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Mindfulness Meditation Daylong Retreat w/ Tanya Wiser and Kodo Conlin - Tanya Wiser, Kodo Conlin

Introduction and Welcome

Kodo Conlin: I thought if it's okay with everyone, just while I welcome you, I would take off my mask for a minute and put it back on. Good morning. It is so nice to be with all of you. In my estimation, it could be a perfect day for mindfulness. There is a sort of settled feeling from the clouds and the light this time. My name is Kodo Conlin. This is my friend and colleague Tanya Wiser, and this is the Insight Meditation Center. You've come online or in person for a daylong of mindfulness.

The first thing I'd like to do is welcome all of you. Welcome, everyone, and to state that everyone is welcome. Whatever your background, history, or your location—whether that be geographical or social—everyone is welcome here to do the practice.

One of the ways that IMC as a center supports the feeling of welcome is that everything we do is freely given. Everything. Isn't that amazing? We offer the teachings in the spirit of a gift. If at the end of the day you feel inspired to support what we do here, there are ways to give: a box there and a kiosk over there.

As I was sitting here, I realized that of course I have my plans and my notes for what I want to say, but then there's a way that we make the day of practice together. So, as my heart and body were settling in, what came to my mind is that one way to understand what we're doing today is that we're making peace. We're making peace with ourselves, for ourselves, with each other, for each other. Peace with experience. There's something about that that helps me to settle in and feel welcome and safe here in this space.

Today the idea is that we will move through the progressive instructions of mindfulness meditation, pretty gently guided. Mostly, we are practicing together today through sitting and walking practice. There are also sign-ups for those of you who are here in person to have practice discussions with us.

Tanya, is there anything you'd like to add to the beginning?

Tanya Wiser: Thank you, Kodo. Yes, please don't hesitate to sign up for a practice discussion. Kodo and I are here, so you can just use the sign-up sheet at the end of the stage. It gives you ten to fifteen minutes to ask a couple of questions about your practice.

I'm curious a little bit about your experience with practice. Does anybody here feel pretty new to meditation? Okay, Joe. Great.

Does anybody feel uncomfortable with not having a lot of instructions during the meditation periods? You do, Joe. Yeah, and you do too, Tina. Okay. We will maybe modify a little bit, we are happy to do that. And does anybody find getting a little bit more instruction disruptive to your practice? Those of you who have more experience, is that okay? Great.

One other thing is that we have Hilary, who was here to get us started as the manager, and Sally will be here at the end of the day. Part of the practice here is that we clean up the center together afterwards. Are there some people who are willing to commit to sticking around? It takes about 15 minutes after the end of the day. One, two, three, four, five. Great! And anybody else, if you want to stick around, the more of us there are, the more we can do. But the basics are covered, so that is great. That's what I wanted to add. Anything else you want to say, Kodo?

Kodo Conlin: I can say maybe just to orient you to the space would be a good thing to do. The most important things: you're in the meditation hall. Restrooms are over here. There is hot and cold water and a kitchen around the corner if you need that. Where will we be doing practice discussions?

Tanya Wiser: Outside. We'll set up some chairs in the parking lot on that side of the building.

Kodo Conlin: So, what we have inside will be pretty much silent unless there's a need to talk for logistics or for question and answer. Do you want me to say anything about lunchtime? Is anybody curious about the lunch situation? Corey, that was a yes for you? Okay, great.

We will keep silence inside. We have tables, and we can put a table over in front of the redwood tree which could be for silent people who don't want to talk during lunch. And then in the parking lot, we'll put a couple of tables where people can talk. It's important just to tune into what feels right for you. Maybe you decide to eat under the redwood tree and then you move to the other tables because you want to connect with the Sangha^[1]. We're not seeing much of each other the way we used to before COVID, so we are trying to create a space for connection. Whereas normally we might have a fully silent lunch here, we want to support connecting. So if you feel like you want to connect with people, you can. I'll give a little bit more instruction later, but we'll have lunch at 12:30.

