We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday. We expanded our focus to include awareness of the body, feeling tone, thoughts, emotions and then all phenomena. We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely: The Four Applications of Mindfulness. We included two practice periods and a walking meditation.
Alan guides students in systematically settling the body, breath and speech. He encourages relaxation and vigilance while allowing all that arises in the various modes of perception to simply be and then pass away. What remains is the luminous quality of unwavering awareness which “knows” or “cognizes.” This awareness illuminates appearances.
We had an interesting discussion about the nature of mind and thinking. If you approach practice with a mind just like any other sense organ (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), what happens? I tried it. I began to experience mind throughout the body. Then language arose: “I’m having an insight” and the direct experience lapsed. I shared a story told by zen teacher, Michael Stone. He describes his experience of growing heirloom beets. When you slice them open they reveal beautiful rings which form with the phases of the moon. He says this is an example of mind in nature. Hmmmmm. Mind is natural. Somehow this helps me to be more at peace with thoughts. Rather than struggling with them or repressing them, I can just let them be.
Slice open a beat – feel a pulse of life. Pause, breathe, feel, allow.