Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 11)

0:02 So this morning we'll be making the transition from Jamatha to Vipassanā. But before moving on to the insight practices of the four applications of mindfulness, we'll cover this last phase or mode of mindfulness of breathing. We'll turn to the classic Theravāda approach, which is very time-tested and around at least for at least two millennia, I presume. And this is where we focus the attention on the sensations of the passage of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 0:02 Highlight the passage at 0:02

0:30 Right at the apertures of the nostrils or just above the upper lip, wherever you most clearly discern the passage of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 0:30 Highlight the passage at 0:30

0:40 And by elevating it in this way and attending to subtler sensations and the abdomen going in and out, then this naturally is an invitation or an inducement to arouse greater vividness of attention. Because as we're presented with subtler and subtler sensations, then we either lose it and the mind just goes off in distraction, or we rise to the challenge and the attention becomes subtler and subtler as the sensations we're attending to become subtler and subtler. Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

1:09 And so, as I mentioned, this is a very classic technique, very, very effective. Many people find it enormously helpful. And this one technique, I'm not going to go on much now, so we'll get to the practice. but it's It's unique among the many different types of shamatha practices in the sense that as your mind develops in the practice, your attention skills are honed, then the sensations of the breath quite naturally become subtler because the sheer volume of air that your body needs as your whole system is settling into a deeper state of equilibrium, the volume of air you need decreases, which means the sensations get subtler. Report an error in the passage at 1:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09

1:51 And if you rise to that challenge and your attention then similarly becomes subtler, the vividness of attention is enhanced, then your whole, your mind, your body mind settles down even more. But that results in the sensations of the breath getting subtler because you need less air. And then if you rise to the challenge, then your mind becomes subtler again. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:11 So you see a whole cycle there. But if at any point you kind of lose it and you start going after rumination, emotions coming up, memories and all of that, then... The system is getting it coarser, so you'll need more volume of air, the sensations become coarser, so they come back and fetch you, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

2:30 And so it has a feedback loop there, which is very, very useful, very practical, and that's one of the many perks of this particular method. I will emphasize this point, this will be a guided meditation, we'll just have one on this topic I'm anticipating, but a very crucial point that I want to... Front load as well as highlight during the practice. And that is when we elevate the attention up here to the nostrils. Number one, this is very helpful. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

3:00 Elevating the focus of your attention is helpful to counteract laxity and dullness. Whereas when your attention is more prone to excitation and agitation, then it's better to ground it. So you can kind of take your own attentional pulse after this retreats over to see whether if you're more agitated, you might want to come down if you're a bit duller or just normal. Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

3:20 Then you come up here to the apertures of the nostrils. But as you do so, it's very important. So please remember this point. It will save you a lot of headaches, literally. And that is when you focus your attention here at the apertures of the nostrils, it's absolutely imperative that you disengage your visual attention from your meditative object. Report an error in the passage at 3:20 Highlight the passage at 3:20

3:42 It's very important you don't direct your eyeballs to the tip of your nose. It will make you cross-eyed. It will give you headaches. It will do bad things to you. And you won't like it. So it's very simple to not make that into a habit. And that is from the very beginning that you can have your eyes hooded. Again, any way you like with the eyes. Open, hooded or closed are all fine. But you want your eyes to be utterly soft, unfocused, not directed to any object. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

4:14 Just like that. Totally disengaged. You want to see that all the muscles around your eyes are soft, like a little baby, like a baby's face, just like that. And no contraction at all around the eyes, the forehead, between the eyebrows. Very often when we concentrate, we're like that. Or people sometimes when I'm holding interviews with people in the retreats, I see sometimes people come in with this. Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:40 And I want to come over and say, you know, open that up. Bad habit, bad habit. Sakita is all open, kind of like just a child. Or one yogi, a great yogi that I got to live with for a whole year. Somebody took a picture of him when he was in meditation, deep in samādhi. And I'm not exaggerating much when I show his face like this. I mean, his eyebrows are little rainbows. They really went up. Report an error in the passage at 4:40 Highlight the passage at 4:40

5:11 Now we're not trying to exaggerate anything there, but not trying to do anything special with the face. But just anything in the mode of contraction of... Crunching in, avoid that. Keep it soft, open, loose. And so there your eyes are just, the eyes are out of work. They have no task at all. And it's just that slender focus. And by slender I mean subtle. Just your mental awareness. Just your mental awareness. Report an error in the passage at 5:11 Highlight the passage at 5:11

5:39 So for example you could, let's do a silly thing right now. Just with your eyes straight forward, focus your attention on your right knee. Report an error in the passage at 5:39 Highlight the passage at 5:39

5:50 So like that. Your eyes are just totally... Not there. But you are focusing, you certainly can focus your attention on your right knee or your belly button or whatever you like. So in that way there's a total disengagement between your focus of mental awareness and visual awareness. Keep it like that. But it is something we need to be aware of because again, if I'm looking over at Rhonda, if Rhonda raises his hand and I say, oh yes, Rhonda, what's up? Report an error in the passage at 5:50 Highlight the passage at 5:50