There are microwaves and a fridge in the kitchen if you brought your lunch. If you did not, there are a few places that you can walk to on Broadway that are pretty fast to get your food. Did I answer your questions about lunch? Great. Okay.

Guided Meditation: Mindfulness of Breathing

Tanya Wiser: So, I'm just going to take a breath for a minute and invite you to do the same. I'm just going to kind of come back into myself for a minute here. The first part of the instructions will be mindfulness of breathing. We'll ready ourselves, and I'll do a little bit of extra talking at the beginning to orient and ground us toward this practice.

Just to orient you to what to expect today and the way the practice is taught here: we start with mindfulness of breathing, and then we move on to mindfulness of the body, emotions, thoughts, and open awareness throughout the day. We start with the breath because for those of us who are comfortable tuning into the breathing, it's so accessible. It's moving and flowing through our bodies. It's a constant rhythm, something that we can tune into that's in the present moment.

It's a beautiful support for practice when it works for us. And if it doesn't, there are some other things you can focus on. Whenever I use the word "breath," if breath doesn't work for you, you can substitute it with hearing sound or sensing physical sensations. So, you have those three options to help yourself with this morning's practice and throughout the day. Focusing on the breathing helps us stay connected here without getting lost in our thoughts—those little mini movies that happen in our minds all the time. With the breath moving the way it does, changing and flowing, we can always bring our attention back to it over and over again when we wander away.

There's an analogy that we're using the breath like an anchor. When a sailboat comes into the bay, if they don't want it to float away or get pushed up onto the rocks, they drop an anchor. That anchor grounds and holds the boat in relative steadiness. In the same way, our breath can be our anchor, helping us not get carried out to sea or turned over by our emotions, or maybe even abandon the practice altogether by getting up and doing other things. When we have an anchor, we start to stabilize the mind. We give it something to hold onto to stay connected.

And we will wander. The tide changes, the waves change, and so do the conditions inside of ourselves—our minds, hearts, and bodies. You know an anchor on a boat has a long rope or line, so the boat does move. And then maybe when the boat gets pulled too far, it starts to tug on the anchor. In the same way, something that can happen quite naturally for us is if we wander, at some point we'll wake up. We'll realize it, and that's a little like the rope tugging on the anchor. We're right there. The anchor is back, doing this as gently as we can, awake and aware with this intention to stay.

If you choose the anchor of sound instead of breath, the invitation is to receive sound when it comes your way. We don't need to go out and find sound; it will come to you. And when we listen, when we allow hearing, we can tune into how it feels in our body and where it resonates, the same way we do with breathing.

If we choose sensations to be our anchor, it can be helpful to choose something like our feet or our hands. There are other sensations that will come in our body, but we can have kind of an anchor of our hands or our feet on the earth.

Let's take a moment to lift our shoulders. Unroll them back and open up the chest. You might do that a couple of times. You might bring your elbows toward each other in the back, and naturally then the body can take a deeper breath. Allow a few longer, slower, deeper breaths with this opening. Finding this posture is a balance between alertness and relaxation.

It can be useful at the start of the practice to do a brief body scan. Just sort of taking your awareness and moving from the top of your head down through your face and shoulders, touching into the experience in your body. If you notice areas of holding or tension, maybe just pause. Breathe into the tension, and with the exhale invite a sense of letting go of whatever is not needed. Just slowly moving down through the whole body. The arms. Chest. Belly. Back body. Side body. With the belly, inviting it to relax, to let the breath flow down into the belly, and the belly expand with the inhale.

Continue to scan through the hips, pelvis, thighs, calves, and shins. Ankles and feet. If there are sensations that remain, or holding or tension, just let them be as they are.

Let's bring our awareness now back to our anchor. Sounds coming, sounds going. Sensations coming, going. Breathing in and breathing out. Just tuning in. Knowing that we're letting the breath come to the foreground of our awareness. So it's not that other things won't be happening. We don't have to stop thinking. You don't have to stop hearing if we're using the breath. Just letting the breath move into the center of our awareness. Or our anchor into the center of our awareness.

