Friday Night Guided Meditation

0:00 You know that it doesn't matter how much work there is, you always look forward to meditation as a time to be quiet, to let go, to relax, to the mangs, to learn the art of doing nothing. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:19 Honestly, I love that so much. And recently, that I could not attend a big conference over in India, But they asked me to send a little message to them. And I sent them the message of learning how to do nothing. And that creates a great sense of awareness and peace. Don't talk about it, like in a conference, but learn how to do it. Be really peaceful. The more peaceful you are, the more aware you become. Report an error in the passage at 0:19 Highlight the passage at 0:19

1:00 So, now, if you'd like to close your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00

1:05 And we're going to learn how to do nothing. Report an error in the passage at 1:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05

1:14 When you're not doing something, you find you can be aware. No goals, no wishing, no wanting, no trying to get something or get rid of things. Just be here and see if all the energy we waste doing things can be replaced just by being here. Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

1:46 Just as somebody reminded me today, every time I do go overseas, I was in Bangkok last week. It's incredible, Bangkok has changed. There's hardly any human beings there. Human goings, human doings, but not just being. Report an error in the passage at 1:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46

2:14 I hope you understand what I mean. If we understand how to be here, not do things or go somewhere. Not trying to make it better, but just leaving it alone. So those just few words gave me, my body, an opportunity to relax, to the max, to make peace. Report an error in the passage at 2:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14

2:44 Not by doing something, just by being here and being kind. When I start meditation, I'm kind to my body and very gentle with it. So Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

3:06 I start. By actually inquiring, asking, legs, how are you? A lot of the times I'm talking with somebody or doing something, arranging something, doing my job. When I'm meditating, I don't do things. I just learn how to relax my body. I ask even my toes, toes, how are you? Report an error in the passage at 3:06 Highlight the passage at 3:06

3:45 And that's when I find out that I've got my right toes squashed under my knee. So I'm going to just move them, make it more comfortable. I've Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

4:08 just got a new microphone, same voice, same jokes, but new microphone. And Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:18 that's my toes. Are you more comfortable now? I'm developing the mindfulness plus. The caring, the kindness, what we call kindfulness. I care for the parts of my body. Report an error in the passage at 4:18 Highlight the passage at 4:18

4:42 When you care for them, they feel much more healthy and at ease. I care for my toes and then I move up to the balls of my feet, the soles of the feet, the heels, the uppers. Report an error in the passage at 4:42 Highlight the passage at 4:42

5:01 How are you? Report an error in the passage at 5:01 Highlight the passage at 5:01

5:07 And as I am mindful of these parts of my body, I deliberately allow them to relax to the max. Relaxation is not something you do, it's something you allow to happen. Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

5:29 And one thing I do, even though often they say a video on me, I don't care. What I care about is the comfort of my body, not what it looks like. And I get my feet really At ease. No one can see the feet anyway. They're hidden under my robes. I come to my ankles. Report an error in the passage at 5:29 Highlight the passage at 5:29

6:06 Yeah, I do have to walk in my job as a monk in monastery. But how do your ankles feel now? Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:17 See how you can relax them. Report an error in the passage at 6:17 Highlight the passage at 6:17

6:22 If moving them doesn't help, just the awareness and the kindness, as Report an error in the passage at 6:22 Highlight the passage at 6:22

6:33 I say most weeks when I'm here. I still remember my mum whenever I injured myself just playing soccer in the street with blood dripping down my legs and my knees which scraped on the ground. Report an error in the passage at 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

6:54 Mummy, I'm hurting. And she would come up to me and kiss it better even though her oral hygiene wasn't that great in those days. My knee never got infected. But even more amazingly, all the pain vanished because the mother gave me compassion. Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:23 I learned from that the power of kindness. And the kindness sometimes meant I did change my posture slightly to relax the pressure on things like knees. Report an error in the passage at 7:23 Highlight the passage at 7:23

