Essential Points for Working with the Mind (4 March 2014)

0:09 Thank you. the irony of it. I know. Report an error in the passage at 0:09 Highlight the passage at 0:09

0:39 But it sounds like you guys are actually you're really close to the bottom. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

0:56 you very Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 0:56 Highlight the passage at 0:56

1:33 since she's actually thinking about doing one of would like to take a look at the box. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

1:46 a very lively conversation. She just comes from such a scientific background. We were coming from opposite, you know, sort of senses. And it is. It was really cool. Report an error in the passage at 1:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46

1:55 So she said she was wanting to do, like, classes. I just couldn't see any educational classes. Yeah, she said something about that. And that would be great. Thank you. I've heard that it kind of goes with the class and word of gift. It's more like getting someone who can qualify for a gift certificate. Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

2:19 But that would be a great way. It would be a great way to also connect people. Report an error in the passage at 2:19 Highlight the passage at 2:19

2:30 um... you want me to start? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

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3:46 much. familiar faces and lot of new faces. Report an error in the passage at 3:46 Highlight the passage at 3:46

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4:10 I got lost. Report an error in the passage at 4:10 Highlight the passage at 4:10

4:15 And then I was at a traffic light. Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:23 down at my console for something and lane next to me started going and i just thought it was a green light so i lifted my foot off the brake and then i rear-ended the car in front of me too much but enough you know there's a dent Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

4:43 I'm just the messenger but the messenger obviously needs more mindfulness than probably anyone in this room. Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

4:59 I'm thinking my insurance is going to go down. Report an error in the passage at 4:59 Highlight the passage at 4:59

5:06 never get into a car accident, my first time since I've ever been driving that it actually my fault. Report an error in the passage at 5:06 Highlight the passage at 5:06

5:31 it up that's what I'm talking about that's not why I did it Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:40 noticing just, I mean that was an extreme example, but noticing how I really my body. and kind noticing how much of this practice for me is about re-inhabiting the body to getting grounded and to experience a sense of embodiment we feel we feel rooted. Report an error in the passage at 5:40 Highlight the passage at 5:40

6:11 present. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:17 I think Report an error in the passage at 6:17 Highlight the passage at 6:17

6:28 and lot of aggression in our, just even if we don't particularly want to be speedy or want to be aggressive, the environment that momentum of us out our Report an error in the passage at 6:28 Highlight the passage at 6:28

6:48 being here, you know, being either in the future or in the past, is all very much being in your head. Report an error in the passage at 6:48 Highlight the passage at 6:48

7:13 uh, what I'd like to This is a four-week class that is organically developed for me after teaching meditation at Kaiser Hospital for the general staff and patients, so anybody can come. And over the past six, seven years... it organically developed into Report an error in the passage at 7:13 Highlight the passage at 7:13

7:43 of a four-week of developmental process. Report an error in the passage at 7:43 Highlight the passage at 7:43

7:52 My goal was to have people commit to the four weeks, which the idea was that after those four weeks you would have the foundational building blocks for having a practice at home and for being able to also have some tools to integrate practice in daily life. Report an error in the passage at 7:52 Highlight the passage at 7:52

8:20 sounds ambitious, but operative word here is foundational. The Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:49 practice begins with a sense of feeling your seat. And to feel the sense of support, whether you're sitting on a chair or on the floor, there is a fundamental support that's happening, literally, and also opening up to that support. Let yourself feel supported. One of the things that is true is when the body isn't supported, it can't relax. Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:33 I want to really expand first that piece about support. If you are feeling, so literally feeling supported physically, but then also opening to that the quality of psychological support, that you're in a way entering the practice so as to... Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

10:11 act of kindness towards yourself cultivate a support for yourself if it's something which doesn't feel that you are feeling. Report an error in the passage at 10:11 Highlight the passage at 10:11