Maybe with this sort of welcoming... I'm curious. You're welcome, breath. How are you, breath? Let me feel you. Let me know you. Getting to know the breath is not thinking about the breath or picturing it, but rather experiencing breathing. Feeling. Sensing.

Does the in-breath feel different than the out-breath? Where in your body do you feel breathing? Getting to know how your body is breathing today. And just resting where you feel it the most strongly. Allowing your awareness to rest with the breathing, moment to moment.

(Silent meditation)

Just noticing how you're doing with your breathing. If you're feeling friendly with it. Maybe if it's a little bit hard to get connected, you might try just a light note. With the inhale saying "in," and with the exhale saying "out" in your mind silently, gently. This can be a practice to do that can help us. Breathing out with the sounds. Just the way it is.

(Silent meditation)

Sometimes I find it interesting to notice how the system just relaxes when sound kind of fades away. And just noticing if there's any tension again in the body. Breathing into it gently. And with the exhale inviting a relaxing.

(Silent meditation)

Breathing in, I know I'm breathing in. Breathing out, knowing I'm breathing out.

(Silent meditation)

The whole flow of experience. The thoughts that come and go. The sensations that come and go. The sounds. The energy in the body. Just letting it flow like the water flows. Breathing here, in and out. In and out. Nothing needs to be different.

And if you need to move, it's okay. The invitation is to be clear in your mind: "I think I need to adjust my posture. I need to change how I'm sitting." And stay present, even connected to the breathing while doing so. It's okay to move to a chair or do what the body needs. Breathing in and out all the while.

(Silent meditation)

Breathing. Our longest companion in life. The first thing we do when we're born is to breathe. And the last thing we do before we die is to exhale.

(Silent meditation)

In the last few minutes of the sitting... taking a few breaths at a time. Three breath journeys. See if you can connect with the full inhale and exhale, followed by the next, and the next. And notice if there's any tension, irritation, or difficulty happening inside yourselves. If so, see if you can give it a hug. Just a gentle, caring hug. Staying with the breath. A few more breaths at a time.

(Bell rings)

Let's take a little short bathroom and stretch break. We'll come back for instructions for walking meditation at five till, and then we'll have a 30-minute walking period. Take a minute to take care of your body. We were actually sitting a long time because we sat half an hour before this, so just take care of your bodies, go to the bathroom, drink, and come back. We'll be back here at five till.

Walking Meditation Instructions

Tanya Wiser: All right, maybe we should all stand up. We'll do this instruction just standing. Give ourselves a break.

When we're doing walking meditation, we can make it fairly simple for ourselves and kind of just focus on our feet. Oh, the camera. That's right, I forgot. Hi YouTube, sorry! [Laughter]

We can make it pretty simple and just sort of be aware: lifting, placing, lifting, placing. Lifting and placing is sort of like saying "in" and "out" with the inhale and exhale. So we're going to notice we're lifting up, and we're going to notice we're placing down. There are two parts: know that and feel it. Practicing mindfulness is about experiencing, not thinking about. Using the mind to help us track what's happening can help us stay with the experience.

Walk at a pace that's comfortable for you. I encourage you to try different speeds. Sometimes when you're on retreat you'll see people walking incredibly slow, feeling just the teeniest, tiniest little movements. Just staying with it. That can be very supportive for building concentration, but it also can make us tight and tense. It's also fine to walk a little faster.

Pay attention to the impact of the pacing. You might notice when you find the right pace it's like, "Oh, okay. A little bit of this breath," like ease. We don't want to try over-hard. We want to make it easy to be present for ourselves.