7:39 And I've been doing this for such a long time. I know my knees. I know how they feel. I know if they are relaxed or if they... I have too much tightness in them. I know how to relax them. It is something you learn through mindfulness practice together with kindness. Report an error in the passage at 7:39 Highlight the passage at 7:39

8:06 So because I know my knees so well, I can relax them so easily. They go from my knees to my thighs. They don't usually cause me any trouble at all. But nevertheless, I just check them out to make sure they don't feel they're ignored. Report an error in the passage at 8:06 Highlight the passage at 8:06

8:28 I go to my buttocks, my bottom, and there's always the pressure there, the feeling of the weight of the body on the cushion. Report an error in the passage at 8:28 Highlight the passage at 8:28

8:43 But that's a feeling which is not harsh or painful. And I know because it is not an extreme physical feeling, it will disappear after a little while, all by itself. A constant feeling vanishes. It's a nice thing to know because Right now, all my legs from the bottom down to the tips of my toes have been relaxed. It'll be soon the case I won't be able to feel them. Report an error in the passage at 8:43 Highlight the passage at 8:43

9:23 I'm just sitting there comfortably, not needing any attention. And I go up to my waist, first of all. I always like to kind of sit up. I always feel much stronger. And then I just scan my back. How that feels. I did have injury on my back many years ago through laying concrete. Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:56 So I know how a bad back feels. And I stretch it a little bit and then I leave it alone and do nothing else. And the back settles into that position and it's very happy. I don't need to change its position at all. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:21 And I go back to my waist. Now on the inside, I start scanning up my digestive tract to make sure that there's no unusual sensations there at all. Report an error in the passage at 10:21 Highlight the passage at 10:21

10:43 As I scan up my colon and then intestines, making sure everything is so relaxed, which it is. And that means that all those troubles, Which people have in their digestive system just disappear from me. They're just not there. Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

11:15 Get up to my stomach. Okay, it's empty. In the evening, I'm a monk. But nevertheless, it feels so comfortable. Above my stomach, the lungs. Report an error in the passage at 11:15 Highlight the passage at 11:15

11:33 And they're so important to me. They take in air, oxygen constantly. They breathe out the waste products. And I often ask people, imagine that. Report an error in the passage at 11:33 Highlight the passage at 11:33

11:48 As you breathe in, you breathe in energy and health. As you breathe out, you breathe out sickness, used products. Those people who do suffer from illnesses, it's a great way of creating health inside of you. And from the lungs, I go up to my heart. Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

12:16 You know, I once did try to imagine what a heart looks like. I don't imagine about what it looks like, I know what it feels like. Making sure everything is smooth, relaxed, not forced to beat fast, so Report an error in the passage at 12:16 Highlight the passage at 12:16

12:41 just a natural, calm, peaceful heart. Report an error in the passage at 12:41 Highlight the passage at 12:41

12:47 If there's anything I noticed on the way up to my heart, any tightness, stress, anywhere in my body, and I do say this every time, anyone, especially Women who have trouble with breast cancers, even before it grows into a tumor, sometimes you're mindful enough to notice there's some anomaly in that part of your body. Report an error in the passage at 12:47 Highlight the passage at 12:47

13:16 Kiss it better. That's a metaphor. Give it extra kindness and you'll find that so many of those tumors, diseases, lesions disappear. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:39 Then I go to the top of my torso, the shoulders. So my arms aren't held tightly, like being in an army. They're loose, at ease, as comfortable as I can make them. And I allow that mindfulness to go down my arms, past my elbows, relaxing everything on the way. And by relaxing, Just like it's just been massaged, gently, or like it's been soaking in a warm bath. Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

14:28 There's hardly any tension visible in your arms, your elbows or your forearms, and even down to the hands and wrists. Report an error in the passage at 14:28 Highlight the passage at 14:28

14:42 When I'm aware of those wrists and hands, I just move them. I didn't decide to do that, I asked them. How are you? And they told me to move them. And Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

