Streamed stay on Mar 24, 2022
Guided Nondual Meditation with Michael Taft
Introduction
Hiya everyone! Welcome to tonight’s guided meditation, guided nondual meditation. Tonight we’re actually going to work on the nonduality with me, Michael Taft, coming to you reside from the Bay space of California, except you’re watching this at another time through which case I’m not stay anymore, however welcome everybody. Let’s see, did I lower myself? Yeah, that’s what occurs once you shave. All proper, we’re going to dive in as traditional. Why goof round? As an alternative, we’re going to simply start meditating and tonight goes to be, I feel, a very highly effective one, fairly a robust meditation and hopefully, you’re prepared.
Meditation
So let’s start, what I would like you to do is take your seat and as traditional, because of this you’re sitting together with your again upright. The highest of your head is type of being gently pulled upwards. Your backbone feels tremendous straight and excellent, like balanced in that spot the place you’re not placing in an excessive amount of effort to maintain it upright. Actually, in case your again is balanced in simply the proper spot it’s going to really feel nearly prefer it’s simply floating up. It actually helps to have your knees decrease than your hips for those who’re sitting down. You is also standing or laying down. All of those postures work. And some folks prefer to put their chins out like that once they meditate. So we need to have our chin mildly tucked in order that the again of your neck is good and open, prime of the top type of being, nearly elevated upwards. And this could really feel very nice.
From there what we need to do is start with our opening visualization. This can be a manner of sitting and tonight we’re going to sit down like a mountain, okay. We’re going to sit down like a mountain. We haven’t finished that shortly. What do I imply after I say we’re going to sit down like a mountain? I imply we’re going to tune into our sense of groundedness, our sense of stability and in reality a stability so full, that it’s, we name it immovability. The thought is that this mountain is so huge and so historical, it’s immovable. It can’t transfer in any manner. So I would like you to tune in to sitting like a mountain. Think about in entrance of you proper now a common mountain, a mountain that’s unbelievably excessive we will’t even say how excessive, and that slopes down so huge that it’s simply extremely huge.
This mountain is cosmic in scale and this mountain has been right here since earlier than the start of time and it’s grounded. As I say it can’t, it doesn’t really feel knocked round by the winds of destiny. It doesn’t really feel prefer it’s some type of paper bag blown round by the breeze. It’s the other sensation. It feels rooted and steady and it has the sense like I say of cosmic vastness, but additionally of immovability. So I really need you to see that mountain now and also you may see it nearly like a type of a brilliant Mount Fuji, proper? The place there’s a type of, this lovely slope to this, volcanic sides of the mountain. The cone has an exquisite slope to it, a gradual slope, and the edges are type of shimmering blue and the highest is that this good white shining within the excessive environment. So lovely, lovely mountain granting you this sense of stability, of immovability granting you boons, granting you a way of your personal cosmic immovability, your personal groundedness, your personal rootedness, your personal stability.
Image that very clearly. And now on an in-breath, I would like you to simply take that mountain inside or to place it one other manner, you dissolve and turn into the cosmic mountain of excellent immobility or immovability and that feels good to sit down that manner. It feels completely balanced as I say it feels rooted and steady. Your roots go right down to the core of the universe. Your prime goes as much as the highest of the universe and your sides progressively swoop out to the far boundless, non-edges of the universe. So that is sitting like a mountain and so now from right here what I would like you to do is start to do sluggish, deep respiration if that’s comfy for you. If it’s not that’s okay, breathe nonetheless you need.
However if you wish to you are able to do sluggish deep respiration and with the sluggish deep respiration, you’re doing lengthy exhales. The exhales are longer than the inhales. So we breathe in good and deep. I’m inhaling. I’m inhaling. My stomach’s increasing. After which on the exhale, respiration out, respiration out a really lengthy exhale until it feels prefer it desires to breathe in once more. After which good massive in-breath after which exhale, exhale, exhale actually lengthy sluggish out-breath, out-breath. Possibly, , twice so long as the in-breath. One thing like that. Once more make this give you the results you want. Don’t make it uncomfortable. Make it an extremely good feeling, comfy, feeling in-breaths and out-breaths.