If we're having a hard time staying with the walking, and our mind is doing a lot of wandering, you can start to break down your experience into smaller bits. You can do a lot more of breaking down: "Heels up, toes up. Foot's off, foot's reaching. Heels down, toes down." If you feel like that would be helpful for you, maybe try a few back and forths. I wouldn't overdo that, but it's a little bit like trying to help yourself get connected to the flow. A little bit more detail can be helpful.

The other thing is you can actually just feel your whole body walking. You can open up more expansively to the experience of the whole body with the feet.

We can walk inside. If we walk in the hall, we walk the short direction. You can also walk outside. We tend to choose a path of walking, like 15 or 20 feet long. You walk, come to the end, and for me, it's very helpful at the end to stop, just pause, and let the awareness come back in and feel what it feels like. There's a momentum of moving that when we stop, we can feel the settling. And then when you feel that settling, that's my cue to think about turning, allowing all the energy to settle. I set this intention, "Okay, may I be aware," and turn and walk back the other way.

It's also okay to walk around the block. If it's not feeling supportive for you to do shorter walking, go for a longer walk. Be careful of not blocking driveways. It's okay to say hi to neighbors even though we're in silence. Not everybody else is doing a mindfulness daylong retreat, so be generous and kind. You don't have to shut yourself down in any way.

Anything you want to add, Kodo? Or any questions? Okay, so we'll do walking practice until 11:30. We'll see you back here then.

Mindfulness of the Body

Kodo Conlin: So, just as we're settling back in after the walking period, before I start talking about this next piece of our practice, I just want to mention... it always seems apt when we're about to talk about mindfulness of the body that I use my phone as a medical device. So if you see me on it through the day, it's part of what I'm up to. It's just taking care of this body.

I felt the impulse to say "welcome back," but it feels more like "welcome to continuing." Continuing the practice. Just gently continuing through the day.

With what we've done so far, we've focused on mindfulness of the breathing. Part of the function is that we've started to awaken this feeling part of our experience. A sensing part of our experience that is directly here and now. We've started doing this with the breathing—centering our experience on the breathing. Anchoring with the breathing. Dropping that anchor into the bay, partly so that we can feel when the boat starts to move. "Oh, the attention is tugging here. All my thoughts are asking for my attention here." With this anchor of the breathing, we recognize those tugs. Otherwise, we might move about and never know.

As we've started relating with the breathing in this way, one thing that may be starting to become clear is that the felt sense of the body breathing is distinct from the commentary on it. The felt sense of the body breathing is different than our stories about experience. Comments about experience. The breath makes no comments. So we're prioritizing what's here and now and sensed and felt. So far, we've done that through the breathing.

In some ways, this can highlight how so much of our normal frame of mind, at least for me, has so much to do with this sphere of thoughts. The stories, images, and fantasies that pull me into the past and the future. My breathing is just here. So the thinking has quite an outsized influence.

In the background of this practice, a Buddhist way of reckoning the mind is as one of six sense doors^[2]. Everything that goes on in the realm of thinking is just this one sense door. One out of six. As we begin tuning into the breathing and tuning into this felt sense through the body, we're waking up to more of our experience than this one-sixth. The trajectory of the practice is such that we aim to include all of our experience. Everything gets to be included. First with the breathing, and now we extend to include the body.

Just a few introductory comments on practicing with the body, and then we can meditate together.

As we tune into the body, feel into the body, know the body, and sense the body, it too is not the commentary. It is not the thinking. There can be a whole movie going on in the background of experience while we're tuned into this foreground of what's being sensed. And there's some freedom here, the body being distinct from the commentary. One of the ways I first came to see this was on a retreat like this one. I was experiencing some physical pain and had a story going along with it—a sensation and some commentary. And it occurred to me, for one reason or another, the sensations in my little toe came to the foreground of experience. I realized my little toe is not having a problem! My little toe is having no problems with my story right now. I've got this whole narrative going in my mind, and my little toe is sitting there quite peacefully having its sensations. The comments were not the body.

