Nondual Guided Meditation by Michael Taft
Meditation
So let’s begin by simply checking in with ourselves. It’s the method I call So just check in with yourself what’s it wish to be you straight away? How are you feeling? What are the thoughts running through your head? How’s your body doing? And so forth… It’s form of a psychic weather report. How are you doing in there? Check in with that, and the rule is; nonetheless you’re doing in there’s positive, right? Even when it doesn’t feel positive, or perhaps it’s chaotic, or perhaps it’s anxious, or who knows… nonetheless it’s in there, is excellent for straight away. It’s the way in which it’s. So we’re accepting how we’re. We’re accepting how we’re doing. We’re accepting how we’re feeling straight away, not imagining that we’re purported to have different thoughts or no thoughts, not imagining that we’re purported to have different emotions or only good emotions or no emotions or something, however the emotions we’re having are excellent for straight away. And our body, straight away, is excellent.
Possibly you ate a bunch of pepperoni along with a bunch of hot peppers on it, like a few of us may need, and there’s indigestion happening, that’s positive. Possibly your legs hurt since you stretched funny, that’s positive straight away. Even in case you’re experiencing pain, do whatever it takes to alleviate that pain. But what there’s positive. So I’ll be quiet for a moment and I would like you to simply tune into yourself and let nonetheless you’re feeling be excellent. At once. Without trying to vary it in any way. Okay.
Now you might do a complete hour of that meditation, just accepting the way you’re doing, since it’s so different from our normal stance–this aggressive stance where I all the time need to vary how I’m doing. Here it’s; I’m just accepting what’s happening and letting or not it’s there.
Okay, good. Now let’s begin simply and simply noticing our respiratory, not even concentrating on it as such, but just noticing it. Allowing the sensation of the breath to be present in awareness. And in case you wish you possibly can do a bit of light pranayama, on this case meaning some deep respiratory with long out-breaths. So in case you want you possibly can breathe a bit of deeper than normal and let the breaths be nice and long, but you don’t need to. We’re not doing tight, narrow concentration on the breath here, we’re allowing awareness to be open, to be broad, to be relaxed, and easily noticing that the sensations of the breath appear in awareness with none effort. You didn’t get up this morning and, you understand, need to activate your senses. They were just on. Awareness is just aware. The sensation of the breath arises in awareness without us doing anything in any respect.
And I also want you to note in a really, very, light, open way any a part of your body that feels relaxed, by relaxed I mean feel sort of neutral and nice, feel sort of open and soft and mild. Now for some reason, after I say that individuals are likely to notice what’s tight after which start fighting it. I’m saying notice what’s already relaxed, what already feels good, what already feels easy and open. And again, just let the noticing of that easy open rest be present in awareness. Just let it shine in awareness along with the rising and falling breath wave. This is simple, open, gentle, soft, vivid, and clear. Notice that with none effort in any respect awareness is broad, it’s boundless, it’s clear and vivid. It’s like a sky with no ground below. It’s just sky but sky that’s awake, sky that’s aware.
Notice now a full moon, a vivid circle of white light, a vivid full moon rising within the sky of awareness. So imagine that that is an event, though awareness shouldn’t be imaginary, the brilliant circle of the rising moon that’s a picture you’re creating within the mind. So, see this beautiful perfectly circular, white full moon on this groundless sky of awareness and see how the sunshine of that moon is each clarifying and awakening, and at the identical time soothing and soft. It’s so beautiful and so gentle and at the identical time very vivid and really penetrating.
And now, inside that moon, see it quite close, inside that moon you notice a goddess with a large open third eye. You possibly can picture any goddess you would like but her third eye is wide open and she or he’s radiating enlightened energy. This goddess is fully, fully, totally enlightened. Remember we’re staying very still and the third eye of this goddess, which is open, looks into your mind, looks into your third eye, and beams a sort of solid light beam of pure wisdom into your mind. So the wisdom and clarity of that completely enlightened buddha goddess fills your mind in order that your mind is stuffed with radiant light of liberating awareness, liberating wisdom.
