Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 12/07/2016 with Kate Johnson

Episode Date: January 4, 2017

Every Wednesday, the Rubin Museum of Art presents a meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of the weekly practice. If you would like to attend in person, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation to learn more. Presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and the Interdependence Project. Kate Johnson led this meditation session on December 7, 2016. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: http://bit.ly/2ni4Vjx

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast. I'm your host, Dawn Eshelman. Every Wednesday at the Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea, we present a meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of our weekly practice. If you would like to join us in person, please visit our website at rubinmuseum.org slash meditation. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the teachers from the Interdependence Project. In the description for each episode, you will find information about the theme for that week's session, including an image of a related artwork chosen from the Rubin Museum's permanent collection.

And now, please enjoy your practice. So Kate is our teacher today, and it's great to have her back. She teaches mindful yoga in New York City public schools and Buddhist meditation at the Interdependence Project. She holds a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School at Fordham University and an MA in performance studies from NYU. She's trained at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, Laughing Lotus, and the Presencing Institute. And she's working on a book right now about waking up to power and oppression as a spiritual practice, which will be published in the fall of 2017 by Parallax Press. Please welcome her back, Kate Johnson. Hey, good afternoon.

It's nice to be back here. And yeah, working with this theme of gratitude, And yeah, working with this theme of gratitude, which turning towards that feels a little bit refreshing for my heart and mind at this moment in time. I was talking with Dawn a little bit before the meditation and around this idea of working with a theme like gratitude, even when there might be difficulty for us individually during the holiday season or difficulty for us kind of collectively, socially and politically. That, you know, in most of my life, I work with students in public schools.

I work with teachers, some activists and organizers and people who do service, and how easy it is for all of us to get flooded at times. So it's really a practice that invites us into a balance of attention and a shift from kind of an obsession with getting what we want to shifting and allowing us to be, I guess, a shift from trying to get what we want to a shift to wanting what we have and the ability to appreciate what we have, to actually notice what we have.

we have to actually notice what we have. So I was excited to be sitting under the goddess Vasudhara and this embodiment of the earth and the fertility of the earth and the support of the earth. And it made me think that it might be good to talk a little bit about the relationship between gratitude and generosity. Certainly when I look at the earth and what it provides and what it patiently withstands, it seems like just the most incredible expression of generosity I could think of, right? incredible expression of generosity I could think of, right? The kind of abundance of the seasons, the generous and kind of patient offering of resources, and beauty.

And so to reflect on what, just like the goodness of the earth itself and all that I've gained from it brings up in me this feeling of gratitude, of appreciation, and of abundance that in turn allows me to feel generous. Like this recognition of all that we've received and the feeling of having enough actually can be the ground for giving. And certainly we've seen that recently in places like Standing Rock, where thousands of people, indigenous people,

but also allies have shown up in this place to stand up in support of the earth, which can't speak for itself in the same way that we can. And many, many more people have shown support in other ways. And so today the practice that I was hoping to lead would include a contemplation of the generosity of the earth itself. And we'd start actually by reflecting on our gratitude for just this earthly body that we have and in all its imperfections, the gifts that it affords us. This is what the Buddha talked about sometimes as a practice that's called gladdening the mind. So I'm starting with a sense of appreciation for just the simple opportunity to be alive in this moment.

And then we'll shift into a period of time of working with the breath just as a way to gather and unify the attention and instill the mind and heart. And we'll conclude the practice today with a few minutes of contemplation around the generosity of the earth and pulling up a sense of gratitude that might be a foundation for our own generosity. Does that sound okay? Okay. So I'll invite you to find started your practice. Letting your feet be flat on the floor if possible, letting the hands rest. These busy hands can invite them to relax and settle on your lap or touching each other and folded. back be lifted and upward reaching.

