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Guided Meditation: An Attitude of "Yes!"

Greetings, friends. Greetings, good morning from Mountain View, California, where it's forecast to be a storm, another storm coming to Northern California. Yes. Yay.

Hope you are well, wherever in the world you are. Greetings. Looking forward to continuing our exploration and our practice together this week. And the theme we are exploring is improvising our lives. Lessons from improv for our practice on the cushion and in life.

Saying "yes." Saying "yes" to what is. That would be the theme of our meditation and I'll offer more reflections, of course. So let's begin. Let's practice together.

Ah, arriving. Arriving in the body. Arriving in this moment in time, with an attitude of "yes." An attitude of "yes" in our hearts. Yes. Yes. To this moment. Yes to this body, however it is. It may be feeling great. It might be tight and icky, hurting. Whatever is happening in the body in this moment, can we say "yes"? Can we say "yes" to all of it with an open heart? Yes.

Exploring, experimenting with this shift in perspective just a tiny bit. See how it shifts and changes our experience. Starting with the body, saying "yes" to however it's showing up. There is tightness, achiness, etc. Opening up these areas, saying "yes, you're here." Accepting the truth of the moment. This is what's arriving right now. Yes. Instead of blocking or pushing away, which brings more agitation and tightness in mind and heart. Saying "yes" to the body, relaxing, softening.

Saying "yes" to the breath. Each in-breath, each out-breath, individually. See if the acceptance, the saying "yes," can come from your heart, from your body, not from your head. Your heart taking a stance of "yes" towards whatever is arising.

Noticing where there are these subtle no's. "No" to experience in this moment. And first, can you say "yes" to the "no"? Accepting, full "yes" to the resistance. Seeing what happens to the resistance, if there is any, with this attitude of "yes." It's not to be forced, forcing no's to become a "yes," but accepting no's with a "yes." See what happens. Maybe the heart softens, the body softens some more, and then there can be a genuine, subtle, soft "yes." Whatever is arising.

And being curious, lighthearted, exploring the different tones of "yes." How does a subtle "yes" feel in your body? A gentle, soft "yes." Like the gentle rays of morning sun. Yes.

But if you turn the volume up on your internal "yes," what does an enthusiastic, boisterous "yes" feel like in your heart? Yes! Whatever is arising in this moment, explore. Be curious. As if you are shouting "yes! yes!" delightedly to your life. Appreciatively receiving. How does that volume feel? Volume of the heart. Let's experiment. You can change, experiment with another volume. It's one to ten. Maybe a five, or maybe a one. A whisper. Explore your heart. Discover.

And if you explore in volume one of "yes," let it be very subtle, simply a stance that accompanies your awareness. Your mindfulness imbued with the subtle "yes." Acceptance. Opening to experience. Very subtle, simply knowing.

If there are stories, thoughts, future-oriented, past-oriented, not here, not present, can we say "yes"? "We see you. We see you. Yes." Acknowledging. Ah, letting the heart relax in its seeing. See what happens. The heart may settle into "yes" to the present moment. Not planning future, past. Right here, "yes" to what we truly know. Right here, right now.

Now and then you can drop the word "yes" into your heart. Let the drop reverberate, soften, settle, open up the brightness. Not like a mantra with every breath. Now and then drop it in. Tune your attitude, your perspective. Yes.

And as we bring this meditation to a close, can we have our hearts say "yes"? Yes, as if with arms wide open, embracing what this moment is, what this practice has been this morning. However it's been, full of past, future distractions, pain, or fully here, it doesn't matter. Can we say "yes, yes"? "I showed up. I'm here. I showed up doing my best. Yes."

Saying "yes" to your life. Yes to the causes, the conditions that are. Trusting that we're planting seeds of openness, non-resistance, open-hearted acceptance, curiosity. Seeds that will flower in their own time, support us, support others. And offering generously, saying "yes," offering this goodness, trusting there is goodness here co-created with all of us. And offering this goodness to all beings everywhere. May my goodness, may my cultivation, my efforts be of service. Not just to myself, my own life, but to all beings. Those whose lives I touch directly and indirectly. May my life be a source of good. Yes to this life.

May all beings everywhere be well. May all beings everywhere be free, including myself.

Thank you for your practice, friends. And as we take a brief pause, if you like to share a word or two of what's arising for you in this moment after this practice to take with you through your day, you're welcome to do that.

Dharmette: Life as Improv (2/5) The Wisdom of "Yes, And..."

Greetings all. Thank you for your practice. A moment ago I asked you to share words that are coming up after this meditation on "yes." A few of them bring them into the space: peace, openness, open gratitude for my life, yes, calm, smile, relax, energy, positivity. One of you says acceptance, calmness. Yes, grounded cultivation. Open heart. So many beautiful reflections. Thank you so much. Simply sacred. Acquired "yes." Yes, this too. Kind, sweet. Upekkhā^[1], equanimity. Beautiful. Thank you so much.

