts, ideas, wishes of goodwill for others. Maybe they're even just half thoughts. In a way that opens up your heart, opens you to a care, a tender care, respect, and valuing of others. And may a soft, quiet, tender, kind regard for others be something that you touch into throughout the day today. It doesn't have to be dramatic. It doesn't have to be obvious to others. From the quiet place within, simple quiet thoughts of well-wishing for others.

And may it be that the benefits of this 30 minutes together meditating, may those benefits be shared with others, either directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly. And may it be that this meditation supports the possibility of others being happy.

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