Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lavina Shamdasani 05/25/2023

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

Theme: Change Artwork: Leg Bone Trumpet (Kang Ling); Tibet; 18th century; human bone, copper, coral, leather; Rubin Museum of Art; gift of Robert and Lois Bayilshttp://therubin.org/36tTeacher: Lavina Shamdasani  The Rubin Museum of Art presents a weekly meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area, with each session focusing on a specific work of art. This podcast is recorded in front of a live audience, and includes an opening talk, a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion.The guided meditation begins at 12:38.This meditation is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg, teachers from the NY Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine.  If you would like to attend Mindfulness Meditation sessions in person or learn more, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation.If you would like to support the Rubin Museum and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member and always attend for free.  Have a mindful day!

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Art. We are a museum in Chelsea, New York City that connects visitors to the art and ideas of the Himalayas and serves as a space for reflection and personal transformation. I'm your host, Tashi Chodron. Every Thursday, we present a meditation session inspired by a different artwork from the Rubin Museum's collection and led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice. In the description for each episode, you will find information about the theme for that week's session, including an image of the

related artwork. Our Mindfulness Meditation Podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Inside Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine, and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. And now, please enjoy your practice. Good afternoon, everyone. Tashi Delik. And welcome.

Welcome to the return of mindfulness meditation with Ruben Museum of Art. My name is Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador. I'm so happy to be your host today. So we are a Museum of Himalayan Art and Ideas in New York City. So we are a Museum of Himalayan Art and Ideas in New York City, and we're so glad to have all of you join us for this weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired from our collection, we will first take a look at work of art from our collection. We will hear a brief talk from our teacher, and we're so happy to have our teacher, Lavina Shyamdasani back again. And then you will hear a brief talk about 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. And then let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. Each month we have a theme. So for those of you who are first time and the theme connects to most recent exhibit or something special occasion.

And so this theme is change, and the theme is connected to the most recent exhibit called Death is Not the End, which is a cross-cultural exhibition that explores notions of death and afterlife through the art of Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity. And so the art that is beautifully selected by our teacher is this thing called a leg bone trumpet. As you see here, it's very beautiful, a direct connection to change, right? So this is a Thai bone trumpet. In Tibetan, it's called keng ling.

Keng basically means leg or thigh. Ling is flute, but more closer to like trumpet, right? So therefore, you see here, it's called Thai bone trumpets. And they are originally made out of human Thai bone or sometimes copper or silver used in Indian and Tibetan tantric Buddhism. This Kangling is a 19th century, later 18 to early 19th century human bone,

as you see here. And it's copper with beautiful turquoise and coral, including a patch of leather. This is a gift of Bob and Louise Bailey's. Out of the four enlightened activities, Thai bone trumpet is related to wrathful or subjugating activity. The Buddhist practitioners who engage in the practice of chit, cutting the ego, uses this implement such as this during their meditation and rituals. These yogis visualize while reciting verses and mantras of a tantric ritual that they kind of visualize dismantling and cutting of their own body and making offerings to spirits. So this is the most powerful, compassionate way of giving yourself or letting go, which in return helps you detach from all the attachment, which is considered bringing so much suffering in oneself

when you are grasping attachment. All of that is considered an obstacle to gaining enlightenment. So now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Lavina Shandasani. Lavina is duly certified to teach Compassion Cultivation Training, CCT, through the Center of Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at the Stanford School of Medicine and Compassion Institute. She's also trained in positive psychology coaching fundamentals through the Whole Being

Institute. Lavina has taught CCT, self-compassion, led book club discussions and meditations at the Tibet House US, the Trinity School, and the Rubin Museum. Her aim is to help others cultivate inner peace and unlock their potential and purpose to find lasting joy. Thank you so much, Lavina, for being here.

Please help me in welcoming Lavina. Thank you so much, Tashi, and to the Rubin Museum for welcoming me back today. It's truly an honor to be here practicing mindfulness meditation with all of you. Thank you for taking the time to be here practicing mindfulness meditation with all of you. Thank you for taking the time to be here and practice together. And I just want to say that I'm learning alongside you to make each day better through practice. And as Tashi told us, the theme for the month is change.