If you wish to, on that out-breath you are able to do ujjayi breath. So that you tighten that factor in your throat, the factor that makes your voice go from this sort of voice, to this sort of voice. That factor proper there and also you tighten that on the out-breath, so it makes you sound like Darth Vader, nevertheless it permits you to regulate that out-breath to permit it to be even slower and go even longer. Once more make certain it’s comfy, don’t get to the spot the place you’re yawning and needing extra air, have it give you the results you want. Okay so, and whereas we’re doing this on the in-breath you’re saying inhaling, inhaling and also you’re feeling that air increasing the physique, after which on the out-breath you’re saying respiration out, respiration out, respiration out, respiration out and feeling the air leaving the physique within the physique as an alternative of increasing it’s contracting. Okay so, in that contraction of the out-breath and simply actually actually really feel that and I would like you to pay particular consideration to the top of the out-breath. Simply discover it. Okay so let’s do this collectively for some time.
Good, so proceed respiration and meditating on respiration. Throughout this part, we try to chill out. This lengthy sluggish out-breath actually helps to down-regulate in order that we will really feel fairly a bit extra rest. But additionally the place, moreover stress-free we try to remain collected, keep centered constantly on the sensation of the breath within the physique. And one factor that actually helps us to try this is to ensure we discover the top of the out-breath as a result of typically that out-breath will grasp there for a minute. Such as you get to the top of the out-breath and earlier than the start of the in-breath, there’s a while there the place the breath simply hangs there. And that’s a very easy spot to lose your focus, to lose your collectedness, to lose your stability. However bear in mind we’re meditating just like the cosmic mountain so we’re very steady. In order a part of that stability, we simply discover significantly the top of the out-breath. So let’s preserve going with this.
Good, let’s add a mantra in right here, a basic mantra for this sort of work. So on the in-breath, you say to your self “om” like “om” on the in-breath. After which at that spot the place the out-breath ends, or sorry the place the in-breath ends, you say “ah” like “ah what a reduction, ah.” After which for the out-breath “hum.” After which we simply pause between, there’s no mantra between the top of the out-breath and the start of the in-breath. We’re simply noticing that spot significantly. So in-breath, om, finish of the in-breath, ah, out-breath, hum. Now you’re not singing this out loud like I’m doing, you’re simply doing it mentally. In order that’s a mantra with three seed syllables, three syllables om ah hum.
Okay, om ah hum, what a stupendous mantra. That ah is simply completely good, completely letting go, complete rest. Okay good, now persevering with, what I would like you to do is to start the approach known as dropping the ball. If you know the way to do it simply go forward, in any other case I’ll clarify how you can do it. So we’re imagining that the thoughts is sort of a hand and so each time your thoughts grabs on to one thing it’s just like the hand grabbing onto one thing. On this case, the picture is a ball like a rubber ball. And so when your thoughts grabs onto a thought or your thoughts grabs on to a sense, or your thoughts grabs on to one thing that’s occurring in your atmosphere, you’re like grabbing onto it together with your hand. And what I would like you to do is for those who discover that occuring you simply chill out the hand and let the ball fall okay? In order that’s known as dropping the ball.
Now you’re not grabbing on goal, you retain the hand relaxed for those who can. But when the hand grabs on to one thing, it will get concerned in an argument in your thoughts together with your companion no matter. Oh geez, they stated this, and I stated that and in order that’s just like the hand grabbing and grabbing onto that ball. And so for those who discover that occuring, you simply chill out the hand and let the ball drop time and again and over okay? So we’re going to do that for some time right here. I’ll simply preserve going again and providing you with additional directions, however that’s the entire instruction in a nutshell. For those who discover you’re caught up in a thought, simply chill out and let the thought go okay. For those who discover you’re caught up in something, simply chill out and let it go and are available again to easily resting, merely being. Once I say relaxation I don’t imply sleeping. Simply merely being. Now it’s actually vital that you just don’t wrestle with this chill out and let go okay that’s it. Let’s go.
