IMHTalk -04/26/2021

Guided Meditation

Introduction 

  • The questions
    • How can you make the best use of your time on the pillow?
    • What does it mean to watch your breath?
    • What does it mean to get grounded? 
    • What does the experience of being grounded feel like?
    • What techniques can most effectively help you to get grounded?
    • Are there different levels of being grounded?  If so, how can you tell?
    • What practices can help you be more mindful when you get off the pillow?
  • This guided meditation is an attempt to inspire you into explore on your own these questions.    
  • We are not all the same;
    • What works for me one day doesn’t work the next day. 
    • What doesn’t work for me when I first sit down on the pillow might work after using preliminary techniques. 
    • Your challenge is to find the answers to the questions above that work for you!
  • This guided meditation will go through 3 major phases.  These are techniques that I use that have helped me.   
    • Phase 1 – Triggering the relaxation response through breathing techniques. 
    • Phase 2 – Focus meditation.  
    • Phase 3 – Open awareness meditation.
  • Buddha was asked how to meditate.   He says it’s like playing a stringed instrument.  Too tight is not good and too loose. 
    • The more challenging the instructions the more likely you will feel frustrated. 
    • The easier the instructions the more likely you will loose focus
    • We each have to find that sweet spot
  • Some techniques are like training wheels on a bike.  When you know how to ride a bike you are better off with the training wheels.   For experienced meditators some things will be a hindrance. 
  • I hope that everyone finds something for them to think about in their personal meditation practice. 

Guided Meditation

  • Find a comfortable seating position.
  • Part 1 – Triggering the relaxation response. 
    • Breath long slow and deep. 
    • Does it help to count as you breathe in and count as you breathe out.   Try it, If it helps do it, if it doesn’t don’t do it. 
    • Do you feel more relaxed? Less relaxed?
    • Get a felt sense of the breath.   
      • If you feel comfortable focus on the nostrils on the in breath
      • On the out breath have a wave of awareness from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. 
      • Be aware of what you are aware of.  
      • Be aware of any sensations in your nostrils or doing the body scan.
  • Part 2 – Focus
  • Part 3 – Open awareness. 

Talk

  • I want to share my answers to the questions that I asked before the guided meditation.   This is JUST MY perspective at this point in my journey, but you need to find your own answers to these questions.   Thinking about these questions can help you on your journey. 
    • What does it mean to get grounded? 
    • What does the experience of being grounded feel like?
      • For me being grounded means being so focused on the present moment sensate experiences that the stories and dramatizations go away.  
      • My perspective shifts from ego-based fears to a more open view of reality.
      • I am more accepting. 
      • My heart rate decreases. 
      • What is your experience like?    
    • What techniques can most effectively help you to get grounded?
      • I often need the long slow breath to settle me down.   Sometimes it is all that I can do. 
      • While meditating I try to constantly be aware of:
        • What are my intentions. 
        • Where is my attention. 
        • Am I aware of what I am aware of.  
        • How vivid is felt sense of the body in the present moment. 
      • What do you to get grounded?
    • Are there different levels of being grounded?  If so, how can you tell?
      • At some point intention, attention and awareness seem to be there effortlessly.  
      • Most of the time there is constant effort required to stay in the present moment. 
      • The more vivid the sensations the more grounded I feel. 
    • What practices can help you be more mindful when you get off the pillow?
      • I try to repeat the experience of open awareness when I want to be present.  Some of my focus is always on the body.
      • Noting is also helpful. 
      • When driving I try to do a noting practice.  Be aware of the cars to the left and in the rear.  I don’t listen to a radio.  I feel the sensation of holding the wheel.  I notice the sounds.  
  • I am struggling.  
    • Every time I think that I understand there is another level of understanding or experience that I need to work on. 
    • My mindfulness is extremely poor.  As my meditation practice has increased, I am becoming increasingly aware that I am unaware.   
  • “The path is the goal.”
    • What that means to me is that the practice of meditation is the path, and it is the goal.
    • It is a never-ending process of sitting, gaining insight, experimenting with new techniques, and constantly deepening my insights and mental stability. 
  • Parable of the Umbrella. 

Books and videos that have helped. 

  • Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha..  Daniel Ingram
  • The Youtube video – Awareness of Awareness- Yongey Mingur Rinpoche.

Discussion Questions

  • Any Questions
  • Any comments 
  • Are there books that you would recommend that we should read to deepen our practice. 
  • Are there other techniques that you use to deepen your practice that you would recommend?

Recommended books in the discussion.

Joseph Goldstein – Mindfulness – 

The Mind Illuminated – John Yates 

Mindfulness for beginners – John Kabat Zinn

Satipattana A Practitioner’s Guide by Bhikkhu Analayo