Being Present
I find it very interesting, each time I meet a group of people who have not approached this sort of work before, that it surprises them that they cannot let go just when they feel like it and they suddenly realise that they have to learn to let go. It is also a revelation to them that there is all this magic within that is simply not able to come out. It astonishes people to see the difference it makes when you put in place the simple skills of letting go and giving attention to the way that you stand and act in the world. Time and time again this astounds people.
When we are introduced to this way we realise that the magic was within us all the time and that we just had not conceived of it as being ours. It is as though when we are happy it is a gift from the outside, rather than being the quality of who we are within. The sense of inspiration and magic is something that happens quite naturally, daily, if you just remain clear, remain at rest, and step back from owning and possessing and depending on the things outside for your sense of security, your sense of who you are. We knew it as children, yet here we are as adults, feeling under pressure or having burdens, just hoping that something will come from the outside to fulfil us, when all the time it is just there under the surface, within. It is important to recognise these are not tricks you are not learning. It is really about unfolding skills that are inside you and developing those skills in order to apply them to our lives in ways that bring through, by our own efforts, the qualities that we have aspired to.
As we become more mature in the practice it is important for us to keep in touch with the fact that we are not just learning these exercises to acquire them. They have a purpose. The purpose is to bring out those qualities that enable us to remain present; to remain clear in relationship to what is happening right now, rather then stepping back to where we used to be and thus losing touch with where we are really coming from. The present is where all the magic is and where all the empowerment takes place.
It is a very strange thing working with a meditation practice with a western mind and western attitudes. The exercises we are studying and developing are not trying to get us somewhere else. It is about finding the quality inside, so to push or to struggle does not help. If we have difficulty with an exercise it is not resolved by struggling but rather by letting the exercise retrain the body, retrain mind. Judgement and opinion have no relevance. These skills are completely yours, so trying to do them to be better than other people is irrelevant.
When you are working with these exercises it is very much about mind coming to rest, as the body comes to rest. The attention placed into the exercise is the essential ingredient; this is what makes the difference between Sati and forms of practice where the motivation is upon improving the body. It is about stillness and quality of being, rather than the achievement of physical prowess.
It is always valuable to ask yourself the question: is my attention with what I am doing ? As we are sitting here for instance, where is my attention ? Is it with the action, or am I pulling back from the contact ? How is my posture and breathing as I am reading this ? How is it supporting my intention to engage and connect with what I am doing ?
This is very much what the practice is about. Our safety is found in being present and open rather than in out-dated habitual activity. We can enter things in a completely new way and remain balanced and centred.
If you put your attention in the belly and give your attention to what is happening there, there is so much more to learn. If we just give our time and our loving nature to it, we will be educated. This can be difficult because we are so used to working things out rationally. We need to learn that devotion brings us to something bigger inside ourselves, something that we can bow to and be grateful for, something that informs us and gives us direction. You have your external practice to support you, but in the end it is going to come from inside you. So let go and see what happens. Let go and listen to that voice, because it must be strong in you to have got you to this place where you are willing to let go of security and identity.
All you need is to have faith in you.
My teacher treated his students as a training coach for an athletics team might teach potential Olympic athletes. His expectation of us was to do great things, not in the outside world but within ourselves. Recognise that you are here for a purpose and that you are choosing to fulfil that purpose with the support of your practice. It is not about getting rid of headaches or problems; it is about fulfilling your potential. Let go of the idea of fixing problems and start to recognise there is something in you that is bigger. Let go of being closed and small. Gain more confidence in saying: Yes I am going to take that step, even though I do not know where it is going, but because I know where I am coming from. I know that has substance and quality from the experience of my practice.
The training is important; you cannot do it without the training. You can think about it and you can wish for it; but as with athletes, you have to learn to run every day. It is no good running just when you get to the race because you are not prepared. In terms of our lives, we need to run every day, so encourage yourself to do at least 15 minutes practice a day, every day, and gradually let that practice into your life.
What we tend to do is create parameters that we feel comfortable within, when really what we should be doing is creating parameters which are bigger than ourselves, which require us to be stretched rather than enable us to be quietly confident that we can do all this within who we were yesterday. Who on earth would want to be who they were last week, or who they were a year ago or 10 years ago, when there is the opportunity to be who you are right now ? Take that opportunity and enter the opportunity completely, rather than living out of the past.
We did not choose this path to be cosy. We chose this path to be inspired because we were not happy enough with the way things were. Something in us drives us to be bigger. Set your view to the inner horizon, to the vastness of that vista within you.