There’s a pair issues I ought to most likely add right here. One is that you are able to do this with eyes open. Actually, it’s fairly a bit higher to do that together with your eyes open. If that’s actually uncomfortable for you then go forward and do it together with your eyes closed, nevertheless it’s higher with eyes open. It’s higher to simply sit together with your eyes relaxed, open however relaxed, not specializing in something, particularly, your eyes are comfortable, your gaze is comfortable, however your eyes are open and also you’re not fixating. You’re not sticking them on some extent, you’re permitting them to maneuver and you’ll blink. And all that. Don’t do something bizarre together with your eyes. Similar to some other time when you have got your eyes open. So we’re not doing something unusual with them. It’s extra like once you gaze on the horizon or the type of factor the place you’re simply type of taking a look at some bushes within the distance in a really normal manner, very relaxed manner, and so they’re very distant. Your eyes are simply mild and open. in order that’s primary.
The opposite factor is, we’re not doing any particular respiration anymore. For those who’re persevering with to try this ujjayi breath and all that, you may simply let all that go now. And every time you discover the thoughts is caught in something, that hand has gripped a ball, then we simply chill out the thoughts, we chill out the hand and permit the ball to drop of its personal accord. We’re not struggling in any respect, we’re simply stress-free and letting issues go on their merry manner. We’re not stopping them or controlling them, we’re simply now not concerned. Let’s proceed.
As I stated I don’t need you to wrestle with this in any respect. It’s not as if we’re like prying the fingers off the ball, okay. There’s no struggle in any respect, zero struggle occurring. It’s simply each time you discover you’re caught up, you simply chill out and relaxation. You simply open the hand and the ball falls out naturally. There’s no wrestle. It may be the case that, let’s say, you’re actually caught up in a thought, the nice hand grabs proper again on, okay, simply chill out once more. If you must chill out 100 instances in a row, you’re simply stress-free. That’s nice. There’s no wrestle. There’s no sense of it being laborious, okay. Simply every time the thoughts contracts we simply chill out. Don’t struggle.
One thing that’s type of attention-grabbing about this meditation, is there’s no focus object. We’re not specializing in something. There’s nothing to focus on. That’s why this will usually be known as shamatha or meditation with out an object. There’s no focus object. Anytime we get caught up in one thing, we’re simply stress-free and permitting that one thing to drift away, so to talk, to hold by itself enterprise. However we’re not participating with it anymore. And once we let go we’re not coming again to our breath or coming again to another object that we’re specializing in, we’re simply coming again to sitting there relaxed, sitting there with the thoughts unclenched, with the thoughts relaxed. So don’t assume that there’s one thing you’re speculated to concentrate on, fairly if you end up specializing in something, chill out and simply open.
Every time the thoughts grabs onto one thing or will get caught up in one thing or contracts round one thing, we merely chill out and are available again to resting. Once I say resting, bear in mind I don’t imply we come again to being asleep. I imply we come again to doing nothing however we’re huge, unsleeping. However when the thoughts just isn’t contracted round one thing and it’s relaxed, that’s usually simply known as consciousness or being conscious however not conscious of any specific factor. Primary we’re not searching for one thing to pay attention to and quantity two when it’s not any particular consciousness, it’s not an altered state, it’s the identical type of consciousness the place you’re simply not likely concerned with something, you’re simply very awake, alert and relaxed. Your thoughts is open and relaxed. It has that huge high quality so don’t make consciousness one thing particular.
It’s simply everytime you’re not caught up in something, everytime you drop the ball, that’s what’s then left. With out you doing something particular, that’s what’s left. You’re simply conscious now. You’re after all conscious once you’re caught up within the ball as effectively, however you may miss the vastness then, so once we drop the ball we simply come again to the attention that’s all the time current, with out doing something in any respect and it’s very very spacious, very free, very open.
