Stay Nondual Guided Meditation with Michael Taft
Streamed reside on Mar 17, 2022
Introduction
Hey you guys, welcome to tonight’s guided meditation and naturally, we’ll even have a Dharma discuss and somewhat little bit of Q&A. So all of that awaits you this night. Discover I’m sporting my most colourful, enjoyable, loopy shirt, which I actually like; I hope you prefer it too. It actually issues to me whether or not you want my shirt. I’m going to consider this loads tonight, primarily based in your feedback, about my shirt. Anyway, the explanation I’ve the shirt is we’re going to work with some extra of what we had been working inside a earlier week, which is equanimity with confusion or equanimity with chaos. So though to me it is a sort of concord, for others they could see that is chaos. So I assumed properly, what’s my most chaotic shirt? So that is the chaos shirt. We’re gonna work with equanimity with chaos and confusion however otherwise than standard.
Meditation
So let’s start our meditation this night by settling into our sitting posture. So what I would like you to do is take your seat and, as standard, it’s finest in case you’re–let’s see, myself in place right here–in case your knees are under your hips; it will get you sitting up good and straight. Be at liberty to additionally lay down or arise, no matter you need. However in case you’re sitting down I would like you to sit down in such a manner that your decrease again is doing that good factor that makes your backbone sit up. And since you’re doing it sort of mechanically by having your knees under your hips, it doesn’t take a number of muscle energy to maintain your again upright. So we now have our backbone good and upright in a really snug manner. And simply sort of sway forwards and backwards like a tree, like a sapling in a wet breeze, proper? Saplings actually like wet, tender, wet breezes, so it’s simply sort of doing this: it goes ahead and again and aspect to aspect, and ultimately, the younger sapling of our backbone finds that spot that’s simply completely balanced, that feels excellent. The Goldilocks spot of your backbone the place it’s simply floating upwards with nearly no effort. It’s nearly prefer it needs to simply, on this one spot, it simply needs to circulate upwards in direction of the sky, effortlessly.
As soon as we’re in that spot then we let our, for instance, neck and shoulders and arms and fingers calm down. After which we’re simply gonna keep on this posture, we’re not gonna transfer in any respect, okay? You may see, in case your eyes are open, you may see me transfer each on occasion however that’s simply because I’m guiding a video and so I want to regulate the pc or I have to take a drink as a result of I’m speaking. But when I used to be meditating solely, I might sit utterly nonetheless for your complete meditation and that’s what I hope you are able to do is sit utterly nonetheless. Not scratching your nostril, not, you recognize, shifting your posture or making an attempt to, you recognize, alter your neck. However simply somewhat sitting good and nonetheless and feeling that stillness, okay?
So as soon as we’re sitting in that manner then let’s set our intention, why are we meditating? What are we right here for? So I’ll simply allow you to try this for a second. It actually helps to tune into our goal. Typically we neglect our goal once we come to sit down down. We simply know, ‘it’s time, oh it’s time to meditate’. We sit down, we begin meditating and we will’t even keep in mind what we’re doing right here, you recognize? And that by no means results in a great meditation. So what I’d such as you to do while you sit down is all the time be like, ‘okay, right here’s why I’m meditating’, or ‘right here’s, you recognize… I’m now meditating’, is the purpose, proper? ‘I’m doing a factor, so I’m absolutely right here’.
Good. After which what we’re going to do tonight is, to start with, we’re going to do considered one of my favourite standbys, considered one of my favourite metaphors for meditating; we’re going to meditate just like the sky. So simply develop into the sky. Huge, open, completely clear, brilliant sky, okay?
