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Guided Meditation: Relaxing the Body to Relax the Mind

Yes, good day. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Happy to be here and have this time in meditation. And for me, it's a little special always to teach from my meditation posture, and so it's very nice to come and sit here in a posture that I'm so familiar with and comfortable with.

Mindfulness of the body is very important in relationship to how we care for the mind. There's a strong tendency to think of making a sharp separation between the mind and the body. In Buddhism, there's not such a sharp separation. They're not exactly the same, but they're not exactly different. They are dependent on each other and affect each other in very deep ways.

There's a tendency among some people to prioritize the mind, as if the mind is really where the action is—the control tower—and the body is just kind of an appendage that does what it does while the mind directs it. It's possible to switch that around and give priority to the body. You can think of the body as what affects, and maybe even controls, the mind; that the quality and characteristics of the body are what really influence the mind in a very big way.

So the practice of relaxing the body is not just relaxing the body; it also relaxes the mind. As we relax the body and become more sensitive to mindfulness of the body, we start feeling the subtle ways in which the body and mind are interacting or influencing each other. We notice the subtle ways in which tensions in different places of the body are directly correlated to tensions in the mind. As we relax these subtle physical places, the mind relaxes more and more. It becomes more at ease, more settled, and more open. Some people feel a sense of spaciousness and peace.

So, take a posture for meditation. If you are a regular meditator and you have found a decent posture to meditate in, slowly, over time—maybe over years of practicing meditation—there is a very subtle, steady shift in the musculature and structures of the body. The body becomes more at ease and comfortable in this posture (sometimes thought of as a yogic posture). It takes time to really let the body find its way. Take a posture that expresses both alertness and relaxation, or the possibility of relaxation.

Gently close your eyes. Take a few deep inhales. Take the kind of deep, full inhales that allow for the stretching of the chest, the shoulders, the back ribcage, and even the expansion of your belly. Feeling, as you take deep inhales, the lifting of the chest and the filling out of the belly. Continue taking some deeper breaths, and then a slow, long exhale. Maybe a long exhale that comes with an ah of settling in, relaxing the body. Relax the shoulders, relax the chest, relax the belly, and then let yourself breathe normally again.

Once again, relax the body. The Buddha talked about relaxing the whole body all at once^[1], as if the whole body can soften, open up, and relax. Feel the calming of the body. If there is some calm in the body, maybe you can breathe with it as you relax. As you exhale, let the calm spread from wherever it is through the body, finding some feeling of physical tranquility. Give a little bit of priority to even the slightest hints of calm, tranquility, or relaxation that exist in the body. As you inhale and exhale, spread that out to expand that relaxation and calm.

Release any holdings in the arms, hands, and fingers. Maybe feeling the weight of the elbows, allow something to release. Relax the thighs and legs. Become more centered now in just the experience of the body breathing. Take two or three breaths to become more familiar with how it is for your body to be breathing right now. Are there any feelings of calm or tranquility associated with your breathing? Maybe it's just a momentary feeling or two, a hint, but feel whatever calm or tranquility that might be associated with breathing, and relax with that. [Laughter]

Maybe at the end of the exhale, gently let go more. Release the musculature that is involved in breathing. Let the diaphragm relax. At the very end of the inhale, notice the first moments of release, letting go, and relaxing; that is the beginning of the exhale^[2]. Relaxing with the exhale, and as you exhale, letting go of your thinking. As you exhale, calm your thinking. Let your thinking become calmer, a little slower, softer.

Take a few moments to feel any sensations in your body associated with thinking. It might be around the forehead, behind the forehead, or somewhere inside the skull. Notice any pressure, tension, contraction, or subtle physical sensations connected to thinking. Some thoughts have tentacles that reach out to other places in the body, like the belly, where there's a tightening from what we're thinking about. Or the jaws are clenched, or the shoulders are affected by the thinking and tighten up. Whatever agitation or energy is associated with thinking, whatever sensations there are, relax as you exhale. Soften the thinking mind.

There might be similar sensations in your mind—tightness, contraction, energy, tension, pressure, a buzz, or solidity. There may be a contraction, a center, a place from which you think, or a place where you feel your involvement and the strength of your emotions. You might have some place connected to your mind where you can feel its workings. As you exhale, relax and soften.

If there is any calm or tranquility associated with the mind, breathe with that. Relax further with that, spreading that calm.

If you have any feeling or sense of your mind's location—even a very general or vague sense of its workings—notice also what is beyond the edges of it. Notice the space around the mind and its workings. As you exhale, relax into that space. As if the mind had been a choppy lake surface with waves, and the waves become still and quiet, allowing the mind to spread out flat and wide like a still, quiet lake. Let the mind relax, resting in the body and resting in space. Give the mind a break, a vacation where it doesn't have to work so much, and support that vacation by softening and relaxing whatever is happening in your body that is associated with thinking. Relax and settle, allowing the mind to share in the tranquility of the body.

Notice if you start thinking. Is there any subtle tension in the mind that comes with thinking? Any subtle physical activation? If so, relax.

Reflections

And then, as we come to the end of the sitting, again allow your body to relax more. Maybe even relax any effort to meditate, allowing the mind to become calm, or at least a little calmer.

Notice how being relaxed or calm in body and mind might make you a better listener. How your capacity for being mindfully present might give time and space for you to hear, think about, and take in other people. To listen more deeply and clearly. To take time, even if you're reading the news, to listen, reflect, and be open. To sense, feel, and consider others in deeper ways. To feel, sense, and remember—because of the depth of your humanity and your capacity to settle into the depths of your being—that other people have depth too.

May it be that as you go about your day over the next 24 hours, your capacity for meditation, ease, relaxation, and mindfulness allows you to be more respectful of other people. May you be more able to listen deeply and see clearly, taking the time to really find out who these people are and sensing them before rushing to judgment or words.

In doing so, may you also discover how you can have compassion, goodwill, friendliness, and respect. May it be that coming out of this meditation, you allow yourself to have a deeper appreciation of all beings. An appreciation of their capacity to relax and settle deeply into their humanity, their capacity not to suffer, and to find ease.

And may it be, by listening carefully, attending carefully, and considering others carefully, that we become a force in the world—agents of peace and a force of goodwill that allows and supports all beings to relax deeply. May all beings find a calm and subtle peace where the best qualities they have can come forth.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be at peace.