Something we can trust about the body is that it is always experiencing and sensing here and now. If what we want to do is stay present, if we're in touch with the body, then we know we're doing that. We know that we're here. Our thinking or commentary can often draw us into the short films of the past and future in our minds, draw us into memory or fantasy, and lose touch with what's here and what's now. Through mindfulness practice, this continuity of "here and now" starts to build momentum. It starts to gain in steadiness. And the flavor of groundedness, embodiment, the flavor of being here starts to come to the foreground.

I have heard Tanya say before that the language of the body is sensation. Much is communicated to us through the body. If our thinking is one-sixth of our experience, how much do we perceive through the body? Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, felt sense of the body. How rich.

Just as the breathing is a kind of companion, I relate to the body as a very good friend and a sound advisor. What I mean by sound advisor... sometimes I'll do this exercise where I'll open both my eyes, and then I'll close one of them. You can see how visual experience goes two-dimensional. We lose some of our ability to recognize depth. Textures can be challenging to navigate with one eye closed. And then being attentive, open the other eye. Wow. Three dimensions. Light. Depth. For me, living centered in commentary is like having just one of my eyes open. It can be challenging to navigate. When I tune into the body, it's like opening another eye. The visual field gets so much more rich, textured, and nuanced.

The body is a trusted advisor because with this extra vantage point of the body, then I can find my way. It's in this sense that the body enriches our everyday experience. It may not necessarily happen every time we sit a retreat, but you may at some point in your practice find yourself marveling at something as simple as the texture on the painted wall. "Look at that." Such is the enriching power of being present here through the senses, through the body. And so it is with our inner life. I find being present with the body allows for the flourishing of what's wholesome and beautiful: wisdom, presence, kindness, letting go.

There's a thousand-year-old Buddhist teaching that says throughout the body, there are hands and eyes. The whole body sensing. I'd like to invoke that as we move more into the meditation, and I'll offer just a little bit of instruction as we sit.

Guided Meditation: Mindfulness of the Body

So if you haven't done so already, I would invite you to make your way back to your meditation posture. And if you already have, I invite you to renew that meditation posture. When I say renew, I usually find myself rocking a bit on my seat, finding center again. Reconnecting with the ground that's supporting me. The seat that's supporting me. I did a fair amount of my meditation lying down, so the ground can also be supporting us if we're meditating that way.

Feeling our way through the seat. And then sensing our way up the spine, bit by bit. As you feel your way up the spine, you may notice, "Oh, I can realign here just a little." When I do that, I often find myself rolling my shoulders back to come into balance. The chest opens up. The shoulders wide.

Sensing my way up the spine, all the way through the neck and up the back half of the head. So if you can, the ears are in line with the shoulders. Because this posture may be a little different than our habitual ones, I find a few deep breaths helps me to settle into it and relax some of the tensions.

Inviting you to meditate with your eyes closed if that's comfortable. Relaxing the eyes. Relaxing the muscles of the face. And for softening the jaw, it can be helpful to open the mouth and then let the teeth float back up.

And as we did earlier, just a brief scanning through the body. Is there any extra tension here? Maybe in the arms, elbows, wrists, fingers. In the chest. The ribs and the solar plexus. The belly. Hips. Seat. Any extra tension in the upper legs? Just softening. Maybe in the knees. Lower legs. Heels, feet, all the way down through the toes. A kind greeting between awareness and the body.

And for a minute or two, accompanying our anchor: breathing. Breathing in, one knows breathing in. Breathing out, one knows breathing out. Alert and clearly aware.

(Silent meditation)

As we accompany the breathing, surely some thoughts will arise. The breathing is not the commentary, and no problem. As best we can: "I'm not the commentary." Pass right by.

(Silent meditation)

Now, to deliberately incorporate the body, the invitation for the moment is to let go of any effort to direct the attention to the breathing. Notice in the body: what's the most predominant sensation? If one is there that's especially uncomfortable, you don't have to pick the most uncomfortable sensation. Maybe somewhere in the middle. Identifying that sensation, turning our mindful awareness to clearly see, to clearly know that sensation through the body.