10:29 to the aspiration of me I feel supported because you are supported Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:38 of the key points of the Buddhist teachings is Buddha nature, that even if we are not particularly experiencing the complete fruition of our capacity, that we all have the potential to feel support. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

10:59 it's a really positive news from the perspective of Report an error in the passage at 10:59 Highlight the passage at 10:59

11:06 nature, you know, that our nature is Report an error in the passage at 11:06 Highlight the passage at 11:06

11:18 Eman Fallah, Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. your heart and your wish. seeds inside of us that have the capacity to support us even more than the earth is supporting you right now. Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

12:04 is a journey of unfolding and discovery of that. Report an error in the passage at 12:04 Highlight the passage at 12:04

12:16 just, I guess, in short, I really want to encourage an attitude of giving yourself a break, like as you sit down to meditate, whether it's at home or Report an error in the passage at 12:16 Highlight the passage at 12:16

12:31 first gesture of giving yourself a break, like, okay, I'm sitting and I've got qualities I'm going to acknowledge, qualities of goodness that I'm going to acknowledge. Report an error in the passage at 12:31 Highlight the passage at 12:31

12:44 that be the beginning gesture of the practice. Especially, I think, for lot of our culture, we have a very Report an error in the passage at 12:44 Highlight the passage at 12:44

12:58 judgmental attitude towards ourselves an addiction to perfection and a tendency to want to get it right the tendency to maybe beat ourselves up lot so the practice of Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

13:25 not making it a-improvement project that you're going to, you know. Report an error in the passage at 13:25 Highlight the passage at 13:25

13:46 So that's sort of the attitude that I kind of want to generally speak about and I'll speak more about it in the next class. The Report an error in the passage at 13:46 Highlight the passage at 13:46

13:56 practice, when I spoke about the foundation of practice, you can generally think about the foundation of meditation and what's called the three noble principles or the three pillars of practice. And the first pillar, if you will, is the beginning of practice, so developing the motivation. motivation, the Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:24 of some of the... The second pillar of practice is the actual meditation. So it's actually what you're doing. And then the third pillar of practice is dedication and aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 14:24 Highlight the passage at 14:24

14:40 So today we're going to just talk about the second pillar, the actual meditation. And then next week I'll talk about the other two. The pillar of motivation and the pillar of dedication and aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 14:40 Highlight the passage at 14:40

15:06 So as far as the pillar of meditation, the word meditation comes from the Tibetan word gom, which means to get used to something. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:18 And so when we apply our minds to something over and over again, we could say that we are in a sense doing a kind of meditation on it. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:38 practice of Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

15:42 is the practice of getting used to being in the present moment. so what we are used to mainly in the future or in the past and briefly visiting the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 15:42 Highlight the passage at 15:42

16:09 what we're getting used to, we're getting used to in the practice of not following our thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:20 the awareness just back to the breath a reference point. breath is a very good reference point. a stepping stone to the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:33 touch the breath, and then we just let go. Report an error in the passage at 16:33 Highlight the passage at 16:33

16:37 the quality of letting go is just the quality of go. This Report an error in the passage at 16:37 Highlight the passage at 16:37

16:46 is a training of the mind and in a way our natural experience. experience is constantly happening. Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

17:07 said something very interesting. He makes a distinction what he calls life and life circumstance. your life is actually always and only ever happening now. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:23 your life circumstance is the you have about your life. is in your mind and involves storylines. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:44 working with in a way is to reconnect to the natural space of our experience, which is now. the mind unaltered means leaving the mind to settle in the quality of presence. Report an error in the passage at 17:44 Highlight the passage at 17:44

18:02 manipulating the mind and strategizing and intellectualizing and hoping and fearing and problem solving is not leaving the mind in its natural state of rest. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:20 So the sensation of coming home and sort of dropping on the couch and just after a long day kind of like letting go or the quality of seeing something amazing like you've never seen, a view. Report an error in the passage at 18:20 Highlight the passage at 18:20

