Streamed live to tell the tale Sep 21, 2023
Nondual Meditation
Let’s begin, as usual, by just settling in and asking yourself the query, what’s it wish to be me straight away? After which looking. Checking in with yourself, What’s it wish to be me straight away? Principally, just take your individual weather report, how are your thoughts, how are your emotions, how’s your body feel, how’s stuff going, after which an important part here, besides just checking, is to completely accept nonetheless it feels to be you straight away. Whatever’s occurring, whether it’s positive or negative, or some jumbled chaos in between those two things, or really fun, or really not fun, or super confusing, or perhaps someone’s having a cut diamond clarity moment, who knows. Whatever it’s like in there, just let or not it’s that way, and resign, for now a minimum of, a minimum of for the time of this meditation, just resign the form of fundamental self-aggression that it’s essential to change it. As a substitute, let’s take the other stance: self-compassion. Nonetheless it’s, it is precisely effective, exactly perfect, for now. Okay so, let’s just sit with that for a number of minutes.
Superb. Now, just access whatever already existing openness you’ll find. We would call it openness of the sky, but a way of spaciousness, clarity, freedom, openness. Just whatever is already there, you don’t must make openness occur, just whatever feels open, just come from that place. Come from the place of openness. Really tune into that, and from the very starting, let’s just drop into whatever openness we may be with.
From there, let’s do some mild pranayama. We’ll do some alternate nostril respiration. Should you know easy methods to try this, just begin. should you don’t know easy methods to do it, then I’ll show you. You’re going to start by closing your right nostril together with your right thumb, breathe in through your left nostril, and breathe out through the proper nostril while closing the left. Then, breathe in through that right nostril, close it off, breathe out through the left. So that you’re just switching sides–breathe in a single, side breathe out the opposite. Shouldn’t be that audible. We’re not attempting to breathe hard, we’re just respiration normally, but switching sides every time.
If you should, you’ll be able to do a mantra with this: On the in-breath you’d say “soham.”
You may repeat it, soham, soham, soham , or simply soham, after which on the out-breath, hansa. So simply to make it clear, soham, there’s no third person definition in Sanskrit, in order that could possibly be: I’m she, I’m he, or I’m it, meaning on this case meaning the last word awareness. Then hansa is the reverse: he, she, it, is me. So we’re just identifying with the last word awareness principle, with this mantra, a really very ancient mantra. So on the in-breath soham soham, silently, in fact.
Let’s just meditate on that for like five minutes, doing the alternate nostril respiration, just if it’s okay. Your arm might get drained. We’re not going to do it endlessly, so just keep going and spot how the alternate nostril respiration, since it’s bilateral by hemispheric stimulation, it really starts to manage the system. This is admittedly, really good, supposedly anyway, for vagus nerve stuff. It’s a vagal regulator, and will even begin to assist you to loosen up rather more deeply, while at the identical time remaining quite alert.
We at all times wish to mix our leisure with alertness. More often than not people either get too alert, after which–there’s no such thing as too alert–but they get alert through tension, so that they’re alert but really anxious. Otherwise you get so relaxed that you simply form of start falling asleep, you lose all of the alertness. So, what we wish, is that this tricky mixture of really, really deeply relaxed, while at the identical time, quite alert, quite awake, and so this alternate nostril respiration is designed to assist you get into that place, and doing it with the mantra makes it even stronger.
Should you’re used to a number of the more advanced yogic bells and whistles that may go along with this, and you are feeling like doing those effective. Classically, the best way I used to be trained, you closed the proper nostril together with your right thumb and the left nostril with the 2 middle fingers. Other traditions do it in other ways, but that’s how I learned it. Try to sit down up quite straight whilst you do that. It’s very essential for the respiration that you simply’re not slumped over, thanks.
Good. So, end on a left nostril exhale, since we began on the left nostril inhale, after which simply tune in again to how that feels. Tune into that sense of grounding stabilization, but in addition, the brightness, how the mind gets quite a bit brighter once we try this. Moreover, there’s often a way of real pleasantness within the body, or a minimum of the size has moved, the balances have tipped, more in favor of pleasantness.