Okay good, now identical to I don’t need you to wrestle to let go, I additionally don’t need you to hold on to the method of letting go such as you’re searching for one thing to let go of or making an attempt to just remember to’re dropping the ball. I would like you to drop that ball too. So hanging on to the concept you’re meditating, simply drop the ball. Hanging on to the concept you’re speculated to do it in a sure manner and making an attempt to remain proper with it, simply drop the ball. Or making an attempt to remain centered on whether or not you’re caught up in one thing or not, simply chill out, simply drop all that and easily return to the already current consciousness. It’s all the time there and simply relaxation, don’t wrestle, don’t struggle, don’t even meditate. Simply drop the ball after which relaxation.
Nothing to do, nothing to alter, all the things already full, all the things excellent, simply the way in which it’s. Anytime the thoughts contracts round an object, simply chill out, let it increase again to its pure openness with none effort in any respect.
Superb. Now what I’d such as you to do is come again to this visualization of, or temper of being a mountain, sitting like a mountain, an immovable mountain. And I would like this mountain now to radiate to all of the corners of creation, to all of the corners of the universe, to radiate profound peace and stillness and profound kindness and openness and a profound sense of knowledge and caring. It’s radiating this out in all instructions, effortlessly, simply. Super sense of pleasure, an amazing sense of caring, a sense of openness, a sense of stillness and groundedness and peace. And let’s simply preserve beaming this in all instructions powerfully and superbly and with nice kindness and caring.
The mountain of consciousness can constantly radiate love and pleasure and stillness and kindness and knowledge and peace to your complete universe with out ever making any effort. Simply completely natura, open and free. Completely with out boundaries, completely with out obstacles, completely full in itself, completely spontaneous and joyous.
Let’s let go of that now as we finish the meditation.
I would like you to be happy to maneuver and stretch. Have a drink of water. Permit your physique to really feel good and simply come again to the room. Come again to the youtube room. Permit your self to simply really feel good in your physique and see how that meditation has modified your expertise. So there’s a lot to say about this and I’m gonna simply assume you’ve watched and practiced together with many of those movies so I don’t should attempt to say all of it as a result of that will be unattainable to jam it in right here throughout our little dharma speak.
Dharma Discuss
However I’ll say a couple of issues and one is that I train this sort of nondual meditation all day lengthy, proper? That’s what I do all day and I do it daily and I’ve been doing it for a protracted very long time, in addition to training it. And one thing that I discover fairly often is that after I describe what we’re doing, if I say , I would like you to simply discover, come again to the attention that’s already there or one thing like that. Simply be consciousness. Or if I say, god forbid, if I say , discover the huge spacious consciousness that’s all the time current, it results in some attention-grabbing confusions. And a part of them is simply, a part of it’s simply linguistic. We’re simply talking English and I’m making an attempt to talk in a really regular manner in order that it doesn’t sound all jargony or that I’m utilizing weird language.
However once we use language like that like , come again to consciousness or discover the attention that’s already there. It’s a very humorous manner of speaking, actually regardless that it seems like regular English. It’s a humorous manner of speaking within the sense that it’s not precisely correct, proper? It’s not precisely correct as a result of if I say come again to consciousness the query arises effectively who’s it that was away from consciousness? What was it that was gone from consciousness and what’s it that in some way returns, proper? That doesn’t even make sense as a result of if it was gone from consciousness there would simply be a clean, there’d be nothing.
So as a result of that’s what’s there when there’s no consciousness. There’s simply no expertise. So it will be such as you have been knocked out unconscious till you “got here again to consciousness” and it will be like waking up. However that’s not likely what’s occurring and that’s as a result of we’re by no means really in some way gone from consciousness. It’s simply that we’re constricting down onto an object. We’re constricting our consideration right down to an object or I ought to say, once more language challenge, I ought to say a seeming object, one thing that looks as if an object, like a thought or a sense or one thing on this planet round us or no matter. Consciousness will get actually constricted and that’s what involves the fore of our expertise.