After which from the belly of the goddess one other beam of sunshine comes into your belly bringing health and healing, bringing energy, spontaneity, and playfulness, a lot of life force. And the sunshine of that life force that’s entering your belly radiates out to your entire body, a robust, shining light of healing and enlivening radiant spontaneity and playfulness as if you will have the energy of a bit of child running and running and laughing and jumping. Tremendous energy within the body.
After which from the enlightened heart of the goddess a 3rd beam enters your chest and that is the beam of being totally accepted just as you’re, completely utterly unconditionally loved just as you’re, adored just as you’re, held and loved with none changes obligatory in any respect. And the radiant light of that love beaming into your heart shines out through your whole body filling you with love and acceptance from head to toe in every corner, nothing is unnoticed, all the things is adored, all the things is met with kindness, every a part of the body is ideal, every a part of your soul is ideal, every a part of your mind is loved.
Allow these three beams; the radiant wisdom mind, the enlightened mind in your brow; the enlightened heart into your heart; the enlightened body into your belly. Keep seeing that and keep feeling those energies as clearly as you possibly can. When you’re sleepy open your eyes and sit up, don’t nod out. You’ve got radio goddess wisdom energy beaming into your mind, you’re wide awake. Remember the true word for enlightenment means awake.
This radiant loving enlightened goddess inside this moon disc arising within the groundless sky of the mind now comes inside you, comes inside. As a substitute of beaming energy, she comes inside you and takes up residence in the center, radiating all these energies from the center to the mind to the body, filling the center. And she or he rests on this moon disk in the center. The mind is the enlightened wisdom mind of a goddess now. The center is the loving enlightened heart of the goddess now. The body is the enlightened somatic expression of the goddess now. Those are the qualities.
And the image of the goddess and the image of the moon dissolve into the sky and we simply rest as woke up mind, liberated mind now, simply open sky. We’re not imagining open sky, we’re not generating it or creating it, it’s just there. It’s okay to rest here with nothing to carry onto, just being open with no ground in any respect, just being sky with no ground. When you want something to carry onto, you possibly can just notice the breath like wind within the sky, the breath is solely wind moving within the sky of awareness. If thoughts arise, those are only wind within the sky of the mind that dissolve into the sky signifying nothing in any respect, just wind passing through the sky of the mind leaving no trace in any respect. If emotions arise, same thing, simply wind within the sky leaving no trace.
Notice that the sky of the mind, despite the fact that there isn’t a ground in any respect, is utterly stable. Notice directly in your individual experience that the sky of the mind has no boundaries. When you look into your individual awareness you can not discover a boundary to awareness. We may need ideas about boundaries but those are only ideas. Okay, it’s boundless sky there’s no edge. I can’t find the sting, neither are you able to discover a source. It’s just there. Rest wide awake on this vast sky of the mind with no boundary, no floor, no ground, no boundary, and no source. Any sense of a body in any respect is solely body sensation arising as wind within the sky of the mind. The sky of the mind shouldn’t be in some way situated within the body, the experience of the body is shining within the sky. The body shouldn’t be situated inside the world around you. The world around you and the body are situated within the sky of awareness, the sky of the mind, just appearances in awareness. There isn’t any time in any respect within the sky of the mind. The past is an idea that’s just wind moving within the sky the mind. Future is just an idea, one other thought that blows away like wind within the sky, the mind dissolving into space. Even the doesn’t exist, that’s just an idea, one other concept that blows away into the sky.
There’s just timeless experience, boundless timeless experience itself, knowing itself.
Awareness itself, aware of itself. Notice that the sounds arise as spontaneous appearances within the primordial purity of the sky, sounds just appear and disappear as spontaneous appearances. The sights of the world around are only colours and lights and shapes and textures spontaneously appearing in awareness, vivid and insubstantial.
Even the sense of being you, the thoughts of you, the emotions of you, the history of you, the likes and dislikes of you, spontaneous appearance and awareness with no basis, vivid and insubstantial, always changing. The person is just an appearance in awareness, vivid yet insubstantial. There may be the primordial purity of the sky of the mind, the radiant clear awareness, and there’s the spontaneous appearance of the ten thousand things of the world vividly, brightly, beautifully appearing. And the 2 should not different, the primordial purity and the spontaneous appearance can never be separate, they’re one activity with two sides–experience itself, experiencing itself.
