Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 8/5/15 with Jon Aaron

Episode Date: August 4, 2015

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. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center. This week’s session will be led by Jon Aaron. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: http://rma.cm/cf

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 meditation to learn more. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center. This week's session will be led by John Aaron. 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 before I get started, it would be good for me to know how many people here have never meditated. And don't be embarrassed if that's the case. Great. Thanks. How many people here have a regular meditation practice, you know, that practice every day?

How many would call themselves irregular practitioners? Great. So it's an interesting use of the language. And what's also an interesting use of language is this word mindfulness, which is the translation of a word from the Buddhist time, the word being sati, S-A-T-I, which is in the language of Pali, which was the language that all the original teachings of the Buddha were given in.

So sati actually means much, much more. And I was talking to a friend who was just on retreat with the well-known teacher, Christina Feldman, and Christina was saying that there should be three words which remain in that language as opposed to being translated into English. Sati being one of them, which can be translated into mindfulness.

Babana, which is really the closest word to meditation. It actually means the collecting of energy and the collecting of mind. And metta, which is the word for loving-kindness, that we translate into loving-kindness. All three of those words have much, much broader meanings, particularly mindfulness, than we're used to sort of thinking about. And I thought I would just talk about several of those meanings of the word sati

because they're related to what we'll be doing in a few minutes. And the best way of doing that is by using some imagery large bowl, not something like this, but much larger. On his head, a bowl of oil. And he's walking through a very, very busy village square. And behind him is a man with a very sharp sword and if he drops a drop of oil the man with the sharp sword will cut his head off so this is one image of Saki which is obviously related to concentration and focus so that regardless of what's going around this man with the oil on his head, the bowl of oil on his head, he's going to

maintain his focus because otherwise his head will be gone and he won't have to worry about the oil anymore. I don't have a sword with me so don't worry. The other two images, one is of a man riding on a cart, a horse-drawn cart, and he's really sort of aware of everything around him. So it's a much broader awareness, a much broader focus. So think of it as a laser light or a floodlight. And the third image is of a man guarding the palace door. And this guard is only letting in people that are appropriate and people that are useful. So we're sort of guarding the mind.

And that can refer to any number of things. It can be referring to guarding the sense doors. It can be also referring to not entertaining thoughts which are not skillful. So those are three images, just to keep in mind, which represent aspects of mindfulness. And there are actually four or five more. So this definition of mindfulness, which in sort of modern parlance we refer to as present moment awareness without judgment, is actually much broader than that. Now the other aspect of today that we're focusing on is beginner's mind,

which is actually a Zen term, but it's a really great term. And I'll just quote one of the great Zen teachers, Shinra Suzuki, who says, if your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner's mind are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few. So there are a couple of things in that. First off, the empty mind.

Now, the practice of meditation, if we think of it as emptying our mind, can be a really slippery slope. The mind will empty, that is, it will become quiet when we allow it to become quiet. And one of the mistakes or misconceptions that people make when they first come to practice is the idea of stopping their thoughts. Now, I challenge you to stop your thoughts. In fact, I challenge you to tell me what your next thought is going to be. You do not know what your next thought is going to be.

So if you try to stop your thoughts, you're just going to create more thoughts on the other hand once we start to realize that these thoughts are just coming and going and we don't necessarily have to attend to them then our relationship to those thoughts changes and the mind quiets down and actually will have a feeling of emptiness or fullness depending on how you look at it so you know as we all come to each experience as beginners if we if we don't come to an experience as a beginner then we're actually not experiencing whatever it is fully so since we're in an art museum I have this wonderful quote by the artist Jean Moreau. He says, if you have any notion of where you are going, you will never get anywhere. Think about that. If you have any notion about where you are going, you will never get anywhere. So we're curious about each moment. Every moment is a surprise. And

that's whether we're meditating or whether we're just going about our daily lives. If we treat every moment as a surprise, that is, every moment as if we've never experienced that moment before, which you haven't, then you'll be open to whatever arises. And that really changes one's relationship to life. Just that simple perspective. And when you're sitting, as we will do, in short order, especially those of you that haven't had this experience before,

your mind is going to more than likely get caught up in some kind of planning or thinking about something you did earlier in the day or some memory will arise from back in your life or something will arise. It's the moment of noticing that arising in the mind that you're actually paying attention.

Once you notice that it's come up in the mind, then you come back to what we call the primary object of awareness. So this primary object of awareness, most people find the easiest primary object of awareness to be the sensation of our breath, because we're always breathing as long as we're alive. The other anchor, which is present to us all the time, is this, this body.