So now, from the place of being this wide open sky of awareness, this sense of real openness that we’ve now form of enlivened with our pranayama, just sit, and permit the wave of the breath to rise and fall. The wind of the breath, to rise and fall within the sky, the wide open sky of the minds. This could be very, very, relaxed, very open, very gentle. Not drilling down with our concentration, and we’re not attempting to hammer our attention onto some extent, we’re just staying wide open, really relaxed, really relaxed, feeling that regulated, relaxed alertness. Simply aware of the breath wave rising and falling, rising and falling within the sky of the mind.
Let’s try this together now, and if you should work with it a bit of bit more on the in-breath you’ll be able to notice awareness just getting clearer and brighter, and on the out-breath, really letting go of tension, letting go of tightness. Coming into more openness on the in-breath, brightening, clarifying; on the out-breath, openness and leisure. So again we’re form of balancing, we’re finding the Goldilocks zone, we’re threading the needle between deep leisure and vibrant clear wide awakeness. Simply sitting with wide awakeness, we’re not getting sleepy, we’re not getting drowsy. Should you are, be certain that you sit up, open your eyes, come back to awakeness, it’s essential to not drift off into dullness. Sitting with this wide awake, wide openness, just staying with awareness of the breath rising and falling, without particularly concentrating on it, but just awareness of it. Allowing that in-breath to brighten the sense of clarity and wakefulness, and the out-breath to will let you let go much more, drop much more weight, much more armoring, much more tightness, and find pleasantness, openness, release.
You possibly can now feel into that breath more with rather a lot more subtlety and sensitivity. Feel, what we would call, contained in the breath, deep throughout the breath, and spot that the breath is powered by a form of wave of energy. Slightly than the breath itself, see should you can feel, and you would possibly not find a way to, but see should you can begin to note the energy behind the breath. It’s very subtle, but very powerful, smooth, wave of energy that rises up and down within the body and causes the lungs and muscles and rib cage and blood vessels and so forth to maneuver with the in- and out- breath.
See should you can find that subtle energy behind the respiration, that subtle energy behind the respiration will probably be moving up and down within the core of the body, but you might find you’re feeling it also within the extremities, or on the skin, or whatever, but form of the core of it’s within the core. It’s right in the middle moving up and down the central channel. As you’re feeling that subtle energy moving the breath, notice you would possibly start feeling it and you would possibly start feeling form of emanations from that energy, feeling your extremities lighting up with some tingling, some energy. Your hands and feet lighting up, perhaps even your forearms and sometimes also lips and face. It’s no big deal, just feel all that energy within the body and spot that it is extremely nice, very very, perhaps subtle, and sometimes quite nice energy sensation. As we proceed to simply allow the breath to rise and fall within the sky of awareness, the wide open, easy, relaxed, effortless sky of clear wakefulness that’s at all times present, that has at all times been present.
Should you’re fairly sensitive, you might feel energy sensations all throughout the body because the breath rises and falls, very nice buzzy tingliness all throughout the complete body. Ride those waves, just let the attention ride on those waves. It feels good, it’s very relaxed, you’re not doing anything. It’s doing itself, but you’ll be able to begin to actually tune right into a sense, a much deeper sense, a bone-deep sense of ease starting to come back into the body. A bone-deep sense of real openness, real letting go, feeling free, and at the identical time, no muddiness, no slipping away into unconsciousness. That is vibrant, this is obvious, that is nice, pleasantly awake, wide awake.
Now, notice as you’re feeling the body like this, the body will not be a static object. It’s not a pile of bones and meat and blood that’s just sitting there. Every a part of it’s vibrating, every a part of it’s wave-like, every a part of it’s energetic. Every a part of it’s moving and changing, every cubic millimeter of the body is liquid, is alive, is wide awake, and is supple with energy. It’s alive.
Should you’re feeling drowsy, sit up, sit up, with the highest of your head going towards the ceiling, perhaps eyes wide open, get some energy back into the system so that you’re not only spilling over the sting into darkness. Time and again, staying wide awake, in the intense clear sunshine.
