Chanting 6:30
Ajahn Metta begins with sharing how she has found her misery in the midst of the beautiful surroundings at Beatenberg. She addresses the five hindrances, mental conditions that not only confront us on retreat but in our day to day lives.
Three references for standing: anatomy, sensations and energies. Setting aside what isn’t needed and firming up what is useful, allowing the body to complete itself and come into balance. Free from obstruction, free from intrusion, free from harm.
We tend to get the situations that will work on us. Our approach, if we get wise, is to meet dissatisfaction in the body. There is a possibility to unhook from the tides of affliction that cause us to form up in these challenging situations. We can pause, unhook, and bear open, steady presence. Shifts occur by themselves.
Rather than following the mental movements of the mind, there’s the possibility to just open to the manifest with no particular engagement. The particular point is meeting dukkha – where we chafe, want, resist – and recognizing it as it is. At the moment the engagement changes, the mind releases. Then the world doesn’t have to be that good.
What we are doing by coming together, practicing with the overall framework of the Dhamma, is developing spiritual friendship. Over the short period of a retreat period as we meet and connect in the silence, our energies come together and we become unified as a group and find support.
Walking from your center, finding fluidity of movement, sensing with the torso rather than the eyes. [Ends 10:10] For reclining, laying flat on one’s back, allowing front of body to completely open up, extending awareness from the feet to the head and the space around.
Mindfulness of body is not just in reference to the outer form, but to energetic sensitivity. Data from the body is direct, not filtered through the mind. If we track it and tune into it, it can release blocked areas, clear psychological effects and bring clarity. Approach with goodwill and softness of attitude.
As we enter retreat, we may feel a certain amount of jangle and disorientation. Our embodiment can provide a source of strong, inner orientation. This inner form has its own language, rhythms and moods that can ground and settle us into the real here and now.
Instructions for sitting and standing meditation are offered. In both, sensing ground, balancing of outer and inner forms, rhythmic flow of in and out breathing, allowing the beauty and intelligence of subtle forms to come forth.
Guidance to keep putting things aside, and keep establishing ‘here,’ a bodily feeling that serves as a guide to what’s always here.
In the space of open awareness, we can ask ourselves every day: What is the most important thing? And the answer may change each time. For the retreat time, we consider silence and goodwill as the most important things.
