We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday. We’ve been working with the four foundations of mindfulness: 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.
In meditation we work with the mind to establish cognitive balance, a direct experience of equanimity. Alan describes balance as having two critical aspects: seeing the impermanent as impermanent and differentiating the true sources of happiness from false ones. In cultivating mindfulness we first focus on the “the body and physical sense fields”; then attend to feelings of pleasure, pain and indifference; then events arising in mental domain; finally to the space of all phenomena and their interdependent relationships.
He talks about mindfulness having practical benefits in our every day lives. We all experiences a sense of “grasping” in on our relationships. In conversation, this grasping predisposes us to miss what is being said and to hear things never said, especially if we’re familiar with person and expect them to say predictable things.
In cognitive balance we actively attend to direct experience and we refrain from embellishing it with stories of the past or projections of what we imagine. As we discussed last week, we often superimpose concepts on reality and conflate them with what is being presented. Clearly differentiating what is presented from what is projected is way to overcome cognitive imbalance.
After practice, we had a fascinating conversation about the role of storymaking in our lives. One student graciously shared the experience of “rewriting” her story as she was about to become a parent through adoption. We can use story to help us define and actualize the lives we want to create: lives with purpose, grounded in integrity. While researchers have found that we do have an innate sense of morality I believe we need stories to develop it. The stories I’ve been most grateful for have been the teaching tales offered by the many people who have walked the path before me. They’ve given me inspiration, faith and hope.
Yet the value of our stories is clearly questionable if they are false. It greatly diminishes when we try to cling to them or try to fix what is inherently impermanent about them. Our stories are always changing. Perhaps the gold in this alchemical mix is that we share stories in relationship. In truly relating, we’re inspired to consider things differently and the nature of our humanity is revealed.
Developing mental equipoise is invaluable. Yet I know I also need the gifts of relationship. My partner, friends and family are helpmates and teachers. They help me to question the story I may be living and to deeply consider whether it is true or false. Equanimity in heart and mind helps me to extend acceptance and experience compassion – especially when facing difficult truths.
This is why I value our circle so much.