Sati, an introduction
To practice Sati means to bring the attention to what you are doing right now. That is the whole of the practice, that and the skills required to bring us to a place where we can rest in the moment and see clearly our true nature.
It would seem to be a very easy thing, just to know what we are doing, right here and now, but in fact mind is constantly moving away from what is happening now. There is an habitual attempt to gain relationship with something other than the present moment; something from the past or something in the future. The reason for this is that our idea of our self depends on relationship. It depends on an understanding of who we are, based on something in the past (people in the past, attitudes and opinions), or something projected forward into the future as a goal, which we then strive for. Mind is constantly jumping away from the present moment. We strive to be better, we strive to improve ourselves, not to have so much pain or to have more fun, and all this activity and distraction of mind takes us away from what is actually happening.
In truth, there is only one important thing happening and that is whatever you are doing right now you are either with it or you are not. The function of Sati training is to give you the skills to be with it.
Sati works through the physical base, acknowledging and exploring the intrinsic relationship between body and mind. Mind and body are inseparable; your emotional and mental states are entirely dependent upon your physical condition. You cannot feel anxious, afraid or happy unless you have the physical basis to experience that. Every experience comes through the body; indeed all consciousness arises out of it. The quality of physical behaviour acts as a filter to your experience of what is happening right now and profoundly influences your knowledge and understanding of the world, culture and the people in it. Sati training therefore, is based in the body and its activities.
If I was talking to you whilst in an awkward posture, my experience of what is happening and your experience of me would be very different. My emotional condition would be changed. As the breath pattern altered, my face would change shape and the thinking processes would change shape as well. Your response to me would be different because I was behaving in a different way toward you. Your posture is expressing your mental and emotional condition also, to which everybody else is responding.
What matters is that you understand what is going on, and can see what you are doing that insulates you from the experience of what is really happening in any moment. We all need contact, we need to connect. Whether it is with a flower or a person or an idea, we want to feel that we are one with it. We want to let go of our separateness and merge with the experience of the moment, uncluttered by attitudes and opinions.
When you feel separated, mind has pulled away from sense contact and you experience the suffering of distance and insulation. Then you feel that you have to find a way of getting back. It is a mistake to think that meditation is something you do to make yourself a better person. It suggests that you have to climb a huge mountain in order to have the experience of being clear and free, but in truth there is no distance to cover at all. All you have to do is let go of the idea that you are separate and unchanging.
Our natural state is well and happy and free from fear, and the things that we need to let go of are mere shadows; shadows of belief in an untransitory self that is distant from everything.
We must be at rest physically to see and understand what we truly are and to be able to experience direct contact. You can tell yourself time and time again that you should feel peaceful and calm but nothing changes, because the physical habit remains. It is not going to happen by saying peace, peace, peace. Until you change physically, there is not going to be a change.
Sati gives you the tools to see yourself more clearly and the games you play. When you are happy and your body is at rest, your breathing is centred here in the belly. Like a baby breathes, you will breathe free of attitude, status and opinion.
It is not an attempt to make you a better person but to give you the skills to see from the place where you are already clear. Within you there is already a clear, bright being; a being that is happy and well and free from fear. We must give some time and energy to see what is really going on, rather than depend on the assumptions we have inherited from old insecurities, opinions and conditionings.
You have the choice as to how you wish to lead your life. By choosing to let the body relax you are committing to a way of ease. The way of meditation is no more than that. The main thing is that you find the way that works for you. Sati requires only that we let breathing breathe, that we let go and see fully what is really going on.
To practice Sati means to bring the attention to what you are doing right now. That is the whole of the practice, that and the skills required to bring us to a place where we can rest in the moment and see clearly our true nature.
It would seem to be a very easy thing, just to know what we are doing, right here and now, but in fact mind is constantly moving away from what is happening now. There is an habitual attempt to gain relationship with something other than the present moment; something from the past or something in the future. The reason for this is that our idea of our self depends on relationship. It depends on an understanding of who we are, based on something in the past (people in the past, attitudes and opinions), or something projected forward into the future as a goal, which we then strive for. Mind is constantly jumping away from the present moment. We strive to be better, we strive to improve ourselves, not to have so much pain or to have more fun, and all this activity and distraction of mind takes us away from what is actually happening.
In truth, there is only one important thing happening and that is whatever you are doing right now you are either with it or you are not. The function of Sati training is to give you the skills to be with it.
Sati works through the physical base, acknowledging and exploring the intrinsic relationship between body and mind. Mind and body are inseparable; your emotional and mental states are entirely dependent upon your physical condition. You cannot feel anxious, afraid or happy unless you have the physical basis to experience that. Every experience comes through the body; indeed all consciousness arises out of it. The quality of physical behaviour acts as a filter to your experience of what is happening right now and profoundly influences your knowledge and understanding of the world, culture and the people in it. Sati training therefore, is based in the body and its activities.
If I was talking to you whilst in an awkward posture, my experience of what is happening and your experience of me would be very different. My emotional condition would be changed. As the breath pattern altered, my face would change shape and the thinking processes would change shape as well. Your response to me would be different because I was behaving in a different way toward you. Your posture is expressing your mental and emotional condition also, to which everybody else is responding.
What matters is that you understand what is going on, and can see what you are doing that insulates you from the experience of what is really happening in any moment. We all need contact, we need to connect. Whether it is with a flower or a person or an idea, we want to feel that we are one with it. We want to let go of our separateness and merge with the experience of the moment, uncluttered by attitudes and opinions.
When you feel separated, mind has pulled away from sense contact and you experience the suffering of distance and insulation. Then you feel that you have to find a way of getting back. It is a mistake to think that meditation is something you do to make yourself a better person. It suggests that you have to climb a huge mountain in order to have the experience of being clear and free, but in truth there is no distance to cover at all. All you have to do is let go of the idea that you are separate and unchanging.
Our natural state is well and happy and free from fear, and the things that we need to let go of are mere shadows; shadows of belief in an untransitory self that is distant from everything.
We must be at rest physically to see and understand what we truly are and to be able to experience direct contact. You can tell yourself time and time again that you should feel peaceful and calm but nothing changes, because the physical habit remains. It is not going to happen by saying peace, peace, peace. Until you change physically, there is not going to be a change.
Sati gives you the tools to see yourself more clearly and the games you play. When you are happy and your body is at rest, your breathing is centred here in the belly. Like a baby breathes, you will breathe free of attitude, status and opinion.
It is not an attempt to make you a better person but to give you the skills to see from the place where you are already clear. Within you there is already a clear, bright being; a being that is happy and well and free from fear. We must give some time and energy to see what is really going on, rather than depend on the assumptions we have inherited from old insecurities, opinions and conditionings.
You have the choice as to how you wish to lead your life. By choosing to let the body relax you are committing to a way of ease. The way of meditation is no more than that. The main thing is that you find the way that works for you. Sati requires only that we let breathing breathe, that we let go and see fully what is really going on.
it starts with letting go