So what’s fascinating concerning the sky and why we meditate just like the sky is that there’s no, nothing bothers the sky. There could be planes flying by it, there’s all types of birds flying by it, there’s noises in it, there’s clouds, there’s climate, there’s rain; however none of that bothers the sky. The sky is all the time unruffled, undisturbed, utterly peaceable and huge and spacious; there’s room for every thing within the sky. So I would like you to sort of think about or tackle these properties of spaciousness and room and of unruffledness. And this unruffledness doesn’t imply nothing’s taking place, all types of issues could be taking place: all types of thoughts climate, all types of feelings, all types of, you recognize, emotions about this or arguments in your thoughts about that, or no matter. However none of that disturbs the sky. So it’s not that the sky has to don’t have anything occurring. It’s that the sky is so huge and so clear and so open that it doesn’t matter what’s occurring, that’s okay. So let’s sit for a short while just like the sky. And similar to the wind comes and goes within the sky, as you’re being the sky right here for a couple of minutes I would like you to simply deal with the breath coming and going.
So that you’re being the sky, you’re being huge and spacious and, not like the sky in all probability–you recognize I’m unsure if the sky is a being or not–however we’re going to say we’re undoubtedly positive that we’re beings. And so we’re going to not solely be huge and spacious however we’re conscious, we’re conscious. And in that huge, spacious consciousness we’re merely permitting the breath to come back and go. Permitting the wave of the breath which is sort of a wind rising and falling, proper? In lots of languages, the phrase for breath and the phrase for wind is strictly the identical phrase. So simply let that breath come and go within the sky of consciousness. Let’s try this now.
Simply persevering with to relaxation because the huge, open sky of consciousness with the wind of the breath rising and falling, rising and falling effortlessly in consciousness. Now if you wish to and solely do that if you wish to, you may change your breath just a bit bit. You may let the breath have longer exhales if that feels snug. You might have an everyday inhale after which just a bit bit longer of an exhale. And I would like you to note the top of that exhale. Don’t pressure it after all, simply wait ‘until it occurs however when it occurs simply discover that it ends. And it’s possible you’ll discover, relying in your breath–it’s completely different for various individuals at completely different occasions of day–however generally they’ll even be sort of a pause there. Like, the lengthy exhale will come to an finish after which there’ll simply be a second the place it’s simply sitting there earlier than the inhale begins. It may not, it may be very quick, very seamless: finish of exhale then – [straight] into the inhale. However generally you do a protracted out-breath after which it simply rests there after which the inhale will begin. So I don’t need you to govern that. I do need you to, if you wish to–you are able to do lengthy out-breaths–however simply watch for the top, watch for the top, watch for the top. After which discover when it arises, and see if there’s a pause or not and if there’s, the size of the pause earlier than the in-breath begins once more. Now we’re simply noticing, however I would like you to be particularly conscious of that. The sky, the thoughts is taking note of how the wind of the breath is transferring.
Do not forget that the sky is huge, the sky is open, the sky is just not bothered by something in any respect. All of the issues can come and go and the breath, the wind of the breath, comes and goes within the sky. And we’re simply permitting that naturally, already current consciousness of the sky to note the breath. The wind of the breath because it rises and falls within the huge, open sky.
Okay, good. Now persevering with to easily be the sky, be the huge, spacious, open consciousness of the sky. Let’s swap our focus from meditating on the wind of the breath transferring by the sky, and as a substitute, we wish to focus now on the wind of ideas transferring by the sky of the thoughts. So ideas are merely transferring by consciousness and we’re conscious of them. We’re not staying utterly uninvolved in the best way that we’d if we had been doing dropping the ball. We are literally meditating on them as an object however we’re staying uninvolved when it comes to the content material. So that you’re not getting caught up in considering, however consciousness is conscious of the considering. The sky of consciousness feels, notices, hears the wind of thought transferring, the wind of thought whistling within the sky. And so we’re really meditating on our considering. And to do that we deal with verbal considering as just a few sound, ‘blah, blah, blah, blah’, or visible considering, if that’s arising, is just a few lights altering. So we’re taking note of it however we’re not participating, we’re not getting caught up within the content material. So the wind of ideas is transferring by the sky of consciousness and we because the sky are unperturbed by the ideas and but we’re meditating upon them. That is taking the thoughts as path: we’re meditating on the stream of thought with out altering it in any manner.