Good, now, just as we were allowing the sky-like mind of awareness to easily pay attention to the rising and falling of the breath wave, now let this wide awake openness pay attention to the guts. You may, should you’re good at mindfulness, you would possibly feel it ping but you would possibly not only pay attention to your heart area. Notice, does it feel tight and constricted and sad, or wide open and joyous and lightweight, or fearful or indignant, what’s happening there in the guts region? Just tune into that straight away, since the body is so alive and energized and awake from those breath waves. Now tune into the guts region. Is it awake? Is it alive? Is it supple? Is it open? is it locked down, armored? Is it unfindable? What’s occurring in the guts region, and whatever is happening, that’s okay. Just begin to feel it, allow the attention of the guts area to arise within the limitless wide awake openness of the mind.
We actually feel the guts region, feel the emotions there, and whatever it looks like there, begin to feel as should you’re respiration into the guts through a hole within the front of your chest, and respiration out of the guts through that very same aperture. Because the breath enters the guts space it brightens it up, clearer, brighter, more light, more energy in a really nice way, and as you breathe out, all of the difficulties and sorrows and weights of the guts begin to melt away into that out-breath. The center becomes lighter, and more open, lighter and more relaxed. Feel how the breath is transforming the guts, the breath is transforming the middle, opening it up, bringing a way of ease and suppleness to this region.
Give it time. It can take a bit of while to get this. Just find some space, find some spaciousness, find some gentleness there. The center may be almost infinitely gentle, so let’s approach our heart with tremendous subtlety, tremendous sensitivity, achingly sensitive gentleness. Respiration in through the chest, respiration out through the chest, into the guts center. Letting the guts center melt like wax, melt like butter, turn into tremendously more liquid, and released, and relaxed, and open.
Starting to note, just as we did with the breath itself, the energy behind this opening of the guts center. The center center itself, with all its feelings, is just like the outer expression, but there’s an inner expression. There’s an energy there which you’ll be able to begin to note because the breath goes out and in of the guts center. We’re not attempting to force anything here. We’re not attempting to pry it open or push. That is pure gentleness, just allowing and allowing and allowing with openness and clarity and ease and kindness.
Good. Now, feeling the energy within the body, feeling that nice, wide open gentleness of the guts center. With tremendous skill and sensitivity and kindness, allow awareness to note the brow center, the third eye center. Breathe in through the third eye center and breathe out through the third eye center. Feel the breath coming and going from just barely above, in between your eyebrows. Immediately bringing a way of rather more wakefulness and clarity to experience. Feeling the energy entering into and out of the third eye. You may even feel it coming up on the out-breath that moves up from the belly, through the guts center, out the third eye. The in-breath is available in through the third eye, into the guts center down into the belly. Notice the energy within the body is sort of a bit larger now. The center is relaxed and type and straightforward and open.
The mind is getting even brighter, much more awake, and the flexibility to be subtle, sensitive, gentle, grows larger and bigger. In-breath coming in through the third eye, lighting up the guts center, going into the belly, filling with energy. The out-breath coming up from the belly, through the guts, relaxing, opening the guts, and out through the third eye. The mind just blows out through the third eye and dissolves into the space in front of you. All thoughts, all concepts, all confabulations of the mind blow out the outlet, and the third eye into the space in front, and easily dissolve into the sky of awareness, leaving no remainder. The mind, simply dissolving into space on each out-breath, leaving nothing but wakeful space, wide awake openness.
Superb. Now we are able to stick with this. You may keep doing it, or simply let yourself now
let go of all of the visualization stuff, and easily sit as wide awake, wide openness, with nothing to do in any respect, but just be wakeful space. You may’t make wakeful space occur, it’s at all times been there. But, we are able to just sit with it, be it.
The approach to lose it, the best way out of it, is to attempt to do something. Then you definitely’ll just collapse back into some form of non-space. So, should you collapse back, then simply let go of any doing of any kind, and are available back to the wide awake, wide openness, which is at all times already.
All our meditation exercise until now could be to assist the mind release its grip in order that we are able to just rest now as wide awake quiet openness without gripping onto anything or putting ourselves in a box or attempting to figure something out or attempting to do something, we’re just letting go of all that and sitting as wide awakeness itself. Wide openness itself, which has nothing to do. It already is what it’s.
