Shamatha Retreat with Alan Wallace 2012 (part 15)

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:52 Settle your body in its natural state, in your aspiration, in its natural rhythm. Then Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:42 releasing your concerns about the future and the past, let your awareness come to rest in stillness in the present moment, Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

1:51 clearly illuminating the sensations associated with the breath as they manifest throughout the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

· · · silence, 2 minutes

3:38 Then keeping all the muscles of your face especially soft and relaxed, your eyes soft. Now more narrowly focus your attention downwards upon the sensations of the rise and fall of the abdomen. With each in and out breath. Let Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

· · · silence, 2 minutes

5:33 each cycle of the respiration be like a complete meditation session in itself. As you arouse your attention with each in breath, thereby overcoming laxity, and relax with each out breath, overcoming excitation, releasing the energy that underlies all the turbulent thoughts and rumination. Then Report an error in the passage at 5:33 Highlight the passage at 5:33

· · · silence, 4 minutes

9:51 experiment with counting. One count at the end of each inhalation, maintaining a continuity of mindfulness of the breathing between counts, releasing thoughts. Maintaining a flow of non-conceptual awareness throughout. Report an error in the passage at 9:51 Highlight the passage at 9:51

· · · silence, 18 minutes

27:54 Once again begin by settling your body, speech and mind in the natural states. For a little while letting your awareness permeate the whole field of the body. Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:06 Establishing this foundation of ease, of relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 28:06 Highlight the passage at 28:06

· · · silence, 2 minutes

29:39 And for a little while more narrowly focus your attention on the sensations of the rise and fall of the appetite with the in and out breath. Now Report an error in the passage at 29:39 Highlight the passage at 29:39

· · · silence, 4 minutes

33:43 in order to begin enhancing the vividness, the beauty of attention. Report an error in the passage at 33:43 Highlight the passage at 33:43

33:49 Elevate and more narrowly focus your attention on the sensations of the passage of the breath at the apertures of the nostrils or just above the upper lip, wherever you most distinctly experience that breath. Report an error in the passage at 33:49 Highlight the passage at 33:49

34:06 Focus your attention single-pointedly in that area, but now very importantly, as you do so, Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:15 keep your eyes soft and relaxed. Disengage your visual awareness from the meditative practice. All the muscles around the eyes be soft, let your forehead be spacious. Report an error in the passage at 34:15 Highlight the passage at 34:15

34:30 Openness between the eyebrows. Let no contraction or tension mount around the eyes or the forehead. Just focus your mental awareness on these sensations of the breath, at the apertures of the nostrils. Report an error in the passage at 34:30 Highlight the passage at 34:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

35:52 As you've done before, with each inhalation, arouse and focus your attention. With each exhalation, relax. Release any thoughts that may have arisen into Report an error in the passage at 35:52 Highlight the passage at 35:52

· · · silence, 1 minute

37:26 the full body of the in-breath, the full body of the out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 37:26 Highlight the passage at 37:26

37:33 And experiment with counting the breath, as you've done before. Engage. In this practice, insofar as you find it helpful, Report an error in the passage at 37:33 Highlight the passage at 37:33

· · · silence, 11 minutes

48:28 notice that even in between breaths, there's still a flow of tactile sensations there in the target area. Report an error in the passage at 48:28 Highlight the passage at 48:28

48:39 So as the breath becomes subtler and subtler, Report an error in the passage at 48:39 Highlight the passage at 48:39

48:45 note that there's always a flow of sensation to which you can direct your attention. Report an error in the passage at 48:45 Highlight the passage at 48:45