Once more, merely letting the stream of ideas, the wind of ideas transfer by with out actually participating it. And but we’re nonetheless specializing in it, we’re noticing it, we’re listening to the wind however simply not manipulating it in any respect. Not making an attempt to have good ideas, not making an attempt to have unhealthy ideas, not participating with the ideas in any respect however merely specializing in them, letting them simply–let the winds go.
Now, persevering with to permit consciousness to meditate on the circulate of thought, it’s possible you’ll discover one thing fascinating. Regardless that we’re probably not getting concerned in a deep manner within the content material or following the content material or considering on goal, you recognize, considering is simply ‘occurring’. So I would like you to note that ideas are merely occurring. The wind is blowing within the sky however there doesn’t, you’re probably not making an attempt to suppose: the ideas are simply taking place. And moreover, as we sink deeper into this you’ll discover one thing fascinating and that’s, the ideas may probably not, generally, make that a lot sense. There may be incomplete sentences, there may be garbled ideas. Typically it doesn’t even sound just like the language English, or no matter language you usually suppose in. Typically it’d sound like a number of streams of discuss. It may well get sort of bizarre in there. And what I would like you to do is to not attempt to pressure it to make any sense. Let it’s as fragmented or jumbled or garbled or muddy, when it comes to the content material of the ideas themselves, because it needs. Don’t attempt to make it into logical chains of verbal considering; permit it to be simply as, permit it to be nonetheless it’s really displaying up.
That is a part of the chaos that I used to be describing. Typically the thoughts is kind of a bit extra free and open and incomplete in a manner than we’re usually used to. So simply let it current the way it’s presenting.
Good. Now persevering with to simply relaxation because the huge, open sky of consciousness. Observing, conscious of the stream of ideas as they move. On goal simply permit your self to sort of gently discover the a part of considering that appears probably the most non-linear, damaged up, muddled, incomplete, or jumbled not directly, and simply sort of permit consciousness to note that half extra. So there’ll be elements which can be, you recognize, talking in common sentences and guiding you and considering. However I would like you to go in direction of the stuff that’s probably the most jumbled. And that is simply very, very mild; you’re not jamming gears, switching between. You’re simply very evenly permitting consciousness to be extra conscious of the a part of thought that’s much more non-linear, non-rational, jumbled, damaged up, muddled. And I would like you to simply meditate on that. And let it’s okay that there’s part of the mindstream that’s fairly chaotic, okay? So, and perhaps you’re solely noticing that somewhat bit, or perhaps you’re not even noticing that in any respect. So simply go along with what’s there. I don’t need you to alter the content material on goal. Don’t attempt to change the way you’re considering. That is nearly–sort of like, an instance could be, or a metaphor could be; in case you had been listening to a tune and I stated, “I would like you to simply take heed to the bass guitar in that tune.” The remainder of the tune goes on and also you’re not making a bass guitar occur, you’re simply choosing out that one half and listening. So let’s pick the a part of the mindstream, the a part of considering that’s the most, let’s say chaotic, and simply be okay with that; let it’s there.
Good. Now let’s come again to simply being the sky. Permitting the stream of ideas to maneuver just like the wind by the sky and permitting consciousness to note your complete spectrum, your complete big selection of each sort of thought. Not simply extra narrowly wanting on the one band however somewhat all of the ideas transferring like wind within the sky. Discover that we’re not making an attempt to alter them, we’re not making an attempt to regulate them. The wind will get to blow no matter manner it needs; the various winds get to blow in no matter instructions they need and the sky is just not disturbed. The sky is conscious of the considering however it’s not concerned within the considering and it’s not disturbed in any manner by simply permitting the ideas to circulate. That is our precise thoughts, that is what it does, that’s okay. The sky of consciousness has room, greater than sufficient room, for all these ideas.
