--- ai_generation_date: '2026-09-25' ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview audiodharma: talks: - date: '2020-07-13' mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/11671/20200713-Gil_Fronsdal-IMC-guided_meditation_mindful_of_here.mp3 speakers: - speaker_name: Gil Fronsdal speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: 'Guided Meditation: Mindful of Here' url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11671 video_unavailable: false location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: UndLG-dnRlw imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Guided Meditation: Mindful of Here' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UndLG-dnRlw --- # Guided Meditation: Mindful of Here - [Gil Fronsdal](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1) _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._ ## Introduction Good morning everyone, and a good beginning of the week. I wish you well for this week and how it starts. Just a little note that for those of you who were here Friday and things didn't work out just the way they were planned for finishing up last week's series, I did give a talk on Sunday morning that can substitute for the final talk of the Dharma Samadhi[^1] series. If you want, you have the option to listen to that if you didn't. Yes, on Friday we had some technological problems here at IMC, so the sound wasn't quite working well. ## [Guided Meditation: Mindful of Here](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11671) One of the profound statements in the Dharma[^2] is the simple statement: "Here you are. Here I am." Of course, we know we're here, I suppose, but to really know it—not only to know it, but to know it in an embodied way, to be centered really here—is an alternative for the mind. Often, the mind is "there" and not "here," thinking about other times, other places, other events, and not really in harmony with the body. The body is always here. One of the ways of understanding Dharma practice, meditation practice like mindfulness, is to bring the mind and body together so they're in the same place at the same time. Since the body is where it is, it's not an issue of bringing the body to the mind; it's really an issue of having the mind be really in the same place and time, focused and aware of the same place as the body. Then there's a chance that these two wonderful capacities we have begin to work in harmony, begin to click, and to support each other. That can't happen if the mind is wandering off in thought and other concerns and fantasies. So, here you are, in this body, in the place you're at, unequivocally here. Here is the spot where you'll meditate for the next thirty minutes or so. Take a posture, assume a posture that's your best effort at finding a supportive posture for meditation. A supportive posture allows you to relax deeply and be clearly alert. We want to find the kind of balanced posture that allows both relaxation and alertness to be there. Generally, it's good to have some intentionality in some part of your posture. Maybe you intentionally sit up a little bit straighter, or if you're sitting in a chair, you intentionally have both feet firmly planted on the floor. If you are laying down for some reason, have intention behind some part of your posture. It could be that you have both hands pointing up towards the ceiling, or maybe your elbows are resting, but then at a right 90 degrees the forearm points to the ceiling. That intentionality can give a little bit of support for alertness, the energy needed to be alert and present. Then, gently close your eyes and let the eyes in their sockets rest backward, settle back. Our eyes work a lot, always looking and seeing. We have become increasingly a visual culture with all the screen time that people do. Let the eyes take a vacation; there is nothing you have to look at or see. Soften the muscles of the face, the muscles that engage to express our emotional life and how we present ourselves to this social world. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it's nice to be able to soften and relax and give the social face a break. Perhaps allow the muscles of the face to fall away from the skull, from the bones, so the muscles of the face fall into the skin and are held there softly, gently. Perhaps soften and relax around the forehead and temple area, perhaps even deeper in the skull area of the brain, to release any holding or tension in the brain. And then soften the shoulders. Let them sink or release, maybe the area around the shoulder blades as well. Then, perhaps with a quiet mind, letting your thinking be quieter, bring your soft attention to your chest and feel whatever sensations are there, as if they have permission to be there. Your job is just to feel the sensations of the chest around the heart and diaphragm, noticing if there's any resistance, holding, or tightness. Then, perhaps as you exhale, relax the chest, soften around the heart, and begin to let go of some of the holding that might be there. Also, it's nice to soften the belly, even if it's just briefly before it tightens up again. Relax the belly, and if it's possible, appreciate and relax the few moments where it stays soft, open, maybe expanded. Perhaps relax and let go of the whole body, releasing globally whatever tension and resistance is held in the body, so the whole body begins to feel more open and soft, maybe more like a field that glows than a solid mass. And maybe now, feeling you're here in this body, allowing the mind to release itself into the body so that the mind's ability to be aware occurs in the body. The sensations of breathing that are experienced, that are known where they occur—in the chest moving, the belly, the nostrils. Wherever the experience of breathing occurs, let your awareness be in those locations, sensing and feeling the sensations of breathing as if the mind has dropped out of the control tower and settled into the body itself. Awareness is not watching from the control tower, but awareness becomes the sensations of breathing, feeling the particular sensations that come and go, that appear and disappear like waves rippling across a body of water. So there's the ripple of sensations that ripple across the present moment, coming and going here, now. Sometimes in meditation, it's enough just to know that you're here. And if you want, you could follow that with a silent opening to really receive and feel, allowing the experience of _here_ to show itself to you in such a way that the mind becomes quieter, calmer, and more peaceful—peaceful with _here_. As we come to the end of this sitting, soften and relax into your heart gently, appreciating however you might have changed in the course of this meditation. It doesn't have to be dramatic. Maybe your body is a little bit more settled. Maybe your mind or heart is more settled. Maybe you see more clearly what's happening here for you, or you're a bit more patient, accepting many possibilities here. Then, consider how whatever benefits come from the spirit of meditation, how those benefits can be shared with others today. If you're a little bit more in the present moment, how could that ability to be present in a non-reactive way be a support for your contact with other people, a support for them? If you're a little bit calmer, in what ways is it useful to bring a calm presence to others? If you're a little bit kinder and feel more connection to your heart, how can you bring that to others? These are just some examples, but whatever ways you've benefited from being here today, may it be through our reflection and intentions. May it be that this practice brings welfare, happiness, well-being, and benefit to others. We may learn over time that there's a direct connection between doing this practice and our ability to make this world a better place by how we treat others and how we care for things. May it be that this practice we do is for the welfare and benefit of all beings, so that all beings may be safe, so that all beings may be happy, so that all beings may be free and delighted. --- [^1]: **Samadhi:** A Pali word commonly translated as concentration, meditative absorption, or a unified state of mind. [^2]: **Dharma:** A key Buddhist term that can refer to the teachings of the Buddha, the nature of reality, or universal truth.