18:49 of, you just, relax the mind. if something has blown your concept, a work of art or something that you have experienced that sort of blows your mind. that sort of thinking process gets sort of disrupted. You're left with a bare Report an error in the passage at 18:49 Highlight the passage at 18:49

19:15 there's a quality of vividness, vivid quality of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:40 though we are training the mind, we're training the mind to be able to abide in its natural state. we're training the mind, but not training the mind Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

19:56 become something that it's not. We're training the mind so that it abides in its natural state. Report an error in the passage at 19:56 Highlight the passage at 19:56

20:11 it back much as possible. Report an error in the passage at 20:11 Highlight the passage at 20:11

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21:05 doing is working with not following our thoughts. following our thoughts is to not stirring. Report an error in the passage at 21:05 Highlight the passage at 21:05

21:16 power and the empowerment of the practice comes from. Connecting to the quality of awareness that arises naturally when you allow the mind to settle into a natural state of rest. Report an error in the passage at 21:16 Highlight the passage at 21:16

21:32 as we develop the ability to not follow our thoughts and rest in the quality of the now, in awareness, are very powerful healing energies and qualities that occur. And these energies and qualities relate to what I was mentioning earlier about wisdom and compassion, connecting to our basic goodness, connecting to a quality of basic sanity, connecting to a quality of being okay without having to do anything. Report an error in the passage at 21:32 Highlight the passage at 21:32

22:07 And this is the natural quality of awareness. So Report an error in the passage at 22:07 Highlight the passage at 22:07

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22:44 the first part of the meditation, we're still on the second pillar. So in regards to the actual meditation. Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

22:55 and then maybe taking some deep breaths. Report an error in the passage at 22:55 Highlight the passage at 22:55

23:02 have a yoga practice or if you want to stretch before meditation. Report an error in the passage at 23:02 Highlight the passage at 23:02

23:14 know, something very wise Yeshe said, know, he said, you know, when you come home from work, about just trying to sit, you know, relax on the couch and have a cup of coffee. I wouldn't have coffee, I would stay awake. But I think the point is, come home from work and just sort of unwind. Report an error in the passage at 23:14 Highlight the passage at 23:14

23:38 so that quality of just sort of relaxing into your body. go of know, mental operation that we've been engaging So that's why I bring in deep breathing practice. Report an error in the passage at 23:38 Highlight the passage at 23:38

24:02 Tibetan yoga, they do things called clearing the channels where they breathe, do certain breathings to kind of get the breath into a nice deep place. Report an error in the passage at 24:02 Highlight the passage at 24:02

24:15 But any kind of physical practice that you have that will help you just physically relax. It's a scientific fact that if you extend the out breath, then you will trigger a... Report an error in the passage at 24:15 Highlight the passage at 24:15

24:36 think just working with that is good. Just taking a deep breath, the breath, and then slowly breathing out. as you breathe out, you just kind of let go. Report an error in the passage at 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

24:48 That is... Relaxing before you go to sleep, you know. we do just some deep breathing and then I'll guide us in the, then the next piece of it we'll just kind of focus on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 24:48 Highlight the passage at 24:48

25:05 And then the last part is to eventually open the eyes and let yourself rest in awareness with the vividness of everything you see. Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

25:21 of the, I think, challenges is if you're meditating and, you know, you hear the... bell go off then you know you sort of just get up and start going so Report an error in the passage at 25:21 Highlight the passage at 25:21

25:43 meditation. yourself to relax in awareness. with your eyes open you have to open your eyes eventually. include that into the integration of the practice. Report an error in the passage at 25:43 Highlight the passage at 25:43

26:04 got a budding musician next door so you know so that becomes again Just like a thought, you know, you hear it and then it goes. One of my teachers, Mingyur Rinpoche, said it's like a tape recorder. It's like the tape recorder doesn't have bias on what it hears. It simply receives the sound and then keeps going. Report an error in the passage at 26:04 Highlight the passage at 26:04