Notice that this wide open wide awakeness doesn’t need to alter anything, doesn’t have to do anything, doesn’t have to be different someway. It doesn’t have to be higher, doesn’t have to struggle, doesn’t have to strive. It already is wide awake and wide open, and it just rests as that. There’s no need for any tension in any respect, very relaxed, relaxed, not striving or trying, utterly released. The belly is admittedly soft, open and unguarded. Through work and striving and defensiveness, and attempting to stay protected, and armoring up, our belly can get really stiff and tight. But here, the belly is utterly soft, utterly open, utterly undefended, unguarded. Supple, relaxed. Feel that undefended softness of the open belly.
Same thing in the guts. The center is wide open, undefended, disarmored, tremendously sensitive, open to everyone and every part. It’s not only the front of the guts, it’s the back, the upper back, behind is wide open, is relaxed, is released, is undefended, is letting go, is relaxed, at peace, at rest.
Any time our mind begins to place ourselves in some form of box, we just let go. Come back to wide awake wide openness. It’s not an idea. As soon because it’s an idea, that’s a box, so we just let go of the box. Should you’re attempting to do it right, that’s only a box, and we just loosen up and release and let go of the box. Attempting to make anything occur, attempting to be different, attempting to do it right, attempting to figure it out, attempting to be good at it, trying to guage yourself as being bad at it. All of those are only things to drop, as we return to natural ease, natural openness, natural wide awakeness.
As soon as you’re doing anything, just drop it. As soon as you’re trying to alter anything, just drop it. As soon as you’re attempting to be any person different, just drop that. As soon as you would like experience, whatever you’re experiencing, to be different than what it’s, just drop that. Each time you are attempting to figure it out, just drop it. Attempting to do it right, just drop it. Judging what’s occurring, just drop it.
Wishing you were a distinct person, a greater person, a more beautiful person, this person or that person, just drop it. Every thing can be so significantly better if life had done this other thing otherwise or should you had done something this or that way, just drop it. Come back to the wide open, wide awakeness that isn’t even positioned anywhere, that doesn’t have a ground, you’ll be able to’t find the underside of it, you’ll be able to’t find the boundary of it, you’ll be able to never determine the start of it. The wide awakeness that’s already completely aware of itself in and of itself. It was already utterly and endlessly complete.
Feel the energy of that wide awake, wide openness. How the energy gives birth to your mind and your body and your feelings and your thoughts, and offers birth to the world around you in every moment. Feel the reference to all of the people in here and feel they’re connecting back with you. Let everyone in here feel your kindness and openness and wide awakeness, and feel they’re beaming back at you. Then spread that even further out to everyone all over the place, and feel everyone all over the place beaming back their wide awake, wide open, wide sensitivity, and clarity, and wonder, and nobility and enoughness, spontaneity, and playfulness.
Superb. Just tuning in with wide awake, wide openness, to precisely how that feels.
That’s the top of the meditation there, for now, wide awake, wide aware, that nothing as
actually ending, nothing is definitely changing.
Q&A
Michael: Any reports or questions, raise your hand. Anything you should say about anything, anything coming up, or actual questions. Otherwise, just rest in wide awake, wide openness.
Questionner 1: Hi Michael. I even have an issue. Is that this meditation similar to dropping the ball? Also generally known as do nothing? A.k.a. Shikantaza, since it feels barely different.
Michael: The very end of it was, the last quarter of it. We did some breath work and visualization to form of prepare us, to have that be a bit of more stable, a bit of more awake, a bit of easier, however the last bit was, especially after I was saying, drop that drop that drop.
Questioner 1: One other terminology query. The best way you describe going to wakeful space, is that the identical thing as prajna wisdom?
Michael: Wakeful space, or wide awake, wide openness, is how I’m selecting to speak about emptiness, but emptiness is form of a difficult Buddhist concept. Whereas wide awake, wide openness is admittedly easy to hook up with. In standard theory, we might say that the definition of prajna wisdom is emptiness, so here prajna wisdom is being expressed as wide awake, wide openness.
Questioner 1: So, is it also the identical thing as thoughtless space?
Michael: Not necessarily. Thoughts may be wide awake, wide open.
Questioner 1: Thanks.
Michael: Only for the record, I don’t normally put hard equal signs between any of the belongings you just said, so we’ll put a wavy equal sign, or not. It’s not only similar to, we are able to speak about subtle differences, okay? Thanks, what else?
What happened, how are you? What do you should speak about?