I find it very interesting, each time I meet a group of people who have not approached this sort of work before, that it surprises them that they cannot let go just when they feel like it and they suddenly realise that they have to learn to let go. It is also a revelation to them that there is all this magic within that is simply not able to come out. It astonishes people to see the difference it makes when you put in place the simple skills of letting go and giving attention to the way that you stand and act in the world. Time and time again this astounds people.
When we are introduced to this way we realise that the magic was within us all the time and that we just had not conceived of it as being ours. It is as though when we are happy it is a gift from the outside, rather than being the quality of who we are within. The sense of inspiration and magic is something that happens quite naturally, daily, if you just remain clear, remain at rest, and step back from owning and possessing and depending on the things outside for your sense of security, your sense of who you are. We knew it as children, yet here we are as adults, feeling under pressure or having burdens, just hoping that something will come from the outside to fulfil us, when all the time it is just there under the surface, within. It is important to recognise these are not tricks you are not learning. It is really about unfolding skills that are inside you and developing those skills in order to apply them to our lives in ways that bring through, by our own efforts, the qualities that we have aspired to.
As we become more mature in the practice it is important for us to keep in touch with the fact that we are not just learning these exercises to acquire them. They have a purpose. The purpose is to bring out those qualities that enable us to remain present; to remain clear in relationship to what is happening right now, rather then stepping back to where we used to be and thus losing touch with where we are really coming from. The present is where all the magic is and where all the empowerment takes place.
It is a very strange thing working with a meditation practice with a western mind and western attitudes. The exercises we are studying and developing are not trying to get us somewhere else. It is about finding the quality inside, so to push or to struggle does not help. If we have difficulty with an exercise it is not resolved by struggling but rather by letting the exercise retrain the body, retrain mind. Judgement and opinion have no relevance. These skills are completely yours, so trying to do them to be better than other people is irrelevant.
When you are working with these exercises it is very much about mind coming to rest, as the body comes to rest. The attention placed into the exercise is the essential ingredient; this is what makes the difference between Sati and forms of practice where the motivation is upon improving the body. It is about stillness and quality of being, rather than the achievement of physical prowess.
It is always valuable to ask yourself the question: is my attention with what I am doing ? As we are sitting here for instance, where is my attention ? Is it with the action, or am I pulling back from the contact ? How is my posture and breathing as I am reading this ? How is it supporting my intention to engage and connect with what I am doing ?
This is very much what the practice is about. Our safety is found in being present and open rather than in out-dated habitual activity. We can enter things in a completely new way and remain balanced and centred.
If you put your attention in the belly and give your attention to what is happening there, there is so much more to learn. If we just give our time and our loving nature to it, we will be educated. This can be difficult because we are so used to working things out rationally. We need to learn that devotion brings us to something bigger inside ourselves, something that we can bow to and be grateful for, something that informs us and gives us direction. You have your external practice to support you, but in the end it is going to come from inside you. So let go and see what happens. Let go and listen to that voice, because it must be strong in you to have got you to this place where you are willing to let go of security and identity.
All you need is to have faith in you.
My teacher treated his students as a training coach for an athletics team might teach potential Olympic athletes. His expectation of us was to do great things, not in the outside world but within ourselves. Recognise that you are here for a purpose and that you are choosing to fulfil that purpose with the support of your practice. It is not about getting rid of headaches or problems; it is about fulfilling your potential. Let go of the idea of fixing problems and start to recognise there is something in you that is bigger. Let go of being closed and small. Gain more confidence in saying: Yes I am going to take that step, even though I do not know where it is going, but because I know where I am coming from. I know that has substance and quality from the experience of my practice.
The training is important; you cannot do it without the training. You can think about it and you can wish for it; but as with athletes, you have to learn to run every day. It is no good running just when you get to the race because you are not prepared. In terms of our lives, we need to run every day, so encourage yourself to do at least 15 minutes practice a day, every day, and gradually let that practice into your life.
What we tend to do is create parameters that we feel comfortable within, when really what we should be doing is creating parameters which are bigger than ourselves, which require us to be stretched rather than enable us to be quietly confident that we can do all this within who we were yesterday. Who on earth would want to be who they were last week, or who they were a year ago or 10 years ago, when there is the opportunity to be who you are right now ? Take that opportunity and enter the opportunity completely, rather than living out of the past.
We did not choose this path to be cosy. We chose this path to be inspired because we were not happy enough with the way things were. Something in us drives us to be bigger. Set your view to the inner horizon, to the vastness of that vista within you.
it starts with letting go