What if there’s absolutely nothing to vary? What if there’s nothing in any respect to do? What in case you’re already perfect? What if sanity and sweetness and love are your deepest nature from the timeless starting into this perfectly pure, boundless, timeless sky of awareness?
Again, arises the disc of the moon, vivid radiant clear white full moon, lambent and shatteringly soft, and on this full moon again arises this enlightened goddess radiating love and peace and kindness and healing to the entire world, to all beings in all places, not holding anything back, giving all love and kindness and wisdom and clarity and healing and hope with none remainder.
Feel that beaming in all directions to one and all on this room including yourself, beaming out in all directions to one and all in the town, the realm, the world, all worlds, all universes–not only humans but every sort of person. Good, let’s end the meditation there.
Be at liberty to maneuver and stretch, in case you’re not used to sitting still for an hour that generally is a bit difficult as I discussed but eventually, you get used to it.
Dharma Talk
Michael: So as a substitute of me just monologuing for some time I’d love to listen to your reports or take any questions you will have. Otherwise, I’ll start monologuing. So if there’s any stuff you’d wish to ask that’d be great.
Questioner 1: Well, I used to be uncomfortable. Drained. I’m partly thinking about meditation because I would like to take discomfort as an object of contemplation. I assume you might say on one level I didn’t mind this one, however it’s also about all I ever considered.
Michael: So the query is about using discomfort as the article of meditation, which is a standard object and a extremely powerful approach to meditate. So that you were saying that you just felt it was all you were excited about?
Questioner 1: Not all, but I used to be definitely revolving around that and using a sort of act of will to simply say that I shouldn’t move right.
Michael: And so were you sort of white-knuckling it through the meditation? Would that be a sort of description you’ll use? Form of like taking it?
Questioner 1: Yeah, for the entire time.
Michael: Okay in order that works and yet it doesn’t make one of the best of the chance because meditating on discomfort is a robust approach to meditate and an enormous opportunity. Whether it’s physical discomfort, you understand, my knees and hips hurt or whatever, or emotional discomfort. Fairly often we, on purpose, bring up emotional discomfort in here as an object, mental discomfort whatever. With the ability to meditate on discomfort of any kind is de facto, really–it’s not only useful, it’s awakening, it’s enlivening, it might actually assist you to unlock numerous levels of openness because for probably the most part our openness is constrained by what we’re not willing to feel, right? Huge areas of experience are off-limits due to what we’re not willing to feel. And so after we turn out to be willing to feel that stuff suddenly larger parts of experience can be found. You realize, in case you’re never willing to enter the dark forest, the entire dark forest of the map, a part of the map, is just unknown to you. But in case you turn out to be willing to enter the dark forest, suddenly you’ll find wizards in there and stuff there. It’s interesting despite the fact that it’s scary.
So it’s really necessary to have the ability to do that and moreover, it’s classic, right? That is certainly one of the foremost ways people over hundreds and hundreds of years have meditated. And if we go outside of meditation traditions into more indigenous traditions, right, there’s numerous stuff like pain ordeals or starvation ordeals or you understand I’m gonna not sleep for five days and five nights or pierce my skin or whatever, and try this as a sacred ritual. So this concept of working with various sorts of discomfort could be very well represented in world history because it really works.
And so after we take physical discomfort as an object it’s really necessary to know, it’s got its upsides and its downsides. The upside is; pain is de facto easy to give attention to, right? It keeps grabbing your attention more often than not. In meditation we’re
sort of struggling to listen but with pain or discomfort, it’s got your attention. It’s very easy to note and stay noticing–oh! oh! oh!
In order that’s the simple part, the hard part is having equanimity, and this is de facto, really crucial. And that’s, relatively than tensing up against it and turning away and attempting to sort of ugh ugh ugh, we loosen up and open towards it, let or not it’s there, let or not it’s there as big because it desires to be, right? Give it all of the room on this planet to be uncomfortable after which progressively you’ll notice that that makes it easier to be with, as a substitute of tensing and turning away, right? We give it–it’s already taking our attention so we’re concentrating, so as a substitute of the work of the meditation being concentration the work is to loosen up into it, open into it.
