Meditation Practices

 At our last session we reviewed the three meditation practices that we have been working with: belly centered concentration, open gazing, and embodied sensing arms and legs. Each practice has a focus and supports a certain development. Concentrating in the belly, cultivates grounded presence and is needed as a support for all spiritual development. When you are distracted, agitated this is a way to settle the nervous system. If you are settled you can open your eyes and gaze.This supports the opening to the relaxed, effortless sky of mind. This is not staring. Some call it soft eyes. The important thing here is that it is easy to space out and loose the awakeness. So don't forget to stay in touch with your body. If you loose focus and become distracted go back to the belly concentration. Belly concentration is my primary practice. Sensing your arms and legs is a good way to start your day. Sit on the side of your bed and take a few minutes to circulate your awareness from your left foot, up your left leg, up your left arm and across your shoulder and down the right side. 

Simply sensing your arms and legs ( not the circulation practice) is a good way to bring your practice of presence into the world.

We focused our attention for the remainder of the session on how to practice presence during our explorations and inquiries with our partners. We looked at many of the ways we repeatedly judge, evaluate, assess, reject, avoid our lived experience in the moment. It is all these layers that freeze our lived experience into chronic patterns, stories, that we repeat over and over. The superego makes sure that we stay within the confines of the familiar story. The familiar story seems real and true. And yet below the judgements, the beliefs is our living experience desiring to open and reveal deeper and deeper truths of what and who we are. When we begin to see the familiar-- without judgement-- and we come back to the felt sense in the body, in the heart, we are inviting an opening. We are inviting  this experience to unfold, to become revealing. We are opening to a deeper and deeper understanding. Sometimes that opens into presence, but mostly at the beginning we will begin to see and understand what we reject, what we avoid. This is not about fixing what arises, although that may be the temptation, but it is to become present to what is and in a deep way to understand. There is nothing wrong with our experience. In fact you are where you need to be, because that is the only place you can be. This welcoming, this kindness towards our experience, towards ourselves is the opening to presence. You will no doubt believe you are the only one who is not experiencing presence. Not true! We are all ensnared in the superego, the matrix of our thoughts, minds, beliefs. Presence is quiet, subtle. delicate, at times strong like a mountain. Mostly at the beginning it is subtle and we miss it because we are caught in the layers of judgements, beliefs and feelings. So this little practice of inquiry is a way to enter into this territory of our lived experience. With time we become curious about what is really going on, and we become less enamored or convinced by our familiar sense of self or our familiar story. This curiosity is a kind of gentle, generous opening to ourselves and is the presence. It welcomes everything that is here. That is the opening to our deepest longing.

This week I suggest that you do an inquiry by yourself. Using your journal if that helps, explore your loyalty to your story. Start with exploring  the headlines, the broad sweeps of your story. ( it might be that I am too stupid, or I am too abused, or I always judge others, or I can't do this, or I get lost in my thoughts, or I am too abused, neurotic......). These are core beliefs about yourself and are reinforced at every turn by the s/ego. You might write down this story. Then explore your loyalty to this story. Notice all the ways you keep convincing yourself that what you know about yourself is what you are. Why do you keep believing the story. Is there a fear of stepping into the unknown, to not knowing who you. 

Follow this we 5 minutes of. What I am experiencing now is.......

Then reflect on what you have discovered. Also notice how  it is for you to explore alone rather than with in a group with friends who are present to you.

I am very touched by the presence that is developing in this circle. Whenever people come together with a sincere desire to practice presence something can awaken and open. I hope you are sensing the softness, support and welcome that is in the field of our circle.