Welcome to this meditation.
Today we're going to travel to a beautiful serene nature scene and we're going to practice and feel non-duality in that location.
If you don't know what non-duality is,
Don't worry about that.
Throw the concept away.
Let's just experience the meditation as is.
Let's begin.
Find your usual meditation position.
I prefer to sit in a chair with my back upright and my spine long,
Extending through the neck.
Gently close the eyes and put your hands on your knees or legs.
You can also lie down,
But perhaps don't lie down if it's too sleep-inducing for you.
Gently relax into the body,
Exactly where the body is in this moment.
If there's tension anywhere,
Go to the tension momentarily.
Feel the tension.
Relax the shoulders.
Find a muscle in the legs,
Perhaps the lower legs,
And relax that muscle.
Go to the hands and relax as many fibers of muscle as possible.
Breathe through the nose,
Slowly in 2,
3,
4,
5.
Slowly out 2,
3,
4,
5.
Slowly in 2,
3,
4,
5.
Slowly out 2,
3,
4,
5.
Continue that breath at your own pace.
Now,
Look at the space in front of your closed eyes.
What color is it?
Could be a black,
Could be a reddish glow,
Could be a yellowy hue.
Now,
Let's gently begin to imagine a nature setting.
In our mind,
Let's paint a picture of some tall trees.
We're standing or sitting amongst these tall,
Beautiful trees.
We're stood in this forest,
And we're breathing in the soft,
Cool,
Natural air,
Rich in oxygen.
Let this scene form softly around you.
Don't try too hard to create the image.
Gently allow this natural scene to unfold in front of you.
With our eyes remaining closed,
Let's choose a tree.
Let's choose a tree that's fairly close to us.
We can see the details of wood and grain on the bark of the tree.
What color is this wood?
Is it a dark brown,
A light brown?
As you generate this image of the wood,
Answer something.
Where does this image unfold?
And don't try to answer with words or logic.
Try to answer me with experiencing,
With feeling.
Where does this image unfold?
Is it taking place in real life?
You could say,
Well,
Where is the image in my mind?
How close are you to that image?
Take notice that the image is an object,
And this object is illuminated by awareness.
This object,
This visual mental object,
Is seen by something,
And that seeing presence doesn't have a name.
It's not called George,
And it's not called Oliver or Mary.
Awareness doesn't have a personality or a name.
Now let's move our awareness inside the body.
Cultivate your awareness.
Let's go to the hands.
Try to feel every fiber,
Every tendon,
Every ligament,
And cultivate a sense of awareness inside the hands now.
Soften the hands.
Allow blood flow to push into the hands.
It almost feels like your hands are submerged in warm water.
And let's explore in the same way that we did with the visual image of the tree.
Where is the sensation of my hands happening?
Answer with an experience,
Not with words or logic.
In non-dual meditations,
You'll often hear the question,
Who sees?
Who feels?
Who listens?
This is very,
Very useful,
But I prefer to ask,
What sees?
What feels?
What listens?
The word what really helps you connect with the personality-less nature of consciousness.
This sensation in the hands,
What is feeling it?
Now let's imagine that we're walking outside of this forest.
You look down at your feet and you're gently walking on the ground.
You can hear the crunching of leaves,
The crunching of soil and bark as you walk through the forest.
And you can see at the end of the forest,
There's an opening.
And so you walk towards that opening and what you find is a field,
A giant field of grass and flowers.
So you walk outside of the forest and now you're standing in that open field.
And the sun is shining very brightly and you can feel the sun's warmth on your face.
And ask yourself again,
Without logic,
Without words,
What is feeling the sunshine?
Try to experience the answer.
What is seeing the green grass?
Most of the things that we've experienced today have been mental images.
But notice every sensation in your body is illuminated exactly the same way.
The sensation right now of your body sitting on a chair,
That sensation is also illuminated by something.
Slowly and gently open your eyes.
We haven't finished yet.
This is part of the meditation.
Allow the images in front of you,
The visual objects to come to you.
It could be your window,
Your desk,
Trees outside.
Allow those images to softly come to you.
Bring forth the image that you generated in your mind of the forest,
Of the trees.
And place this imaginary forest in front of you now,
As your eyes remain open.
Have the two images,
One on top of the other.
You have the real life images,
And the mental images,
Stacked one on top of the other.
You have two images,
One on top of the other.
One image is real life,
The other image is imaginary.
The objects that you're looking at in your room,
What is seeing them?
Go back and forth between the mental fake image,
And the real life image.
What sees them?
What sees these things?
Keep going back and forth between the mental image of the forest,
And the real life image in front of you.
Be it the curtains,
The trees outside,
The road outside,
The cars outside,
The fields outside.
Gently move back and forth,
And keep asking yourself,
What is seeing?
If this felt at any time difficult for you,
Don't worry.
There is often a friction that takes place when we experiment with this kind of practice.
Bit by bit,
If you turn up day after day,
Week after week,
And explore awareness to objects,
Eventually a non-dual element of your consciousness will begin to emerge.
Continue with your day,
Asking what feels,
What sees?
Have a wonderful day.