And so with any discomfort–again this may work with emotions, this may work with some sort of mental discomfort, it really works with physical discomfort, if getting right into the core of it is simply too intense, at first, then we touch the a part of it that we will take care of first. We touch the outer edges of it and sit with that because that’s less intense. We will probably handle it and begin opening towards it and relaxing into it and letting or not it’s there. You realize, through the years I’ve worked with individuals with unbelievably intense everlasting pain, you understand, their whole life is largely agony. They usually can’t start out within the white-hot core of the pain, it’s just they like faint or something, it’s an excessive amount of, but they begin on the sting with what they’ll handle.
And again, this could be in case you’re hit with an enormous emotion too, it’s just an excessive amount of to handle. Well, find some spot of it you possibly can be with, after which over minutes or hours and even weeks or months of practice, you learn to catch up with and closer to the core of it. And also you try this by learning to remain relaxed and open in it, as a substitute of turning away. And the more that you just stay relaxed and open in it, a weird thing happens, which is it’s less bothersome. It’s not that the pain level goes down or the discomfort but in some way it bothers you less and moreover, especially with something like physical pain, the closer you get to the middle of it, you’ll start getting far more concentrated, super concentrated.
When you’re using the pain as the article since it’s just so fascinating. So your mind is fully focused and also you keep relaxing and opening and relaxing and opening and over some time frame you’ll eventually arrive on the core, the white-hot core of the pain on this perhaps it’s just your ankles or something but somewhere in there there’s like that’s the massive owie. And you only keep waiting till you possibly can sort of rest right in it while staying, and that is the necessary part, relaxed and open like not (grunt) but more like (relaxed) that’s hard to do. Set to work as much as it.
And whenever you’re within the white hot core of the pain, or the discomfort, the emotional discomfort, or whatever and you only stay there relaxed and open that’s when the transformation starts really getting big. It’s transforming all the way in which however it form of goes hyperbolic at that moment. Deep transformation, there’s no resistance in any respect, the discomfort could be as big because it wants and since there’s no resistance it stops being an issue.
Now it’d still be there as big pain. It’s not in some way pain, however it stops being an issue at that time and really positive. And that may sound like some sort of, you understand, unachievable aspiration or fantasy but working with people in severe chronic pain that’s exactly the way you do it. You retain relaxing and opening, relaxing and opening. And a method of talking about that rest and openness is the last word rest and openness, which is that this sky-like mind I keep talking about, it’s just relaxed and open. It’s just all the way in which open already which is why you understand that’s the idea of awareness, it’s just relaxed and open and awake.
But little by little we allow whatever is arising to easily arise just the way in which it’s and we’re so open that’s just the way in which it’s, regardless of how awful, regardless of how wonderful, regardless of how boring, regardless of how confusing, regardless of how nebulous, it’s positive. In order that’s how you’re employed with it. Okay? It’s just allow, allow, allow, allow, and you understand you wanna, especially in case you’re working with something like physical pain, you’d concentrate on your limits, like now I can’t do it anymore. And so that you stop until next time, but little by little, for there you get an added break since the more you sit like this, it stops hurting–not out of numbness–but I mean out of form. Over years your body just gets used to sitting like that and it might sit like this ceaselessly. It just doesn’t hurt in any way simply because you’ve practiced it. But regardless of what sort of discomfort comes up there’s good enough room for it to simply be there.
Questioner 1: Yeah, that was what I used to be going for I even have had that level of concentration with migraines where the painy part isn’t averse. And so it felt like I used to be hoping to get there with the hip pain but I assume, in a certain way, that was not the exact same as accepting it because I used to be hoping to get into that place where it wouldn’t hurt.
Michael: Yeah, which after all as an initial goal is positive, but to get there you then have to just accept where you’re at with it now, that’s right and just progressively go into it. So it takes time, but it’ll go there obviously. And again, we’re not only talking about physical pain and so it’s necessary to acknowledge that like emotional pain, something you don’t want
to feel, the exact same move, right, is how we work with that. And that doesn’t mean your emotions in some way go away or all turn into you understand sunshine and rainbows.They’ll still be as difficult and painful and dark but you’re fully accepting them and that’s when the transformation occurs, right? Of like oh I could be with any amount of this and it and that’s okay thanks to your query. A part of why we sit still is that in case you practiced it even some it starts to have this quality of like bringing you into focused acceptance.