However actually after all it’s conscious the entire time and moreover, the huge half is there additionally the entire time. It’s simply type of bringing the tight half, the constricted half to the fore. Why is that this vital? As a result of what I don’t need you to do is say, I hear this loads, like I dropped the ball, after which I appeared for consciousness. Effectively, my pal who’s trying, or what’s trying? That’s consciousness, proper? Consciousness is what’s trying. So it’s not likely the case that you just’re dropping the ball after which searching for consciousness. For those who’re conscious of a thought i.e a ball, for those who’re conscious of a ball, you’re conscious, due to consciousness. So the attention is all the time there. All that’s occurring is once we drop the constriction it’s returning to its already current, naturally huge, open state with out you doing something proper. It’s already conscious. So it’s not like now we have to, , make consciousness massive or come again and in some way attempt to see consciousness. All of that may be a confused mind-set and it simply makes it a lot more durable than it’s.
My pal Ken McLeod, writing in his ebook, A trackless path, talks about his Tibetan trainer Kalu Rinpoche, whose entire instruction for this meditation was acknowledge and relaxation, or return and relaxation. And you’ll hear it’s the identical instruction. Simply discover that you just’re caught up and simply relaxation, proper, let go. Now, nowhere in that instruction does it say make some massive consciousness occur, or hunt round for some consciousness, with one thing else that’s not consciousness that’s looking for consciousness. I imply all of that simply confuses the problem. It makes you sound loopy once you say it.
Or as an instruction it will, , it’s like no, there’s no person, there’s by no means anyone someplace exterior of consciousness taking a look at consciousness. That’s not doable. It’s consciousness noticing itself. It’s not even taking a look at itself as a result of that will indicate it was standing exterior of itself trying again. That may’t occur. It’s already conscious of itself. We’re simply letting go of, type of like, these congealed balls, of constricted consideration. Okay, that’s it. You’re simply stress-free the tightness of the thoughts, simply letting it open and the attention is already there. It’s all the time been there. It by no means went away and there’s no person in some way exterior of consciousness who has to search for this particular object known as consciousness. It’s not a particular object. It’s what’s occurring all day lengthy, it’s occurring. It’s how there’s something, it’s how you are feeling a sure manner, it’s how you’re having a thought, it’s how you assume you’re even you. All that’s simply stuff occurring in consciousness.
Consciousness is previous to you, it’s previous to ideas, it’s previous to emotions, it’s prior even to the world. It’s simply there and it’s not a particular factor, it’s not a particular object, after all. It’s empty so it’s not even an object in any respect. But it surely’s not particular, okay, so that you don’t should generate it. It’s all the time there. It’s all the time there. It’s all the time there. So once we’re not all caught up in one thing it simply makes it simpler to relaxation in that. That’s it.
Now one other factor I need to point out, I’m making an attempt to not point out all the things, however one other factor I need to point out, is that, discover no a part of this meditation says you must have any specific type of ideas. Or that you just like good ideas, completely satisfied ideas, peaceable ideas. We don’t care what sort of ideas you’re having, besides on the very finish once we ship out love and pleasure and so forth. However within the meditation, it doesn’t matter what the content material of your considering is, since you’re not participating with the content material of your thought. So it doesn’t matter what arises we’re simply letting go and stress-free and that stuff can preserve occurring, however you’re not likely participating with it in any manner. So don’t assume you’re speculated to have a sure type of thought throughout the dropping the ball half.
And quantity two and it is a massive one, folks assume the considering has to cease. No, the considering can do no matter it desires. It may be considering away so long as you’re not engaged in it, you’re not considering on goal, you’re not in there following a prepare of thought. It’s simply following itself however you’re not likely listening to it proper. You’re simply coming again to resting and being open and letting go. So that you don’t should have particular classes of thought and neither does thought should cease.
Now what’s attention-grabbing is for those who do that a bunch, you’ll discover that after some time, we sat for a great hour, you might have seen that you just’re considering did decelerate noticeably. And why is that? It’s as a result of considering is sort of a flywheel, a very heavy flywheel. It retains going for some time however for those who’re not participating with it, it’s such as you’re not giving vitality to the flywheel, you’re not ramping it again up, winding it again up, pushing it so it retains going. It should begin to wind down. For considering to maintain going on a regular basis you’re always placing vitality into it, placing vitality and placing vitality into it. And once we drop the ball we’re not placing any extra vitality into it. We don’t care about it.