So we anchor the awareness in the body and the breath. Because the body and the breath are always in the present moment. It's the only thing we have that's always in the present moment. It's the only thing we have that's always in the present moment. As soon as we get caught up in thought, we're actually no longer in the present moment. We may be thinking about the present moment or having some opinion about the present moment,

but we're not actually in the present moment. So we just come back to the breath and the body. We observe thoughts arising and passing. We observe sounds arising and passing. We may observe other sensations arising and passing. We observe sounds arising and passing. We may observe other sensations arising and passing. But we rest the awareness in this sensation of the breath and the body. So I'm going to guide a sit, and we'll sit for about 20 minutes. If you feel so inclined, you might take your shoes off

because it gives you a more rooted position with the floor. But if not, don't worry about that that also may affect the olfactory sense for some people I don't know just keep that in mind and the other thing is you do want to have your feet if possible flat on the floor so if you need to move up in the chair a bit these are not the best chairs for this practice but it's it's what we have they They're comfortable chairs. And you want to have a posture which is really upright, which is really balanced, so that your ears are above your shoulders and your shoulders are directly above your hips, and

the weight of your torso is really coming directly into the sit bones. And you can sort of rock back and forth and side to side to see that it's balanced on your sit bones. And just find a comfortable place for your hands. Unlike the Zen traditions, the earlier traditions, as they're taught in this country at least, we're more concerned about having a comfortable place for your hands as opposed to a specific way of holding your hands. But generally on your thighs or your knees or cupped together. And your head can be upright,

and your chin just tucked in a little bit to extend the neck. And you can either close the eyes completely or just have a soft gaze on the floor. And just start simply by noticing what the state of the mind is right now, what thoughts are floating around, whether the mind is constricted or open, what the mood of the mind is.

Is it anxious? Is it curious? Without having to change anything, you're just observing how it is in this moment. There may be thoughts resonating from something I just said. Just be aware of that. And dropping into the body and noticing if there's any tension being held in the body. We often will hold tension in the shoulders, in the lower jaw, around the eyes, the forehead. Sometimes simply by bringing attention to that, by noticing that we're holding tension, it will release on its own. If not, you may just need to consciously

move the jaw a bit, relax the shoulders. Just feeling the sensations in the forehead and around the eyes. Letting the eyes just fall back. Softening the belly. So we have a firm back and a soft front. Feeling the support of the floor, the contact with the floor, the contact with the chair. We see that there's very little or no effort required to sit, to be supported by the chair, to be supported by the floor. There's no effort required to know that sitting is happening.

We know sensations of pressure and texture and weight. Just noticing the sensation of the breath as it enters the body. And that sensation is generally felt most vividly either at the tip of the nose or inside the nose or in the chest or abdomen, the rising and falling of the chest or abdomen. And you might even take a couple of deep and deliberate breaths just to be breathed. Receiving each breath. and the sensations of the out-breath. Dropping any expectation about how one is supposed to feel, what the experience is supposed to be,

and simply being present with the experience of each in-breath and the experience of each out-breath. As soon as you notice that the mind has been drawn away by a thought or some other sensation. Just be aware of that. Give yourself credit for noticing and gently come back to the sensation without having to change anything. Gullfors sted. Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, 1. Takk for ating med. Gullforskjell So with the sensation of the breath in the forefront of our awareness, we will no doubt notice thoughts and other sensations just in the background, but we rest easily with the sensation of the breath, with the sensation of the body. And when one of those other sensations pops into the foreground, we recognize that and then come back to the sensation of the breath. Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gulland, Gullfors sted. Gullfj sted. Just noticing where the mind is.

It's gone off, which is not unusual. Gently coming back to the sensation of the breath, sensations of the body. Gullfors sted. Takk for ating med. Gullfors sted. So when I ring the bell, I'm going to suggest that you very quietly transition from sitting to standing and really attend to everything that's involved in that transition. We usually ignore transitions, but mostly our life is nothing but transitions. So here's a very clear case of shifting postures from sitting to standing. And just coming to a standing posture in front of your chair. And finding a posture where your feet are just hip distance apart, and again a posture of balance so that your ears are directly above your shoulders, shoulders above your hips. And if you can keep your eyes closed, that's great.

If not, just again gazing at the floor in front of you. And just knowing the body standing. Feeling the full contact of the floor and the weight of the body supported easily by the two feet. And just gently scanning up the body from the feet all the way up to the head. The knees just slightly unlocked. Notice if you happen to be holding your breath. And then relaxing into the posture and being fully present with that sensation of the breath. Gullfors sted. You may notice little subtle movements as the body keeps itself in balance. Gullfors sted.... .

. . . . . . . .

.. And then transitioning back credit for showing up. It's an act of generosity. It's an act of kindness for yourself. And in bringing that generosity and kindness to yourself, it extends to everybody you have contact with. It's shared with everybody that you have contact with. And having gratitude for all the other people in this space right now, which also helps support your practice, that's an act of generosity. You are supporting them, and they are supporting you.

So may the merit of our practice this afternoon, may that merit be shared with all beings without exception. May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering, free from fear and the causes of fear. May all beings be free, and may all beings find peace. Thank you all. 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.