(Silent meditation)

As we sustain our awareness in connection with this sensation, what do we notice? What's the quality of the sensation? Pressure. Vibration. Coolness. Heat. Maybe twisting or a pinch or an itch. In the practice of mindfulness, it can be anything. Our work is to know it.

(Silent meditation)

Attending. How does that sensation change as I observe its particulars? Does it move, fade, change shape? Does pressing become tingling?

(Silent meditation)

Now, to bring this all together, I'll invite you to return to your anchor of the breathing. Maybe with a big breath. Just here with the breathing, and steady. And then, when a sensation arises in the body that is compelling—that is strong enough so as to call the attention away from the breathing—then as we just did, bring your mindful awareness to that sensation.

Then, when it's no longer compelling or predominant, or it fades away or disappears, come back to the anchor. Come back to the breathing. All the while with awareness.

(Silent meditation)

Staying here with the breathing until a bodily sensation becomes compelling. Bringing our whole mindful awareness to that sensation. Noticing any commentary, letting that stay in the background. The body in the foreground.

(Silent meditation)

Just a few more words about mindfulness of the body. Feel free to adjust your posture, wiggle. It's amazing how just a little move can let the pains go.

With mindfulness practice, so much starts to open up when we include awareness of the body. One thing in particular comes to mind right now, and that is, in mindfulness practice, there's both what we know (the objects that we know), and there's how we know (the quality of that awareness). I find I learn so much about how I am by what I sense through the body. Like I can be working on something, let's say sometimes I will sew with a needle and thread, and I'll notice through the sensations of my body, especially in my face, am I doing it with tension or am I doing it with relaxation? So much information comes through the body.

Or when the blower was on earlier, everything gets to be included. I noticed it was almost like my skin had 10 percent more tension in it, and then when the sound ended, the skin opened back up. There's actually a physical change that I wouldn't be sensitive to just through the story. There's all this information coming through the body.

So the primary point of practice with mindfulness of the body: sensing, feeling, recognizing the difference between the body and the commentary, and really letting the body be in the foreground as much as possible. Staying here.

I wonder if now might be a good time to talk about lunch.

Reflections and Q&A

Tanya Wiser: Before I talk about lunch, let's see if there's some reflections or questions. Does that sound okay?

Maybe taking a minute to witness your own experience today. Just notice if there's anything that maybe is different, surprising, difficult, or surprisingly easy that you experienced in your meditations today. Just sort of like if you're going into the forest to collect some treasures, witnessing your own experience today so far. Collecting in a beautiful little basket.

Is there anything in this little basket that you would like to share, or a question that you have for Kodo or myself? I don't know, Sage, if we have any live on YouTube folks, but they can certainly type a question or comment into the chat and we're happy to read those and respond as well. We do have a microphone to speak into so that it's recorded and everybody can hear. And it's okay, we've been in silence now for almost three hours, so there may not be a lot that needs to be said, and that's okay. If there's a question or a comment, now's a good time.

Yeah, thank you, Corey.

Corey: So one of the great things about today that I noticed is just how sensitively I was noticing myself, my body. I was noticing that sound would reverberate throughout my body and that sometimes had the nice effect of bringing me back if I had drifted off. So that was really cool. Even certain letters of the alphabet would reverberate more strongly and I would feel those. I think I felt the S's more than anything else. It was great.

Tanya Wiser: Thank you, Corey. You want to check the stream?

Kodo Conlin: Let's see. Honda sent three prayer emojis, so that's got to be good. Beautiful.

Mindfulness of Eating and Lunch Instructions

Tanya Wiser: Let me talk a little bit about mindfulness of eating and lunch. If any of you have ever done the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn^[3], you may have heard about the raisin meditation. I'll talk a little bit about what it's like, and invite you to approach at least the beginning of your lunch in the same way. Maybe the first five bites you could treat as a full-on raisin meditation, and then maybe periodically throughout you could pause and reconnect.