So let's take a little closer look at change, beginning with external change, change that we can control, change that we are constantly reacting to on a day-to-day basis, that we really feel at the mercy of. Change or impermanence is the cornerstone of the Buddhism practice, Buddhist teachings. In fact, Buddhism says that the only thing that is permanent is indeed impermanence. And yet we meet this change. We know this in our lived experience. Everything is changing. We are changing.

And yet we meet this change with emotional suffering. And so why? Why do we meet change with emotional suffering? It's because we identify with certain things that we've worked towards, friendships, relationships, jobs, income, as me or mine. And when we are threatened with change, we feel like we might lose what defines us. In fact, we cling so tightly, as Tashi mentioned, clinging to this illusion of what we think is ours. And this narrow mindset fueled by me, mine, and as Tashi pointed out, dismantling the ego, putting the ego at the center really puts us at the very center of change. We take change so

personally that we have these afflictive emotions that get created like jealousy, anger, hatred, and they really create havoc within us. If we can only remain open, we might find that just as some doors are closing, many more are indeed opening. In fact, that's inherent in the definition of change. Closed doors open. And so what do we do to distract ourselves from this sort of emotional suffering? We keep ourselves busy, move from one activity to the other. We feel convinced that regular shots of pleasure are going to help us alleviate the suffering, but they dissipate so quickly and we're back to our baseline dissatisfaction. As the Vietnamese monk reminds us, Thich Nhat Hanh,

it's not impermanence that necessarily leads to suffering. What makes us suffer is us wanting permanence when it doesn't exist. us suffer is us wanting permanence when it doesn't exist. So looking at internal change for a moment, what if we could change ourselves to meet external change with calm, awareness, emotional balance? Would we want that? Do we want to free ourselves from this unsettled conflict every day. And wishing for that is not enough. We have to practice. So just like Tashi pointed out, they have the true tradition of dismantling the ego, actually taking a few moments to sit with yourself in silence every day

to connect with yourself, to really see what's going on. You might be able to interrupt habitual thought patterns and actually change your perspective, not put yourself quite at the center and feel victimized by change. Mindfulness meditation can help us get there, but nothing is done without some effort. No skill is learned without some effort, so we have to practice. In fact, we spend so much time trying to improve the external circumstances of our life, when really, truly, it's the mind that shapes our experience of our life. that shapes our experience of our life. It's the mind that takes in,

translates whether we are indeed in well-being or in suffering. So if we can transform the mind and change our perspectives, we can free ourselves from this emotional suffering and really improve the quality of our lives. So I'm going to share with you just this one minute story, small moment story about a woman named Maya. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. She was about to head over to Central Park to meet a few friends for a walk, as I'm sure many of us do. I do that. And, you know, Maya takes great pride in how she looks. She had on that soft dewy makeup look, the latest athleisure clothing, and she are ready to go looking forward to this

walk. And I want to let you in on a little secret. Maya didn't know this, but the universe had a basket of joy waiting for Maya on this beautiful walk that she was going to go on. It's literally on the path that she was about to walk on. You know, the universe is always giving. Maya leaves her building, gets onto the sidewalk, and there's a delivery boy on a bicycle who, you know, goes right into a puddle, splashes Maya head to foot with Mark, and her whole sort of outfit, makeup, everything's ruined. She screams after the bicyclist, but he's long gone, doesn't even know what he's done. And Maya sort of wonders what she should do with herself. She calls her friends, says she's going to be a

few minutes late, goes back into her apartment, quickly changes. She does make it out to Central Park, but you know, she's hysterical. She's really upset. She's telling her friends what happened to her. And everyone sort of focused on Maya and this narrow sort of why me perspective that she was sharing with her friends. And one led to the other. She remembered what had happened to her on Monday and Tuesday. And, oh, it was a terrible week for Maya. Terrible.

Do you think she saw that basket of joy? No. Completely missed it. And that's what we have to remember not to do. And the reason I'm sharing this quick, small moment story with you is we have the ability to separate ourselves from what we're feeling. There's a part of our awareness that can see, okay, this is happening to me now.

And what do I want to do about it? Do I want to restrict myself and not find all these amazing baskets of joy that are waiting for me every day? So I'm going to invite you to shift your posture as we begin practicing together. Find a comfortable position. One that supports comfort, but also alertness and awakeness.