15:01 I just like the position of my fingers. The right ones over the left ones. Thumbs slightly touching. It kind of feels balanced for me. Report an error in the passage at 15:01 Highlight the passage at 15:01

15:14 I go out to my shoulders. Relax them even more. And my neck feels a bit tight today. There's nothing, no irritations inside. As I make sure. My head is not too far forward or too far back, not too much to either side. I pay attention to balancing my head on top of the neck to get the most comfortable position. Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:53 And lastly, I check the muscles around my eyes, my nose and my mouth. I keep my eyes closed but not shut down tight. They're loosely shut. Report an error in the passage at 15:53 Highlight the passage at 15:53

16:10 In the mouth, it's loosely shut. When I stop speaking, I make sure it's comfortable. I'm relaxing to the max. To the max is one of the most important parts of that statement. Once it is relaxed, I Report an error in the passage at 16:10 Highlight the passage at 16:10

16:36 notice my whole body and all those parts joined together. I've deliberately allowed my body to relax to the max. Not by doing, but by not doing. Report an error in the passage at 16:36 Highlight the passage at 16:36

17:00 If I do it properly, I just pause there. I just notice the beauty of relaxation, the happiness of being in my 75th year and the body being so at ease. I Report an error in the passage at 17:00 Highlight the passage at 17:00

17:26 feel the delight of relaxation. What that means is that I relax even more. Get more peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:48 It's the first part of happiness which comes up in meditation. If Report an error in the passage at 17:48 Highlight the passage at 17:48

17:56 the first half of meditation is relaxation, the second half is the arousal of the joy in peace. Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:09 Peace is not a concept, it's a happiness. Can you notice the peace happening right now? Report an error in the passage at 18:09 Highlight the passage at 18:09

18:26 Nothing you have to do. Know where you need to go. No one judges you. Nothing to live up to. Be totally at peace. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:46 Peace is not something you do. Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

18:51 When you stop doing things, then you can taste the peace, you can feel the peace. Report an error in the passage at 18:51 Highlight the passage at 18:51

19:02 You're not trying to tell anybody else what to do, nor yourself. You're allowing the little shikadas to do their evening. Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:16 Whatever you call it. You allow the people in the hall to cough or to yawn. You're making peace with things, allowing them to be, not fighting this moment. Report an error in the passage at 19:16 Highlight the passage at 19:16

19:40 Then you're soon very, very, very much at peace. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

19:50 To make that peace stronger, you may notice the more you're in the present moment, you put aside thoughts of the past. You put aside worries for the future. Always remember your future is being made right now. If you make peace in this moment, you're making peace for the future. Report an error in the passage at 19:50 Highlight the passage at 19:50

20:31 In present moment awareness, the next thing which comes up, for me anyway, is silence. You don't want to talk anymore. Just let things be and just to see how that grows, like you're planting beautiful seeds in the ground. Report an error in the passage at 20:31 Highlight the passage at 20:31

20:54 And they germinate and blossom so fast. I'm now going to be quiet and wait until the end of the meditation when I will start talking again. It's Report an error in the passage at 20:54 Highlight the passage at 20:54

· · · silence, 6 minutes

26:55 getting close now to the end of this meditation period. Don't open your eyes yet, but please know how you feel. How's the body? Is the body relaxed? Report an error in the passage at 26:55 Highlight the passage at 26:55

27:21 How's the mind? Is your mind peaceful? Is Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:30 it still in thinking of past and future? Report an error in the passage at 27:30 Highlight the passage at 27:30

27:44 Just let the sound of that silent just be. Report an error in the passage at 27:44 Highlight the passage at 27:44

27:58 Beautiful to let things be rather than judge them. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:12 Now coming so close to the end of the meditation, I will ring the gong gently to make it sound. It's a gentle way of taking it out. Thank Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

29:11 you. Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11