Typically it’s simply so nice to let go of all management of considering, all analysis of considering, all critique, all making an attempt to make ideas all the time make sense or be good, or no matter. And simply permit the practice of ideas, or the wind, the circulate of the wind of thought, to simply do no matter it needs and to not intervene with that in any respect. There’s a sort of huge reduction in letting go of that management and letting go of that anxious monitoring and easily to let the ideas do what they need. Chances are you’ll discover that ideas simply occur. There are ideas and not using a thinker, proper? No person’s really in there controlling that. It’s simply taking place and consciousness is conscious of it.
Now let’s let go of that now and easily let go completely of monitoring the circulate of thought and simply come into resting because the open sky, uninvolved with something. We’re simply conscious, vast conscious, huge, spacious, completely accepting. However not even monitoring the breath, not even monitoring the thought. If you wish to you may preserve that kind of wind of the breath rising and falling within the background. However for probably the most half, we’re simply sitting doing nothing.
Typically once we’re simply resting as consciousness, doing nothing, we would like it to be a sure manner, we would like it to be peaceable. However consciousness itself is all the time peaceable. We would like it to make sense or have a sample however consciousness itself doesn’t want that in any respect. It’s huge, it’s spacious, it has room for every thing. We would like it to not be distracted or by some means not be full of upsetting feelings, or no matter. However consciousness isn’t upset. Any feelings can come up and it’s tremendous. So no matter is going on proper now, simply let that be okay, simply let that be okay. Enable the sky of consciousness to simply let every thing be what it’s, with out interfering in any manner. And but completely accepting, not ignoring or denying, accepting every thing, simply as it’s.
Good. Now only for the final second of the meditation right here, the final minute or so, I would like you to, on goal, to ship out this peace that you just’re feeling. Any peace in any respect that you just’re feeling, ship it out to the entire universe. Any sense of pleasure that you just’re feeling, ship it out to the entire universe. Any sense of loving connection and caring about others, ship it out to the universe. And simply let your open coronary heart ship out open-heartedness to each different being in the entire universe.
We nonetheless have issues, we nonetheless have difficulties, we nonetheless have interactions, we’re nonetheless human beings with human issues and but we now have goodwill. We now have friendliness, we now have openness, we now have kindness and we’re sending it out to the entire world, leaning into the sunshine, because it had been. And simply radiate that now with as a lot real kindness and real caring and real openness and even playfulness as you may.
Good, so let’s finish the meditation there.
Dharma Discuss
Permitting your self to maneuver and stretch. If you wish to do a pleasant cat stretch, letting your fingers and toes and fingers and ft, or paws because it had been, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch in a manner that feels very nice. Enable your physique to maneuver in no matter manner feels good. Have a drink of water or, you recognize, scotch. No matter feels good proper now, and possibly not Scotch–good, so–but when I did have Scotch I’d have some Highland Park.
So tonight is the total moon and actually, as we’re recording this, let’s see Pacific Time, so about 5 and a half hours from now the moon shall be completely full. So proper now we’re actually feeling that full moon power. And it’s humorous, you recognize, there’s completely different moods on completely different days. At the moment has a particular full moon really feel. And one thing that I talked about with a number of completely different individuals in a number of completely different conversations at this time was the truth that: it was concerning the ‘knowledge thoughts’. We had been speaking concerning the knowledge thoughts. It was simply humorous, I didn’t carry this up, it got here up independently in several conversations. So perhaps this was at this time’s full moon theme, who is aware of? However we had been speaking concerning the knowledge thoughts. And the humorous factor concerning the knowledge thoughts, or what in Sanskrit could be referred to as prajna; in, you recognize, in Buddhism or Hinduism we’d speak about prajna which implies knowledge. However it’s higher translated because the knowledge thoughts as a result of it’s not usually what within the West we’d consider as knowledge, which is like, you recognize, understanding some sensible, deep shit about easy methods to take care of stuff. That’s not precisely what is supposed by the knowledge thoughts. What is supposed by the knowledge thoughts is that the a part of your thoughts that’s linear and rational and sort of put collectively is rather like this floor of the thoughts. It’s the uppermost floor of the thoughts. It’s barely one or two % of your thoughts, proper? It’s a tiny half that’s logical and rational and every thing is smart in a sort of regular manner. And we’d name that simply the common thoughts. However slightly below that’s, you recognize, the dreaming thoughts: the unconscious, the a part of your thoughts that’s non-linear and non-rational and speaks within the language of metaphor and is in a manner, to speak metaphorically now, in a manner is all the time dreaming. And it’s humorous as a result of within the West we don’t actually, I don’t know, we don’t like that a part of our thoughts very a lot as a result of it doesn’t make sense in that standard, linear, rational manner.
