10. Meditation 5

Recognize any discomfort in your body, and experiment with not moving.

Once again find a seat that is comfortable, either cross-legged or in a chair, and bring your attention to the sensations of breathing. Wherever you feel the breath most clearly at the tip of the nose, or in the chest, or abdomen, and as your attention settles there,
become aware of the whole field of sensory experience. The weight of your body resting against the chair or cushion, the sensation of your hands against your legs, and notice two any sounds that are appearing. Observe how they come and go all on their own.

Just let your mind rest as the space in which sounds and sensations continually appear, and change, and eventually pass away. You can leave your mind perfectly relaxed, but notice what appears precisely.

And the moment you notice your lost and thought, pay attention to the thought itself, notice what happens to it. Recognize the space around it. The condition of conscious awareness prior to it. As a matter of direct experience, you are simply that space in which thoughts and sensations and anything else you can perceive is appearing and changing in each moment.

And if you feel any discomfort in your body, you can move to try to relieve it. There’s nothing wrong with that. But just notice the intention to move a rise in your mind, and feel the sensations associated with moving.

You can also be very powerful to experiment with not moving, to try just totally surrendering to whatever sensation is there. Because there will come a time in any life where physical pain is unavoidable, and this is a very good practice for finding equanimity in those moments. The feeling that you can’t bear a moment of sensation, whether it’s itching, or pain, or some other unpleasant feeling, is never quite true, because in that moment you’ve already born it. What’s really happening is that you’re afraid of the next moment, and it is possible to find true equanimity in the midst of even very unpleasant sensations.

And this can be an extremely empowering experience. In this session, simply begin again, and follow the next breath from the moment it arises.
Well, once again, thank you for the effort that you’re making here. You may have only begun to glimpse how this practice can be useful in your life, but I can assure you that if you continue with it, you will find something of real value here. You only have your mind.

It’s the basis of everything you experience. It is you in each moment, and to understand it deeply, not as a matter of theory, but to directly recognize how consciousness is prior to thinking, or reacting, or trying to change your experience in any way at all. That can be the most important thing you ever learn to do. It is the most important thing I’ve ever learned in my life. And there really is only a choice between noticing what is arising in your mind in each moment, and not noticing it. And to not notice is to be merely lived by these thoughts and intentions and moods and assumptions. And this in turn determines your behavior in the world and the goals to which you aspire and the quality of your relationships. Your mind not only affects your life, but those of everyone around you. Each of us affects far more people than we tend to realize.