Other questions, comments, reports?
Questioner 2: I even have a challenge where I feel drained.
Michael: Okay, you understand what to do, sit together with your eyes open, sit up, don’t lean into the wall because that’s allowing your back to loosen up an excessive amount of, sit up and that
keeps you somatically–that’s going to maintain your attention vivid, eyes open. It’s going to maintain your attention vivid. If that’s not enough, look up a bit of bit. That helps to maintain the eye, right? If that’s not enough, eventually the thing to do could be very, very, very, very slowly, perfectly quietly, rise up, after which without moving in any respect just stand meditating. It’s very hard to be sleepy whilst you’re standing.
So we wish to know meditation as a balance between sleepiness and agitation, dullness and you understand sort of like flightiness, and so we’re all the time sort of weaving this line between being too agitated or being like torporous, and somewhere in the center there’s just this perfect like relaxed awakeness. So in case you drink an excessive amount of caffeine, you’ll go into the agitation part, and it’s very hard to get still. When you start getting dull, haven’t had enough sleep, or any rest starts making you’re taking a nap, then you definately’ve got to steer it into awakeness, a bit of bit.
So the entire process could be considered to be like this balancing act between those two things. So we wish to steer you, a minimum of for now, steer into the more alert attention part. When you go too far that way, then you definately’ll start being jittery, and you understand it’s hard to simply be relaxed and open, so we gear down a bit of bit. It’s–you understand, you wish to turn out to be really good at meditating, just get good at that balance because it gets too sedated, gear it up a bit of bit, because it gets too equipped, calm it down a bit of bit. And just get used to those micro adjustments again and again and over and also you’ll keep going into the pocket excellent, excellent, excellent. So get up!
Michael: Another questions?
Questioner 3: Actually, it’s interesting it happened after the retreat after I would fall asleep, let’s say like at 10 and I’d just get up at like two. Yeah, I used to be like not anxious, similar to super awake.
Michael: That’s different. That’s a extremely common experience of numerous meditation is you only sort of get up in the course of the night for some time. And what was…
Questioner 3: That wasn’t on the warning label?
Michael: Consider yourself warned. All you do is just breathe deep and loosen up and eventually you’ll drift off back to sleep. What you don’t need to do is worry about–oh I’m not getting enough sleep, that doesn’t help.
Questioner 3: It’s an interesting quality, it’s just super…yeah, yeah like you mostly have like nine hours of sleep.
Michael: Yeah, and so notice, if that keeps happening, you’re not drained. So it’s not an issue. You’re just more awake. After which after some time, the system will get used to that level of energy and also you’ll start having regular sleep again, until more energy is available in.
Questioner 3: Yeah, yeah I believe it’s energy.
Michael: Yeah, but notice it’s positive, right? Actually the one a part of it that’s not positive is in case you worry about it. Yeah and so that you’re awake That’s what’s happening. So often it’s good to do like a yoga nidra practice or something, so that you’re awake but you’re just meditating on how relaxed your body can get and stuff like that. So that you’re still getting a deep body rest and it’s positive. You’ll also start having a bunch of dream yoga and sleep yoga experiences often. So like lucid dreams inadvertently and even lucid sleep where you’re just awake with no dreams, that sort of stuff. So those are powerful experiences.
So the short version is; that’s a feature! There’s a reason they call it . Chances are you’ll get very awake.
Questioner 4: That transported me into like sort of being one with the room, like my mind was similar to the room, and I don’t know, it felt weird to be like–to achieve those levels of consciousness that they typically um that they might like reach because
like they’ll with psychedelics, something but this like and only like perhaps like I don’t know perhaps 20 minutes or half-hour I reached those and I assume by myself I never reached that by myself, so it was good to have someone to guide me. And I’ve been forced to be still for an hour, yeah, so you understand…
Michael: Sometimes guided meditations are really helpful, right? Especially because they permit us, in a certain way, to let go. We don’t need to–there’s something about being in the motive force’s seat that could make it harder to have those experiences. So if you wish to try this through the week the YouTube channel has a whole lot of hours of guided meditation, right, after which eventually whenever you sit you learn to do it on your individual. It’s super necessary to me that everybody maintains their autonomy, you understand, like you finally do it on your individual. Yeah, good fabulous. Other stuff coming up?