Questioner 2: Thanks Michael. As usual, it’s awesome. Thanks everyone for being here, too. The energy was awesome within the room. Hopefully, for the YouTube people, the energy got here through the video, so, at all times searching for you YouTube people! I had a report which was, the visualization of my heart space, which was surprising because I often idiot myself. One among the ways I fooled myself is by pondering I’m very connected with my heart center and my emotions because I’m feeling things which can be very intense.
They usually’re perhaps external, whatever, I won’t speculate about that. On this case, after I checked in, I had this very distinct visualization of a bit of cage around my heart, and I didn’t understand it was there. No doubt, just my report was that it was cool while you said it melted. It was almost like my mind was probing, how do I get on this cage, how do I break this cage open, how do I smash this cage open, because I would like to free my heart so I may be open and melt. Then it just melted like wax, the entire thing melted so it’s really really cool.
Michael: Superb. What else is occurring on the market on this vast sea of meditators?
Questioner 3: I used to be just wondering while you’re attempting to drop the ball.
Michael: It’s already fallacious should you’re attempting to do it.
Questioner 3: Sorry, during that last quarter, I tended to note because I kept my eyes open, so as to not nod off. I are likely to notice numerous weird visual patterns. Is that an energetic thing, so I should drop it, or is it only a passive thing?
Michael: Only you’ll be able to know, but should you keep going oh, oh, oh!–Just let or not it’s there, don’t go after it like that. Especially in case your eyes are open, don’t fixate. Because in case your eyes are fixated, then your retinal cells are gonna just stop having the ability to work right, and your vision will get weird. So it’s like saying a stomach ache is a few form of a spiritual experience or something. It’s only a weird thing that happens to your eyes in the event that they get too still, so let your so be certain that you’re allowing yourself to blink. Your eyes can move around–you’re not rigidly fixating.
Questioner 3: Thanks.
Michael: That’s to not say other weird shit can’t occur for other reasons, but regardless of what, we’re not likely climbing onto that either. Anything that’s glommed onto is de-glommed. Superb. That’s the following round of the podcast.
Questioner 4: Thanks. My query is, I used to be with you with the awake space, after which once we moved into the dropping the ball section there was this sense that one among the things I could drop was just like the creation of any space. I could someway turn into like 2D or like zero D as a substitute of getting like a 3D realm in my mind after which that was very nice, but then you definitely kept on talking in regards to the awake space, and I desired to not make it 3D. Does it mean 3D while you say space?
Michael: It means the awake space that’s already there. You’re not making it anything. You’re not attempting to make it larger or make it 3D. If it’s zero D then that’s what’s there, if it’s 3D, if it’s 7D, if it’s 11D, that’s what’s there. We’re not making anything occur. There generally is a sense that we feel like we want to expand space on purpose, or expand awareness. Don’t do any of that, just let or not it’s what it’s like. Whatever it means after I say wide openness, whatever’s there, that’s what we do. We don’t must make it into something. Over time, the dimensionality of it–is imaginary anyway–so the wide openness doesn’t necessarily mean it’s already all the best way wide open. Any seeming non-wide openness in that may be a box we’re putting ourselves in; so just drop it, okay?
Questioner 4: I kept noticing contractions in my body that I recognize as habitual, they’re familiar to me, and I used to be torn between allowing my attention to go to those places, to softly see what desires to occur there, see if something desires to release. It’s focusing and feeling around, versus not letting my attention be pulled there.
Micheal: It just will depend on which meditation you’re doing, or which a part of the meditation we’re in. There’s not one right answer. Each of those things are great to do. Within the last quarter of this meditation we can be doing more the B option there, just don’t really become involved with it, just let or not it’s the way it is. But in earlier parts, and even in other meditations at other times, go in. Stepping into there and checking it out, feeling it, seeing what it desires to do, what it needs, etc., etc., is a terrific practice. So it’s only a matter of what we’re as much as at any given moment.
Questioner 4: Okay, cool thanks.
Michael: I believe what can occur really often is that there’s a way that there’s one right approach to meditate, whereas, actually, there are a whole lot of interesting, cool ways to meditate. Each one among them may be appropriate or inappropriate, depending on what we’re as much as. Thanks.
Join Michael’s mailing list and get notified of latest offerings and courses.
Donate to assist create more of those videos and more.