6:18 Then when I direct my attention, my mental awareness to her, of course I'm directing my visual. And generally we're 80 % ocular. beings, the human beings. And so when we attend to something within the space in front of us, then we're just likely and we're just absolutely likely to direct the visual attention to that. Report an error in the passage at 6:18 Highlight the passage at 6:18

6:36 So it makes good sense. But not for this practice. must be disengaged. So I think I made my point. If you start feeling a bit scrunchy, a bit tight, contracted here, any type of, even a little semblance of a headache, like sinus coming on, back off. Just back off. And direct your attention elsewhere, down to the belly, that's no problem. Or full body awareness, that's no problem. Or we'll have other methods we'll explore. But don't go there. Report an error in the passage at 6:36 Highlight the passage at 6:36

7:04 Don't let this build up any kind of habit of contraction, tension, headaches, clenching, all of that kind of business. Big no-no. You don't want to harm yourself. So that's my chief job here, is to make sure I don't harm anybody. And that's the baseline, and that's why I've spent five minutes on this point. Having said so, Once you learn it, you won't forget it and you won't have any problems. Sometimes it's not emphasized and then people have these problems and then they bail out of meditation feeling. Report an error in the passage at 7:04 Highlight the passage at 7:04

7:30 Every time they meditate, they start getting a headache. Good. Please find a comfortable position and we will begin. Report an error in the passage at 7:30 Highlight the passage at 7:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

8:28 We will soon direct the attention to the apertures of the nostrils. We begin as usual by letting the awareness drop down, right down to the ground. Report an error in the passage at 8:28 Highlight the passage at 8:28

8:39 And if you're in the supine position, you have a lot to work with because down means... Literally down, not just down to your feet, but to the earth element, all that area where your body is in contact with the ground, diffuse, not single-pointed, as in a tiny target. Report an error in the passage at 8:39 Highlight the passage at 8:39

9:03 Release your awareness downwards, ground it, and let your awareness fill the space of the body, relax the whole body, let it be still, physically, or at least psychologically, adopt a stance or a posture of vigilance. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

· · · silence, 1 minute

10:01 I'll settle your respiration in its natural rhythm, and I've spoken at some length now. These practical techniques for relinquishing all control over the breath while yet mindfully attending to it, relaxing deeply with every out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:08 Then set your mind at ease. Be carefree for the brief duration of this session. Whatever concerns, worries that you might have in your life, they probably need thinking about, but not just now. Report an error in the passage at 11:08 Highlight the passage at 11:08

· · · silence, 2 minutes

13:04 Now with your face soft and relaxed, all the muscles, Loose. Report an error in the passage at 13:04 Highlight the passage at 13:04

13:11 Very gently direct your mental attention to the tactile sensations of the passage of the breath right at the gateway of the breath to see for yourself whether you most distinctly discern the passage of the air right there above your upper lip or at the apertures of the nostrils. People differ a little bit just in terms of physiology. Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:43 Let the breath continue to flow naturally. Don't force it. Report an error in the passage at 13:43 Highlight the passage at 13:43

13:54 Do not follow the passage of the air into the nostrils. But like posting a sentry at the gate of a medieval walled city. Report an error in the passage at 13:54 Highlight the passage at 13:54

14:08 Let your attention be still, focused right there just at the apertures, the gateway of the breath, without following it in or out. Let your attention be still. Report an error in the passage at 14:08 Highlight the passage at 14:08

· · · silence, 1 minute

15:03 Pick up the oscillation once again. It's a very gentle, arousing and relaxing, arousing of course with each in-breath, letting loose, relaxing deeply with each out-breath, while maintaining to the best of your ability. An ongoing and continuous flow of attention directed to the ongoing flow of tactile sensations of the in and out breath. Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:31 Be aware that even in between breaths, there is an ongoing flow of sensation there. As you attend closely, you'll pick that up. And you'll see that there's always something to attend to, even during those brief interludes, when there's no breath flowing in or out. Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

· · · silence, 2 minutes

17:30 see the extent to which counting the rats It may be helpful. Some people find it very helpful and count all the way through the session, giving this gentle reminder at the end of each inhalation to stay on track. Report an error in the passage at 17:30 Highlight the passage at 17:30

17:48 But others may find it helpful only now and again, counting one through ten, and then suspending the counting and focusing single-pointedly on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 17:48 Highlight the passage at 17:48

17:59 And others may not find it helpful. They might find it just more clutters the mind and their practice is more continuous without counting. So see for yourself the extent to which counting the breaths It can be helpful for calming, gently calming the obsessive rumination, the flow of thoughts. The Report an error in the passage at 17:59 Highlight the passage at 17:59

· · · silence, 3 minutes

21:46 principal mental faculty that we utilize and refine in the practice of shamatha is mindfulness. It's imperative also to utilize and refine the other faculty of introspection, occasionally monitoring the body, of course checking in on the breath to see if it is unforced, unregulated. But most importantly, attending to the quality of attention. Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:12 Observing as quickly as possible the occurrence of either laxity or excitation and remembering the antidotes. For excitation, relax, release and return. For laxity, refresh, as in refresh your interest, restore your attention and retain your focus on the meditative object. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:44 So let's continue practicing now in silence. Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44