26:36 So you hear, there's traffic or piano, you just hear it, but then again. It's the same with thoughts. Thoughts arise, but we're not working with blocking off sound or sight or thoughts. We're not trying to stop the experience. We're simply not following the thoughts. So we're not feeding that. So that becomes sort of the trifecta of the practice of the body and breathing. Report an error in the passage at 26:36 Highlight the passage at 26:36

27:16 Meditation on the breath, working with just that, developing that muscle of coming back to the present moment and then relaxing into sensation, opening the eyes, allowing yourself to just relax and awareness. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:38 So any questions on anything I've said? So Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

27:48 if you're sitting on a chair, just try to keep your back straight and your feet flat on the floor. Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:02 And regardless of whether you're sitting on a chair or on the floor, just noting your spine and noting the access from the top of your head to the base of your spine like a pile of coins. Report an error in the passage at 28:02 Highlight the passage at 28:02

28:21 Your hands can just simply rest on your lap and Report an error in the passage at 28:21 Highlight the passage at 28:21

28:28 you can close your eyes and Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

28:35 just begin feeling the sea beneath you opening to the... Report an error in the passage at 28:35 Highlight the passage at 28:35

28:45 Opening to the permission and gift of support, giving yourself an awareness of I am supported, I am being supported and entering into that quality of support. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

29:05 Then as you breathe in, try to notice as you breathe in if you are breathing in into the diaphragm of your body, the ribcage should be moving. So we're trying to not take... Report an error in the passage at 29:05 Highlight the passage at 29:05

29:19 We're not breathing into our chest particularly, but we're trying to draw the breath down as deeply as possible into the diaphragm of the body, the core of our body. Let the rib cage expand and really drink in as much air as you can and then holding the breath for five or six seconds and then as slowly as possible breathing out through the mouth. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

30:02 Sensation as you breathe out. Report an error in the passage at 30:02 Highlight the passage at 30:02

30:14 another deep breath moving down into your core. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

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31:07 to get a sensation of your hands and feet, arms and legs, as you breathe out. Report an error in the passage at 31:07 Highlight the passage at 31:07

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31:57 allow your breath to fall into its own natural rhythm. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:08 you can keep breathing in deeply, whatever feels better. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:35 then before we put our attention on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

32:47 Energize palm of your hands with awareness. Just notice the feeling of your hands. Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

33:08 feel the energy in your hands. Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:24 acknowledge any other part of your body. Eman Fallah talks about Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

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34:00 bodhicitta. feet, your legs, your shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 34:00 Highlight the passage at 34:00

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34:36 initially we're going to focus on the breath, have a sense of diligence and vigilance. Thank Report an error in the passage at 34:36 Highlight the passage at 34:36

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36:41 you Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

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34:43 if your mind wanders, you just simply bring it back to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 34:43 Highlight the passage at 34:43

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47:40 awareness to presence Report an error in the passage at 47:40 Highlight the passage at 47:40

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48:23 very small touch of glass. Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:53 there to relax with space. Report an error in the passage at 48:53 Highlight the passage at 48:53

49:05 sort of relaxing. possible, relaxing your awareness space, with space. Thank you. So we're practicing at the very end to take in the view, if you might be in a room. Report an error in the passage at 49:05 Highlight the passage at 49:05

49:28 there's an element of spaciousness we can connect to when we have spent some time the reducing the stirring. Report an error in the passage at 49:28 Highlight the passage at 49:28

49:51 to that spaciousness. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:04 just requires a soft case, not focusing on some object. Report an error in the passage at 50:04 Highlight the passage at 50:04

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50:46 these are, consider these to be green. Report an error in the passage at 50:46 Highlight the passage at 50:46

50:56 on where you're at that day. first gear shift is on the outer level of the body. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

51:11 relax the body as much as possible. days you might spend most of your time doing breathing practice, because that's your... Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:50 It's important. Report an error in the passage at 51:50 Highlight the passage at 51:50