I like to offer some reflections on the theme of this week, which is inspired by the practice of improv, which actually is a deep and sacred practice for me. On the outside it can look really funny and silly, but it is actually a practice.

There are many teachings in the canon of improv. Yesterday we started with this attitude of curiosity, interest, lightness. Just the sense of curiosity, and the fullness and emptiness in our language in Buddhism, coming together with this lightness, and also with the actions in the world.

So today we return to what's called the teaching on "yes, and." The equivalent of that in our practice is acceptance. Accepting, opening to experience, not blocking experience, but being open to experience. Because if we block experience, even if experience is difficult and challenging, it becomes harder. It becomes much more difficult. But in accepting, there is a sense of opening, of softness, and it allows possibilities.

So in improv with the teaching on "yes, and," there is a concept of blocking versus accepting. Blocking is when an offer is made. For example, in an interactive, relational situation, as we often are in life. Say, in an improv scene playing with another player, and they make a made-up offer. Because improv is made up, you're improvising. And our lives are also made up. There's a lot of improvising.

When a player makes an offer to you—for example, gives you an imaginary saucepan and says, "Oh, here, take the saucepan"—if you say, "Oh, this is not a saucepan," or "Oh, I don't want a saucepan," you block. If there's an energy of blocking, an energy of "no," that pretty much kills the interaction. You can notice that in your own life. We actually often notice it more in others when they block our invitations or offers. "Do you want to do this?" "No, I don't want to do that." Oh, ouch. It kills the energy.

Whereas the idea of "yes, and..." Say, for example, you're inviting someone, "Would you like to do this?" And they say, "Yes, I would love to do something with you. And how about we do this? Because this is what I have energy for, this is what I have time for." There's a flow in the energy of life. There's a flow in the energy of interaction. There's a flow in the energy of the moment. "Yes, and." The concept of "yes, and" is the most fundamental rule of improv. You say "yes" to what's offered and you add something to it. It's the "and" instead of "yes, but." We often do "yes, but," rather than "yes, and." "Yes, this is a cooking implement, and... oh, I needed one, I'm about to make eggs." There is a sense of this spirit of generosity.

We often block the energy of life even when things are difficult, when we push them away. For example, as I was guiding and leading this meditation, I had a lot of aches, pains, and tightness in my body. I've learned through my practice that if I tighten around them—"No, I don't want this pain. Why this pain? It's terrible"—I get stuck in that, or stuck in life. Whereas, "Yes, yes. Okay, all right. Yes, there is tightness. There is this pain. There is this discomfort. Yes. I open up to it. My heart opens up to it." It softens. It's acceptance. It becomes part of the experience, and it's not taking center stage. There's a lot of wisdom in saying "yes, and," with the wisdom of acceptance.

Through improv, we can see it from a different perspective. We usually see acceptance and opening from the dharmic perspective. Inspired by improv, this way of saying "yes, and..." brings a sense of opening even to the challenges in life. It's not always easy and rosy, and yet can we open up to what is? Instead of blocking it, "no, no, no, no, no," or coalescing around the difficulty, making it center stage. There is so much possibility and openness. There are so many routes. When we say "yes," it opens options. It opens our way of seeing. It opens our perspective. It opens lots of options. The same way that in improv, saying "yes," then gives you a lot of options. "Yes, and let me try this. Yes, let me try that." Whereas when we say "no" or resist, or there is this blocked energy in our heart, it just kind of gets stuck in the blocking.

The invitation I have for you today is to try saying "yes" to what is. To try saying "yes, and." The "yes" could be a very subtle "yes" of "Yes, I acknowledge. Yes, it is like this right now." And can you add more creativity? Instead of just ending with the "yes," can you invite your creativity? We all have creativity as human beings. Can you say "yes, and"?

When invitations come in, can you say "yes, and" instead of "no"? "Yes, I'd love to do this, and let's do it this way." Let's embellish it. Can we bring more creativity? Can we bring more possibilities to our lives today, especially relationally? Relationally with others, or even our own hearts. When something comes up, maybe it feels like, "Oh, the same old, same old. No, I don't want to do this." But, "Yes, can I find a way to say 'yes, and,' and make it more creative and find other ways?"

Can we challenge ourselves? This life is so impermanent and precious. It's amazing to be conscious, for anything to exist at all. But here we are, with all these myriad opportunities to learn and grow, even when things are difficult, as they often are. And it's okay. It's part of being alive, learning, growing.

So may you be well. May you say "yes" softly, boisterously. May you explore today saying "yes, and." Thank you so much for your practice, for joining, for your exploration. See what it feels like today to improvise your life with the "yes, and." You're improvising it anyway, so you might as well try some different, fresh tools and see what happens. You might like them and keep them. Thank you so much. May you be well. May you say "yes, and." I'm looking forward to continuing the series with you tomorrow.