You're given about one or two or three raisins in your hand to start. Sometimes you get really plump raisins, sometimes not so much. Sometimes they're different colors. But all of a sudden, right there, there are things to notice about raisins that you might not normally pay attention to: the color, shape, the sense of plumpness or dried-outness, the weight in your hand. And you're invited to get to know these raisins like you've never seen a raisin before.

Just being curious. You might pick them up and notice that at one end there's like a belly button, a little dried belly button, and the opposite end it's just a little round rump. And then to smell them. Did you know raisins have a smell? They do. And even to listen to them. To put them near your ear and when you squeeze them a little bit, you actually can hear a little bit of a sound.

And then you take a minute and hold the raisin before you're going to eat it. So imagine having a raisin in your hand right now, picturing it, and knowing that you're going to put it in your mouth in a moment. And even as you imagine this, notice what's happening in your body. Very often what's happening is you start to salivate. Your body is anticipating the raisin. It's actually already releasing digestive enzymes needed to digest that raisin before we've even put it in our mouth.

Then we're invited to put it in our mouths, but not to chew it. Just to let it rest, to feel it with our tongues, to let the flavor just sort of seep out. You're going to feel this sense of wanting to chew; the mouth knows what to do when we eat. And so when you're doing this practice, you start to see everything that's happening before you chew it. Then you can witness this and not just follow. Don't just start chewing. Wait a minute. Sustain, feel the tension, feel the wanting. You're going to take a bite then, and you may notice your jaw just wants to go. So watching this too. Watching how the body wants to just move into chewing, swallowing. Trying to slow it down. Take a bite. Pause. Chew a couple more times. Pause. "Oh, the body's moving to swallow." Just, okay, can I see that too? And then experience the swallowing and follow it all the way into the belly, and then pause for a minute before starting with your next raisin. So there's a lot to experience.

If we're just eating a meal, we're invited to put our fork or spoon down between bites. To take our time and to feel the greed or the energy, the excitement, the anticipation. Just be aware of it, notice it. Not necessarily just give in to the automatic patterns of eating. I invite you to play with this, and like I said, maybe the first two, three, four, or five bites, see if you can't really take your time in this way with your food. Maybe even before, even if you're sitting at a table where you'll be sharing and talking, maybe just agree to take those few bites together in silence.

The momentum you've built up in three hours, you probably have no idea how much more present you are. Even if it's been hard, it is actually something to protect. It can be tempting to walk outside and just sort of let all your mindfulness go. It's good to relax and enjoy your food, but maybe pay attention to talking a little less, pausing a little more. Maybe eating some at the silent table. Be not rigid and tight at all, but a little more protective, careful, and aware of the continuity of the practice that you've been building today. Take care of it for yourselves and for each other, because you will impact each other in the way you move about and talk and eat.

There are some tables that it would be nice to get some help carrying out. Everybody maybe can grab a chair—there are these folding chairs over here on the side. I'll open the cupboard up so maybe you could each be responsible for getting your own chair, bringing it out, and then back in. Lunch will be over at 1:30. So we have an hour to set up and disassemble afterwards as well.

I do encourage, if you feel comfortable doing some chatting, to connect with your Sangha members about practice and how we're doing. It's a really precious thing to be here together. I'm getting to know you all just a little bit and it's very sweet to be here with you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your presence. And if anybody did not bring a lunch, let me know and I'm happy to tell you, if you don't know the area, a couple of spots where it's pretty quick and easy to get some good food.

Okay, any questions? Yes, Sage.

Sage: Just an announcement that if anyone actually wants to do the raisin meditation, I just so happen to have a box of raisins and I can distribute them if you want.

Tanya Wiser: Oh, that's sweet. That's great! [Laughter] Anything else? Great. Well, let's get tables and chairs and food. There are microwaves in the kitchen if you want to heat up your food. Please feel free to take care of yourselves.