51:58 just the mind into that direction an act of kindness. Just as you come home or as you... Report an error in the passage at 51:58 Highlight the passage at 51:58

52:31 different things with the graph. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 52:31 Highlight the passage at 52:31

52:41 that isn't very, very much deliberate, you're just breathing in, kind of doing something very intentionally. Report an error in the passage at 52:41 Highlight the passage at 52:41

52:52 reading in for four seconds, five seconds, holding. slowly breathing out. Let's diaphragm. Report an error in the passage at 52:52 Highlight the passage at 52:52

53:03 here, the singers know how to use these muscles. not automatic. We have to do shallow breathing through our Thank you. learn to use the diaphragm of the body let the breath really expand down into the core. Report an error in the passage at 53:03 Highlight the passage at 53:03

53:34 the meditation progressed, then the breaths. natural, it's a natural breathing. your attention on that. then, at the end of the practice, I go into it very much, but I mentioned just let the breath flow slowly through the mouth. Report an error in the passage at 53:34 Highlight the passage at 53:34

53:57 that's, the breath is going from the face up. Lots of movement, lots of manipulation, less manipulation, it's natural. And then at the final level, just super subtle. you're almost barely noticing the out-breath and the in-breath. Settling the breath into a place of stillness. Report an error in the passage at 53:57 Highlight the passage at 53:57

54:20 then the mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:20 Highlight the passage at 54:20

54:30 first gear is physical. gear, of the breath, concentration, working with the muscle so that developing that muscle of not following your thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 54:30 Highlight the passage at 54:30

54:47 following your thoughts takes a muscle what you're developing that muscle of not following your thoughts then you're feeling good and settled, then you allow some... Shantideva, Shantideva, Shantideva, Thank you. the problem isn't the sound, the problem isn't the sight, problem isn't even with your thoughts, problem is in the grasping. Report an error in the passage at 54:47 Highlight the passage at 54:47

55:15 as we work that muscle of letting go, letting go, letting go, the natural freedom of experience, the natural freedom of hearing, the natural freedom of sensation, the natural freedom of sight. natural freedom. It's part of the dynamic energy of awareness. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 55:15 Highlight the passage at 55:15

55:41 It's part of the dynamic energy of awareness to experience. It's of quality. It's part of our mind. The issue is in the grasping. when we work with letting go, we're able to settle naturally in the experience. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

56:01 the experience is happening, but we're not over. quality of spaciousness, ease. This is something which even if you're not cultivating, it's not something particularly that you can cultivate, it's a natural occurrence, right? You do the meditation and you have to open your eyes. So I'm saying relax into the sensation, relax into what you're seeing. Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:31 Just relax, just stop meditating, just sit there, just relax. Report an error in the passage at 56:31 Highlight the passage at 56:31

56:39 there's non-distraction, but in presence, not doing anything. Report an error in the passage at 56:39 Highlight the passage at 56:39

56:47 that's the freedom of mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

56:57 an ongoing journey. Report an error in the passage at 56:57 Highlight the passage at 56:57

57:02 of the natural freedom of mind to abide in awareness getting... Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:16 a refining quality, it's a nourishing experience, it's a journey that unfolds. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 57:16 Highlight the passage at 57:16

57:30 of positive qualities. Report an error in the passage at 57:30 Highlight the passage at 57:30

57:47 questions or comments? Report an error in the passage at 57:47 Highlight the passage at 57:47

57:54 experience might be difficult. Report an error in the passage at 57:54 Highlight the passage at 57:54

58:21 But that's the first gear, right? First gear is move, stretch, let your body unwind. Report an error in the passage at 58:21 Highlight the passage at 58:21

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59:02 Yeah, that is meditation. It's actually, it's sort of where we're leading to. So I'm suggesting that that's kind of the most refined form of meditation. To be able to stay in awareness naturally. The sensations of the practice of... Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama Report an error in the passage at 59:02 Highlight the passage at 59:02