Friday Night Guided Meditation

0:00 So anyway, now we can do the meditation. And the meditation is one of the most beautiful things I have the pleasure to teach on a Friday evening here. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:13 You learn how to really let go, be in this moment, make peace, be kind, be gentle. That make peace, be kind, be gentle was one of the legitimate translations. of the second factor of the Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha. That's why I love to keep repeating it. Make peace, be kind, and be gentle. Report an error in the passage at 0:13 Highlight the passage at 0:13

0:42 For one range retreat, for three months, that's all I taught the monks at Bodhinyana Monastery. Make peace, be kind, be gentle. Some of the most brilliant meditation teachings you could possibly give. So right now, With your body and your mind, can you make peace with your body? See what it needs to bring it to a state of peace. Report an error in the passage at 0:42 Highlight the passage at 0:42

1:15 And then you'll take your mind to a state of peace as well. But you have to start with your body. It's one of the reasons why when I begin my meditation, I observe my body with this quality I call kindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15

1:37 Not just mindfulness, I add the kindness. I'm kind to my body. I'm aware, which knows, am I really being kind? Where does that kindness need it most? And just to make sure, I start with my feet and relax them to the max. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

2:03 And I don't need to move them. I just need to be aware of them. Add this wonderful kindness. I feel that everything starts to relax and sometimes the monks give me foot massage to make sure that they are mindful and kind. Report an error in the passage at 2:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03

2:26 Then last Sunday, apparently when I had a foot massage, I was really tired and I started snoring. It's very effective. So Report an error in the passage at 2:26 Highlight the passage at 2:26

2:44 I relax, I learn how to feel my feet and know when they are relaxed and how Not to hold any part of that furthest part of my body from my brain. Not to hold anything tight. Let everything relax, get loose, ease off. Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

3:10 And I spend, I know I do spend too much time on my feet on this meditation, but it has such a beautiful effect. I feel the pleasure of relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 3:10 Highlight the passage at 3:10

3:28 And then I go to my ankles and lower legs. Report an error in the passage at 3:28 Highlight the passage at 3:28

3:35 That's all I'm aware of right now, honestly. I can feel them. It supports my body. I want to make sure they're relaxed, at ease, at peace. I don't force them. I don't order them. I don't control them. That's one of the big mistakes in meditation, too much control. Instead, just this beautiful sense of kindness and the ease which the mindfulness and kindness Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

4:13 I can become aware of that. That's what tells me that I've done the job on my lower legs. I go to my knee. My goodness, my knee, it should be much more painful than it is right now. I've fallen off bikes, fallen off cliffs, had lots of injuries, but I'm aware of my knees right now. I know how to relax them and bring them to a place of peace. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:47 And they comply. Every Friday evening when I sit here, I feel my knees with my mind aware of them. I know how to relax them. And they relax deeper than when I started. And it feels very delightful. It's kind of a free happiness. People are too tense to be able to notice. When you do relax, realize they're there. Report an error in the passage at 4:47 Highlight the passage at 4:47

5:26 It can relax so wonderfully, beautifully well. I go to my thighs. They're not usually a problem. And my butt, buttocks, they're poised on top of a cushion. And I can feel the pressure of my weight of the body on top of that cushion. Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:52 But I know as long as it's evenly balanced, that feeling will soon disappear because it doesn't change. It becomes like ambient noise, ambient feeling, so it doesn't disturb anymore. Then I go up from the butt to my back and I'm sensitive to the feelings in my back. Report an error in the passage at 5:52 Highlight the passage at 5:52

6:21 Sensitive enough to know if any part of my back is badly positioned. And I move it this way and that way, just for a minute or so, till I get the optimum position for my back. Report an error in the passage at 6:21 Highlight the passage at 6:21

6:40 And then I do something really interesting. I start scanning the attention up my body, on the inside. Because it's on the inside, you can kind of feel, you know, the colon, intestines. If any of that part of my digestive system is stuck or is painful, you've got some indigestion. Report an error in the passage at 6:40 Highlight the passage at 6:40

7:12 You've learnt over the years how to... Heal that indigestion just by being aware and being kind. Most of the aches and pains in the body are just an overreaction, which is what the body does, but does it wrong. Report an error in the passage at 7:12 Highlight the passage at 7:12

7:34 Go to the stomach and even there you relax it to the max until the whole lower part of the body feels just so free and at ease. I go to my lungs as well, hay fever season. Please, I don't need any medication. You can feel the lungs. Report an error in the passage at 7:34 Highlight the passage at 7:34

8:02 You relax them. Report an error in the passage at 8:02 Highlight the passage at 8:02

8:07 A lot of the hay fever is again an overreaction of the body. When you meditate, that disappears. You don't need that much oxygen. And the oxygen is going in and out perfectly. Go to my heart region, and that's nicely relaxed. I don't force. I don't stop. Report an error in the passage at 8:07 Highlight the passage at 8:07

8:42 I just get out of the way and let my body heal and do what it needs to do. If any of you, as you're sweeping your attention through the body, experiences some ache or pain or some weird feeling, please stay there, go as close to it as possible, inside of it if you possibly can, and give as much kindness and softness as you possibly can manufacture. Report an error in the passage at 8:42 Highlight the passage at 8:42