So it’s actually vital to know that I don’t need you to think about that you just’re speculated to cease considering. And I don’t need you to think about that your ideas should be particular. Somewhat, I don’t need you to interact together with your ideas in any respect. That means, I don’t care what they’re, I don’t care what number of there are. As a result of to care about that’s to interact with them. You’re simply letting go, you’re simply letting go. For those who seize on once more, simply let go once more.
Okay one last item, I’ll give up haranguing you, like I stated I may most likely speak constantly for twenty-four hours about this however and by no means repeat myself, however one other factor is that, gosh there’s so many issues I need to say right here. You’re not gonna attain some particular state. For those who’re reaching a particular state, that’s not like an issue or a problem, however that’s not the aim. That’s simply an accident. It’ll come and identical to each different particular state, it’ll finally go. So that you may end up actually experiencing lots of vitality like your physique begins actually having lots of vitality and that may really feel actually good, tremendous blissful, however that’s tremendous. However it’s going to additionally finally cease and that’s tremendous too as a result of that’s not what we’re making an attempt to make occur.
You may end up feeling all of your ideas will cease and your mind will simply really feel prefer it’s stopped. Similar to that. It simply stops. And simply sits there not considering something. And that’s okay. Nice, that’s fantastic however that’s not the aim, okay? That’s not what we’re making an attempt to make occur. We’re not making an attempt to cease that from occurring both, however that’s simply one other expertise. That’s a particular state. There’s different ones you may get into every kind of bizarre altered states however none of that issues.
All that issues is that you just drop the ball. Even when that occurs, for those who get all into this vitality, simply preserve coming again to consciousness. Consciousness is resting and vitality’s occurring. Nice. Otherwise you get into like some tremendous, trippy altered notion zone. Every little thing’s the world seems to be prefer it’s manufactured from waves or one thing. This occurs on a regular basis, , so what? That’s not the aim. You simply come again. You drop the ball. Don’t actually give that have any vitality. However you’re not making an attempt to get away from it both, however you’re simply, okay that’s occurring. Come again to simply resting as the attention you already are and all the time have been, proper? No, we don’t have interaction with particular states. Once we do that dropping the ball meditation, it’s the other of a particular state.
What’s a particular state? It’s particular. Which means there’s different states that aren’t particular and so states come and go. They arrive and go, they arrive and go, however consciousness regardless that it’s empty, doesn’t come and go. It’s the other of particular. It’s essentially the most normal factor you can ever expertise. It’s expertise, so clearly, because the background, it’s essentially the most normal doable factor, so it’s the other of particular. So that you’re sitting right here dropping the ball and you’re feeling completely depressed and despondent and filled with despair, okay effectively, drop the ball. Relaxation. Consciousness is ok. You’re feeling tremendous pleasure and magic and dancing bunnies are hopping round rainbows in your thoughts. Cool, drop the ball, simply relaxation as consciousness. Right here, as I say, you’re concerned in some type of massive struggle in your thoughts together with your relationship companion or together with your work colleagues or no matter, okay effectively, simply drop the ball, come again to being consciousness.
It’s the identical transfer it doesn’t matter what. And I say being consciousness, however I don’t imply it’s an object proper. It’s not an object. I simply imply resting as consciousness, okay. It’s the best factor on this planet. As an alternative of involvement and thought and feeling the place you assume you might be thought and feeling, we simply chill out out of that involvement, we chill out out of that constriction, we chill out out of the tightness, we let go, we open, we really feel relaxed and relaxed with no matter’s occurring okay.
That is the actual equanimity. The actual equanimity is, I’m simply relaxed and conscious it doesn’t matter what frame of mind or state of emotion or state of physique or no matter, okay. Doesn’t imply we don’t know what they’re. It doesn’t imply you may’t finally get in there and work with them and alter them, nevertheless it’s vital for us to understand that consciousness is ok proper now simply the way in which it’s. We’re by no means going to alter consciousness. We’d change our considering. We’d change our feeling. We’d change every kind of stuff however we’re not going to alter consciousness. It already is full. It already is ideal. It already is what it’s. Discover that now. Drop in now. Drop the ball now.
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