You can lower your gaze or close your eyes, whatever feels comfortable. We're going to begin with three deep diaphragmatic breaths, breathing in through our nose and exhaling through our mouth, releasing our shoulders on the exhale, really letting go of any residual tension, rushing to get here on time perhaps. Or maybe you've had a difficult morning, just releasing.

And one more deep breath all the way in, expanding our chest and exhaling through the mouth and releasing. And now just breathe normally as you, in and out through your nose. And let your breath settle into its own natural rhythm. Feel the relaxation in your forehead, your jaw, your neck. Feel the relaxation in your shoulders, your torso, your legs.

And bring your attention to your breath. Noticing the body breathing, paying attention perhaps to the inhale, the warm air on the exhale releasing from your nostrils, paying attention to the rise and drop of your chest, air on the exhale releasing from your nostrils paying attention to the rise and drop of your chest and see what comes up for you

are you abiding in a moment of well-being Are you abiding in a moment of well-being? Or is your mind grasping onto a worry, perhaps, a thought, a task? Meet yourself wherever you are with openness, no judgment, simply compassion. If your mind wanders, that's okay. That's what your mind does. Don't feed the thought cycle. Simply release. This is an opportunity for you to understand your habitual thought patterns.

Really get to know where your mind goes. And as one thought dissolves and before another one arises, see if you can just tap into your consciousness, that awareness. This awareness is always with you, always present. And that's the awareness you need to tap into, we need to tap into when we're feeling emotional distress, that watching ourselves from the outside. Just breathe for a few minutes in silence, really connecting with your consciousness. And if your mind is really fixating on one thing that seems to be bothering you, comfort yourself. Maybe put your hand on your heart for comfort. Release. And bring your attention gently

never forcing gently back to the breath Thoughts seemingly come out of nowhere and go nowhere. They have no power. They're just thoughts. They don't define us. And now bring to mind a small moment of difficulty for you. perhaps something or someone that is causing you some unease, some pain. Consider the events that led to this. Really connect into how you feel when you recall this. Hopefully not so great suffering, small moment of suffering.

Really tap into how you feel. And now release the storyline, the who, the what, the where. Let all of that go and just connect with what you're feeling. The emotion you're feeling, the emotion you're feeling. Meet it with kindness and compassion. And see if the intensity of this feeling begins to dissipate gently. See if it diminishes little by little. Know that despite this difficult moment, you are still you.

You are still loved. And you have everything you need to find peace and joy right here within you. Consider that you may not know all of the reasons behind the suffering. behind the suffering. Consider that in some small way, maybe there was a misinterpretation. If someone has brought you this pain, consider that maybe they too are searching for joy

and suffering in some way. And while you might not know right now, consider that there may be a silver lining to this suffering. Perhaps it will strengthen you. Perhaps it will let you receive compassion and offer compassion to others connect with others

help others and thereby bring you joy in return. Really connect with your aspiration to be happy, to find meaning, to find inner peace, and say to yourself, may I be happy. May I be free from suffering.

May I find peace and joy. And hopefully the feeling is dissipating as you sit here and really embrace what comes up. Now I invite you to go to a place of great joy for you. Visualize opening a door and walking into a space that for you represents peace, calm, well-being. It may be a beautiful forest with trickling streams, the vast ocean, the vast ocean,

or the beautiful beach. Really fill in the details for yourself. And connect with how being in this place is making you feel. Any positive emotions, openness, expansion. expansion really connect with all of the positive emotions and as you're here in this place of no judgment and compassion, ask yourself, what do I really want to in my life? life. Really connect with your aspiration to find happiness, meaning, connection, inner peace. And recognize this as a fundamental aspect of your being.

And now releasing any visualization, just taking a moment to enjoy the gift of your body breathing, gift of life. The gift of practicing together. And when you're ready, gently open your eyes. Welcome back to this beautiful room, everyone. Thank you. Thank you so much for that beautiful session, Lavinia, and the wonderful teaching on outer change, inner change, and the beautiful compassion practice. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member at rubinmuseum.org membership.

If you are looking for more inspiring content, please check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. Season two, hosted by Raveena Arora, is out now and explores to transformative power of emotions using a mandala as a guide. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

And to stay up to date with the Rubin Museum's virtual and in-person offerings, sign up for a monthly newsletter at rubinmuseum.org slash enews. I am Tashi Chodron. Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.