9:14 And that's usually the way that cancers are overcome. Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:21 Then I go up to my shoulders. I do that because it's very easy to be aware of the tension in your shoulders, if you have some today, and how to relax that so deeply. Report an error in the passage at 9:21 Highlight the passage at 9:21

9:36 How do you relax? How do you let go? You just imagine that you're holding onto those muscles, stretching them, not allowing them to relax. Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

9:50 Now, both my shoulders on the left side, the right side, I make sure I'm not pulling at them. I'm loosening them. Just like strings on a guitar. You loosen the tension by twirling those little knobs which stretch the strings. Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

10:14 They get very loose. It's called letting go. My whole shoulders and upper arms get... Quite deeply relaxed. Then I go to my forearms, wrists and hands. Report an error in the passage at 10:14 Highlight the passage at 10:14

10:37 At the end of my hands are my fingers. Report an error in the passage at 10:37 Highlight the passage at 10:37

10:46 And if I need to I ask my fingers, how are you? And if they reply that they need to be adjusted, I tell them, please make yourself comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

11:03 I just move my fingers to make them comfortable. Or rather I've let them move. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:13 And now my arms, my torso, my butt, my legs are all really comfortable sitting here. I watch each part of them to make sure they're comfortable. And I go to my neck. I find by moving my head either forward or back, the left or the right, I can find the best balance so my neck feels comfortable holding the weight of my head. Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:46 I go to the front of my head, my face. There's a lot of sensitivity on that face and that facial features, they carry some of the emotional weight you may have through fear, tiredness, planning, worry. Report an error in the passage at 11:46 Highlight the passage at 11:46

12:03 That's why I learn how to relax the muscles around my eyes, around my nose and around my mouth, those three areas. Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:17 So the eyes are closed. The mouth is closed, but not shut down tight. They're comfortably at ease, resting, receiving no irritating sights, not having to reply to any words. So Report an error in the passage at 12:17 Highlight the passage at 12:17

12:45 my face feels at ease. And Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

12:52 I just look at my whole body sitting here, everything united together. And Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

13:02 I pause for a little while. Being aware of the body. If this happens to you, well done. Until I can feel the delight of relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 13:02 Highlight the passage at 13:02

13:21 Because I've been doing this for so long. It comes to me after a minute or two. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:29 Relaxing the body. You feel so much joy. It's pleasurable to be relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 13:29 Highlight the passage at 13:29

13:47 As my body is relaxed, if I notice that joy and am mindful of it and don't stop it, But let it be. The joy gets more and more enjoyable. My relaxation gets more deep. It feels good. Report an error in the passage at 13:47 Highlight the passage at 13:47

14:13 And when it gets to a certain level, then I let the body kind of vanish, leave it alone, and start relaxing my mind. Report an error in the passage at 14:13 Highlight the passage at 14:13

14:29 Usually I start looking at peace. How peaceful am I right now? Why? What does peace feel like? One Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:46 thing you will notice, peace exists in this present moment. You never feel peace when you look at your past or your future. Report an error in the passage at 14:46 Highlight the passage at 14:46

15:03 The peace is how you experience this beautiful present moment, which means you don't have to do anything. Stop doing things. Then you can experience the deep peace. In the mind. And Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:29 the peace is even more delightful. The relaxation of the body. The Report an error in the passage at 15:29 Highlight the passage at 15:29

15:44 peace is so healthy. Report an error in the passage at 15:44 Highlight the passage at 15:44

15:51 But don't try and capture that peace. Force it or contain it. Let it be. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:01 Then it gets deeper. And soon the peace turns into the next level of meditation. Which is the silence. Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:14 You realize you don't need to measure things. Or give things names. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:23 You let it be and let it go. I will now be quiet for five or ten minutes until the end of the meditation period. It's Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

· · · silence, 8 minutes

24:40 getting very close to the end of the meditation period now. Report an error in the passage at 24:40 Highlight the passage at 24:40

24:49 How do you feel? I Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

24:55 learned not to open my eyes at the end of a meditation period. When I thought it was over, I would still linger for a minute or two. Report an error in the passage at 24:55 Highlight the passage at 24:55

25:10 First of all I'd noticed how beautiful peace was. It's not a theory anymore for you, it's an experience of peace and freedom and lightness. I remember how it was caused. This is what I learned from my own experience, how meditation works. Report an error in the passage at 25:10 Highlight the passage at 25:10

25:42 And afterwards I compare it with how the Buddha taught. I get so inspired. that inspired how accurate those teachings were. Report an error in the passage at 25:42 Highlight the passage at 25:42

25:54 And I'd linger in that silence, in that peace, as long as possible. Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

26:05 And it's time to come out. Thank you all. So I never like ringing gongs, I usually just try to... at the sound of the gong. Report an error in the passage at 26:05 Highlight the passage at 26:05

26:24 bring you out from the peace of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

27:04 And I hope you enjoyed that meditation as much as I do, at least half as much, even a quarter of much. Such a beautiful thing to do, to be able to sit quietly. Report an error in the passage at 27:04 Highlight the passage at 27:04

27:23 So those who want to just stretch their legs a little bit, I'll start giving the evening talk just in a couple of minutes. Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23