Questioner 5: With guided visualizations I even have mixed experiences where it seems like I even have to do an excessive amount of, and something in me desires to similar to take heed to you and consider that like I’m visualizing it with another asp–or like something which means perceiving it as something aside from like–the creation of the image feels too effortful.
Michael: And yet after I’m saying it, is there a picture?
Questioner 5: No, it’s like I could make one however it I don’t need to.
Michael: So what happens as a substitute?
Questioner 5: Once I attempt to create it, it feels powerful however it’s like there’s something in me that’s like I don’t need to do all this work straight away. So I’m straight away like I’m exploring the experience of similar to meditating and listening.
I’m having– i feel like I’m having deep experiences but I’m interested in this experience or aversion to the effortfulness of image making.
Michael: Right. It’s quite common, quite common. A part of it’s because what we’re doing is raising energy, right? To place it in sort of a standard way, we’re shifting right into a much higher energy state and in order that takes effort, you understand, yet it’s very hard to interrupt through the mundane limits of the regular mind without going into a better energy state. You possibly can do it however it’s form of like from its own level of similar to regular thoughts and stuff. It’s difficult, doable but difficult, whereas after we raise the energy, so to talk, with that vision, you see how there’s numerous energy there, right?
Then that has this quality of with the ability to slice through the sort of quotidian mundane levels of the mind into the openness that’s behind all that. And in order that’s a method of describing it and so the hassle is part of it. It doesn’t mean you will have to do it, after all, but that’s why it feels that way you’re–not in your case necessarily–but we’re form of lifting ourselves out of sort of the muddy bottoms into the sky. It takes a bit of bit to do this, so if outside of sophistication you’re doing something like pranayama or yoga or things like that which have that energy-raising quality, it makes it quite a bit easier to do this sort of stuff.
Let’s imagine that that aversion is the pull of–I’ll just put it in a extremely traditional way and say it’s just like the pull of staying within the muck. It doesn’t need to arise out of it since it doesn’t need to see that.
So there’s other ways to do it, you understand, if we rest in there with enough stillness, it’ll open up that way too. So I mean you don’t need to do it in a single particular way, there’s other ways forward, but what often happens is that if we follow what’s just only comfortable and just only not aversive, that’s precisely the spot where there’s no change or growth. Normally. We’ve got to be willing to enter the dark forest, or climb up the difficult mountain, or something, leave sort of the one secure little sleeping nest we’ve got and exit a bit of bit, a method or one other. So it doesn’t mean you will have to love doing visualizations is what I’m saying. There are numerous other ways to do it but a method or one other it’s going to be uncomfortable.
Questioner 5: It’s interesting because I had like a story about it–that I didn’t need to do it since the a part of me that was doing that was just like the trying-too-hard. It felt prefer it was like a part of my traditional trying-too-hard.
Michael: Yeah, okay, yeah. I all the time attempt to hard, right?
Questioner 5: I’m here, I’m gonna like construct this thing, I’m gonna take a look at it, and it felt like a part of that something I’m attempting to get away from.
Michael: Okay, that’s reasonable. Well, numerous us try too hard. I actually have a history of trying too hard. I’m gonna really do the fuck out of this meditation. But notice even where it goes, which is, all of it dissolves to space. At a certain point, the entire visualization just, we just, it’s a sand castle and we kick it over into space, and that’s when it just goes into total non-effort. But first we used that trying-hard to boost energy after which–you understand how with the Dalai Lama and another monks, they’ll make a stunning sand mandala and so they spend a complete week and it’s like they’re making this huge gorgeous unbelievably beautiful picture after which the very next thing Dalai Lama is available in wipes it out, the minute they get it perfect, he just wipes it out into space. That’s the concept so that you construct the visualization, that’s the generation phase after which into empty space that’s the completion phase, and that’s what we’re going for is that wide open boundless totally effortless clarity. But we’re sort of build up after which cutting through. It’s only one approach to do it. There’s other ways to do it but that’s–so in other words go together with the hassle because we’re gonna use it to chop through into rest.
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