The capacity of the resonant mind to listen, to be empathetic, is tremendously helpful. It’s what we set up in puja. The mundane is held in a blessed way. Things we didn’t know we needed to be felt are felt – it goes beyond words.
In meditation the ground has to be both clear and enjoyable. Make a joyful kind of effort. Refer to breathing to give focus; refer to the physical when the mind spins out. Track energy along the chakras – expand it, spread it around. May this be well.
A teaching on the faculties of body, speech and mind and their patterning, saṇkhāra. In meditation, we work with the energy of these patternings. Clear and soothe body energies with breathing, and heart energies open. Upright presence of body allows us to remain attuned with the madness of the mind.
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment are mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, calm, concentration and equanimity. When brought to fruition they lead to the highest happiness we can experience. How can we cultivate these qualities consciously in our meditation practice and in our life?
There’s a glow and energizing effect to the hindrances that we’re attracted to. But if we lose presence in their pursuit, we don’t notice how they burn us. Samadhi is the overcoming of this, the coming into presence. The stages of samadhi cultivation are described, grounding the heart in the body so doesn’t rush out with feeling.
The tendency is to conceive ourselves as being a separate entity; yet, we’re always in something. There is something around us without which we wouldn’t survive. Practice sensing into the ‘us-ness’, the sense of me and something else. Mindfulness of body and breathing support this practice.
With breathing we are coming into different aspect of body, the energy body. Feel the internal body with reference to breathing. Use the thinking mind to keep pointing – where am I? Heart picks up feelings of space, gladness ease. Body, heart mind work together to clear kammic disturbances in the energy field. Walking instructions at the end.
The kind of effort energy that is often brought to ‘trying to meditate’ lacks balance. Guidance is given to establish a steady upright posture with the external frame of the body. Energy is sensed at chakra centers to support its free flow through the body.