Think about the back as being like the stem of a flower. So it's not rigid, but it's upward moving. Perhaps thinking of the head as easily balanced as a bloom is on top of a flower stem. And letting the seat and the legs be like roots that dive deep into the earth. We'll just shift the attention from one that is outward looking, where we spend most of our day getting our information and starting to tap into a sense of feeling, you know, what does it feel like to be in this body at this moment? Sensing the bones of the body.

sensing the bones of the body, sometimes called the earth element of the body. I'm letting this earth element, heaviness, solidity, structure, rest on the feeling of earth. You might notice the warmth of the body, the fire element of the body. All of the metabolic processes going on inside letting your mind to rest on this fire element for a moment Same element as the body, the felt sense of the fluidity inside. The rivers and tributaries of our circulatory system. Letting your mind rest for a few moments with the water element. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Turning your attention now to the air element of the body, the breath body. Breathing. The inhalations and exhalations that energize all of our cells. This phenomena of breath that we share with all of life. Turning with a sense of appreciation for this air element present in the body Thank you. And finally, reflecting on the element of space inside the body, how even though the body up here is solid, that science tells us the body is actually mostly space.

Seeing if it's possible with your awareness to sense into the spacious quality of the body. This is also an earthly quality. Thank you. And before we turn to settle with the feeling of breath for a few minutes, just inviting you to reflect on the miracle of this body and all of its elements, all of its functions, with a sense of appreciation and gratitude. So certainly it's not always perfect. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it doesn't do what we want. Connecting with a sense though that this body just wants to be healthy and live.

It's doing the best it can with that. So letting the innocence of that kind of warm our hearts. and then allowing your awareness to gather at the heart space at the feeling of breath there we'll stay here for the bulk of the meditation today today. As you breathe in noticing what it feels like to breathe in. As you breathe out, noticing what it feels like to breathe out. And you can actually say to yourself, breathing in and breathing out as a way to encourage the mind to stay with that experience so that it has a chance to gather and settle Thank you. Thank you. And from time to time, the mind will get a little fuzzy or wander to consider something else. And when it does, just bring it back to feeling whatever breath you're on with a sense of appreciation, as if this is a gift that we receive every few moments.

Practicing appreciating what we have in this gift of this one breath. All that's possible because of it. Thank you. Thank you. every so often refreshing our attention on the breath, our willingness to feel it, our attitude of gratitude and appreciation, this delicate line of breath that connects us to our life. Thank you. Thank you for watching. So you don't have to worry if you miss a couple breaths in there. Just try not to miss this one. Thank you. Thank you. And in these last five or six minutes of practice, I'll guide a contemplation of the elements

as they appear outside the body, and the opportunity to appreciate them. So I'm moving the awareness again, and first, bringing your attention to the ground element of the earth itself. We forget that we're on this big globe hurtling through space, hugging us gently with the force of gravity. It's taking a moment to bring your awareness and appreciation to the vastness of this land mass that we're sitting on now.

produces food, supports homes, cycles of birth and growing and aging and dying just to be born again the next spring. Letting a sense of appreciation and gratitude for the ground itself arise. And reflecting for a few moments on the generosity of the fire element, the heat that's heating up this building, the warmth of the sun. Perhaps a sense of wonder and appreciation for this fire element in our world. Considering now the water element has become such a precious resource. Letting that preciousness be a source for gratitude and appreciation. You can't get very far without water. Considering the rains, considering the rivers and oceans, snow-peaked mountains, puddles. Taking a moment to appreciate the air element, the delicate ozone layer and the particular

composition of air that makes it possible for all of life to keep living. Appreciation for this. And considering space, the vastness of the universe, And considering space, the vastness of the universe, the space within each element that we think is solid, sense of appreciation and wonder at the element of space. And then just reflecting on the last half hour of practice, if there are any moments that you can recall feeling this sense of gratitude well up in relationship to your own body,

in relationship to your own body, in relationship to your breath, in relationship to the wonders of this planet that we inhabit. Reflecting on this gratitude as a form of love. As a platform for a feeling of generosity. See if there's any naturally arising ideas or inspirations, ways that you'd like to return the generosity of the earth. Gifts of time or attention or action. Seeing if anything comes up. and then go ahead and let that contemplation kind of dissolve and perhaps taking a few deep breaths taking this last moment or two of practice to just appreciate yourself for your time that you dedicated today to cultivating your mind and heart, serenity, connection,

and connecting with the wish that our practice together today really be of benefit to all beings. So thank you for giving that a try. It's a variation on the traditional Theravada Buddha's practice around noticing the elements of the body and the elements of the earth and having the same root. So I hope that was useful for you. Thank you very much for your practice today.

It was good to see you. Thank you. That concludes this week's practice. If you'd like to attend in person, please check out our website, rubinmuseum.org slash meditation to learn more. Sessions are free to Rubin Museum members, just one of the many benefits of membership. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day. you