In fact, it does make sense in dream logic. It is smart in a metaphorical, related, symbolic manner. However it doesn’t actually work in a linear, rational manner. And so, as a result of we within the West are so centered and provides a lot consideration to and provides a lot credence to being rational and logical and linear, we don’t actually like this different a part of our thoughts very a lot. And so, as you do extra meditation on considering, we’re taking the thoughts as path. However even in case you, there’s alternative ways we will meditate on considering, considered one of them would simply be common previous vipassana on ideas, you recognize? Or as we did tonight, taking the thoughts as path, and simply permitting ideas as we sort of take note of them, and different methods too. As we meditate on considering we discover after some time, you’ll discover that you just’ve bought this predilection to remain within the a part of considering that’s clear, that’s linear, that’s following a sequence, that’s orderly, that’s rational. However you may begin noticing, perhaps even to your dismay, you may begin noticing that there’s an entire lot of non-rational, non-linear thought occurring.
So, after I say that, you may not have a concrete concept of what I imply. So to make it concrete I might say, for instance, the ideas are damaged up; the ideas are garbled just like the language, you recognize, is garbled. Possibly it doesn’t even sound actually like language, it simply seems like sounds, like phonemes. Like, generally it seems like many alternative trains of thought without delay. Typically even when the sentences are full sentences they’re like, they don’t make any sense, you recognize? Regardless that these are all completely respectable English sentences, they’re not, they’re, they’re like a dream. They’re saying one thing that doesn’t actually appear to imply something. So there’s all these various things occurring within the thoughts.
As I stated, it’s like a dream, okay? Or like hypnagogia or hypnopompia, it’s dreamlike, okay? And so it’s possible you’ll discover–you may not however you in all probability will discover that you’ve got a desire. You don’t like that half that’s sort of dream-like. You don’t like that half since you need issues to be clear. And so what we’re doing in these, once we meditate on thought, it’s crucial to let the ideas be as unclear, as non-linear, as non-rational as they need. Simply allow them to do their factor, we’re not making an attempt to regulate them in any manner. And the very first thing most individuals discover is like, ‘whoa it’s, you recognize, it’s somewhat bizarre, there’s all… you recognize’. However after some time, in case you simply let it occur, you don’t attempt to management it, don’t attempt to pressure it to make sense, don’t attempt to pressure it to talk in correct sentences, or no matter. After some time, you’ll discover one thing fascinating taking place which is that that feels actually good for some cause. It’s an actual reduction, it’s an actual load off: take a load off, it’s an actual load off. Why is that? Why does that really feel so good? It feels so good as a result of we’re not controlling the thoughts, we’re simply letting it’s itself for as soon as. Simply letting it breathe simple, letting it take a load off, letting it do what it needs. As an alternative of continually making an attempt to whip it into some sort of synthetic form. ‘I used to be simply letting it’s’.
However in case you work with it much more on this manner, in case you simply sit with it, much more, it will get even deeper. It doesn’t simply really feel good, it’s going to begin to do a humorous factor, a very fascinating factor. You’ll begin to discover that there’s inventive ideas arising. Like, you immediately have a brand new concept for a undertaking otherwise you immediately perceive easy methods to do one thing in a brand new manner otherwise you immediately could have options to issues arising with out you having tried to make an answer occur. You weren’t sitting there fascinated about that however an answer to some downside in your life will simply come up. So there’s a sort of inventive problem-solving factor that simply begins to occur. Now you’re not making an attempt to make that occur. That is once we’re completely simply letting the thoughts do no matter. And it’ll simply, each on occasion, you recognize, not on a regular basis however each as soon as… properly, tremendous inventive ideas, problem-solving ideas will come up.
Now don’t cease your meditation to jot down these down, in the event that they’re vital you’ll keep in mind it. Simply let it go and afterwards you may write it down. So there shall be that stage of, you recognize, inventive problem-solving. However then in case you proceed to work with, you recognize, taking the thoughts as path, meditating on considering, letting the ideas be no matter they wish to be, it’s going to go even deeper. And also you’ll begin to discover you will have perception into your self, like your persona and why you do stuff. You’ll have perception into different individuals, what they really need, what’s their deal? What’s occurring with them? That may be actually, actually – particularly when it’s about ourselves – it may be generally disagreeable. Possibly you don’t wish to see that about your self however will probably be deep, will probably be significant. So that you get insights like, sort of like psychological insights into your self and others. And you’ll’t say why essentially. It’s not like, ‘oh, I immediately perceive this about myself and that is why I do know that’. Once more, it’s simply offered as a fait accompli; it’s like increase, right here’s this perception. However while you go to work with that perception it’s going to ring true, it’ll really work.
So we now have sort of this inventive downside fixing after which we now have these psychological insights. After which much more deeply we now have insights in, properly, non secular insights. Insights into the deepest questions on life: who am I? What’s the which means of life? That sort of stuff. It is also, these solutions aren’t logical, they’re not rational, they don’t make that sort of sense. They make sense on this different manner, the dream logic, this non-linear, open-minded sort of sense. And all non secular traditions, particularly mystical or meditative traditions, actually agree on this level. It’s like, that kind of dreaming thoughts, the deep thoughts or what we’re calling the knowledge thoughts speaks this different language, the language of metaphor, the language of dream. However you’re going to seek out as you simply permit the thoughts to do this, these very deep, non secular insights come up each on occasion. Not simply inventive ideas like, ‘oh I discovered my screenplay’, and never simply psychological ideas that are deeper, like ‘oh I immediately get this actually clear understanding, a deeper understanding of, you recognize, why I try this factor generally’. However each on occasion we’ll get even these deepest sort of solutions to the questions on life.
In order that’s prajna, that’s the knowledge thoughts and to get there it’s important to permit the thought course of. Once more, whether or not it’s visible thought, the photographs in your thoughts, or verbal ideas, the phrases in your thoughts, it’s important to let it simply do no matter it needs. As a result of in case you management it then you definitely’re forcing it to be this sort of linear, rational factor, okay? So it’s tremendous vital to grasp that we would like the thoughts to, not less than throughout meditation, have this sort of actual freedom, actual acceptance, actual openness. I’m not saying that you just present up for work and begin babbling or, you recognize, making non-linear statements. I’m saying, in your personal meditation you permit the thought course of to simply do no matter it’s going to do, in no matter manner it needs to do, and never management it. And also you’ll discover it has this very deep, very highly effective, and even actually, really lovely feeling while you try this. It feels actually, very nice and it’ll have a strong impact in your life.
So, you recognize, that is intimacy with our personal thoughts. That is, you recognize, the alternative of what we usually do, which is, you recognize, there’s stuff we don’t wish to take into consideration, stuff that’s too scary to come across, stuff that we don’t wish to take care of and we sort of lock it away within the basement of the thoughts and we keep up right here. However what which means is we’re all the time listening to the monsters within the basement and we’re afraid of our personal thoughts, proper? And that’s not a pleasing state of being. We wish to be associates with our personal thoughts, we wish to be intimate, which means actually, actually know deeply our personal thoughts. And to do this we now have to love open the cage door on the basement and let the monsters in and make associates with them, make them tea and have some conversations with these monsters. And generally, particularly in the event that they’ve been in there a very long time – they’ve been locked away a very long time – at first, that may be actually scary and so we solely do it, you recognize, perhaps somewhat bit. However ultimately, you’ll understand that every one the monsters are simply you and so they’re your pals and you may discuss to them, proper?
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