Day 073/365: Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm

And one of the aspects which I often teach on retreats is the ability to focus.

And the idea of focusing is to take one thing and give it value above all others.

And when you value one thing and you take away the value from other things,

That thing which is most valuable stays with you and the other things tend to disappear.

For example,

That when we meditate the only reason why we get lost in thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking is because we value those thoughts more than anything else.

And the silence of the mind which really should be valued is really ignored.

It's not given priority.

You will find whatever you value,

Whatever is really important to you,

You'll be able to stay with that.

I was mentioning to someone when I was teaching retreat in Penang,

They were getting very,

Very,

Very sleepy in the morning time and they asked for a quick fix for sloth and torpor.

And I told them to go on to the roof of the temple and sit quite close to the edge and look down at that 20 foot drop and then meditate there.

And I said,

That will cure your sloth and torpor for sure.

And of course I don't recommend people to actually do that.

But you can see why is it if you were sitting on the edge of a precipice,

Would you get sleepy,

Would you be thinking about dinner later on that evening?

Of course not,

Because if the death is right in front of you,

You give greater value to actually being aware,

Being awake,

Being alert.

It's the same if I put everyone in this room,

Close your eyes and let a snake in this room,

Wow,

You'd be very alert as well,

You would never fall asleep.

But I would not do that either.

But the reason I say these things is because it gets the mind to understand that if it's really important,

Then we can do it.

In other words,

If you really value these stages of meditation,

And think this is important,

This is really what I'm focusing on,

Then it's not that hard to achieve these states.

That's why when I talk about these states I give you a framework,

A landmark of the path of stillness,

Things like present moment awareness and silence and awareness of the breath.

If the present moment is really important to you,

Say,

Look,

I value this moment,

Don't know how old you are,

But another year has gone by since I last sat up here to give a talk on a Saturday afternoon.

I don't know how many years have gone by in your life,

But there's a lot gone by and you haven't got all that many left.

So this moment is really,

Really important.

If you don't do it now,

When will you do it?

You're getting older by the minute,

By the second.

It doesn't get easier to meditate as you get older.

You get more and more aches and pains.

If you haven't got enough aches and pains already,

Wow,

There's more going to be coming down on the track.

So you might as well do it now.

Now becomes really important.

So when you give that real importance to this moment,

This present moment,

This is the only time where life happens.

That's why often when I teach meditation I try and do a PR job on the present moment to make it really,

Really important.

Those people are worried about the future.

I keep on saying that this moment now is where your future is born.

This is where you make your future.

This is where it's constructed and built and made,

Now.

So even logically,

Thinking about what you're going to do in the future is actually counterproductive.

You're wasting time when you could be in this moment and it's now where the future is made.

So this moment is really,

Really,

Really,

Really important.

And if you give such importance to the present moment,

Of course the mind doesn't even think of the past or the future.

If any thoughts from the past and the future manage to sneak in,

Wow,

They get hammered straight away.

Because now is the most important time.

It really is important,

You value it immensely.

It's the same as if you brought a ticket for an expensive concert and it cost you a lot of money.

Every moment is important.

Like even now,

Many people are still on holiday and you go back on Monday,

Some people,

They say,

Wow,

I'm still on holiday.

This vacation period is really important to me.

Because why are you wasting your time?

On Monday morning you'll be back at work in front of that computer with all those terrible bosses and people complaining about this and that and the other,

But now you're on holiday,

So enjoy it while you can.

This moment is important.

And it's amazing when you give that importance to this present moment,

It's easy to stay in the present.

The only reason why the mind wanders off into the future and past is because you think,

So what present moment,

I can come here any time.

I can't,

This is valuable.

So now is the most important time.

And also the silence of the mind,

Why do we give all this importance to thinking and fantasizing and dreaming and commentary?

I know sometimes when I read in the newspaper,

I read in the newspaper this morning,

Some of the stuff they say,

Complete waste of time.

Sometimes I like reading newspapers one week apart because they give all this story about who's going to win the election and afterwards the same commentator says,

No,

I didn't say that.

They go completely the other way around.

All these thoughts and commentaries,

They are so wrong.

So why do you bother even thinking about these things?

It's much better to be silent.

And that silence,

Even though the door bangs,

That doesn't matter as long as your mind doesn't bang with it.

In other words,

Whatever happens outside does not create a verbal response in your mind.

The mind is just passive,

Still.

Your mind has to work so much.

Do you ever feel tired having to think so much?

Well now is your big chance.

The opportunity,

You don't have to think for the next 45 minutes.

All you need to do is just to hear,

To feel,

To know,

Without giving anything a name,

Without having a conversation with it.

It's the feeling,

The knowing,

The hearing which is important,

Not the conversation inside your brain which follows afterwards.

So when you give importance to what we call mindfulness,

The ability to hear clearly without being interrupted by your thoughts,

The ability to feel deeply without needing to explain it to yourself,

An ability to know directly without that experience being intermediated by words,

Then you are giving importance to the silence of the mind,

The still mindfulness where wisdom comes.

This is giving importance to silence.

And then,

The trouble is that people can't hold those states too long.

Present moment awareness and silence is a great place to begin,

But don't spend too long there because otherwise people find it too difficult to hold onto anything there.

But it's a good thing to focus on at the beginning.

And then we go onto our breath.

This amazing meditation object which was used by the Buddha himself and so many people over the last 2500 years.

Everything about breath meditation has been explored and known,

One of the oldest techniques.

And all you need to do is to observe the experience of breathing.

And even when I was in doing a teaching retreat in Penang,

Many people never meditated there before,

Came on a nine-day retreat,

That was just before the New Year.

So often I say,

What am I supposed to watch?

I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

What do you mean washing the breath?

What am I supposed to watch?

And I told them,

Standard teaching technique,

I said,

Close your eyes,

Breathe in and out three times,

And then the end of the third breath,

Open your eyes,

Which they all did.

I've done that to you many times,

Once I've been here before.

Close your eyes,

Breathe in and out three times,

And then open your eyes.

Now these are new meditators,

They never read books,

They never been taught how to watch the breath.

But they can all watch three breaths and then they open their eyes.

How,

I ask them,

Did you know you breathe in the first in breath,

And then the first out breath,

The second in breath,

The second out breath,

The third in breath,

The third out breath,

How did you know that?

And they realize they do know it,

They just haven't been investigated exactly how they know the breath.

And you don't have to investigate how you know the breath.

The important thing is you know you breathe in and the in breath is finished.

You know you're breathing out,

You know you're breathing in,

How you know who cares.

The most important point is you know the experience of the breath,

Whatever that is.

Whatever it is that tells you you're breathing in and breathing out,

Everyone can do that.

Sometimes when people don't find difficulty with the breath meditation,

They're trying to watch something they think they should be watching rather than watching the natural breath.

So we can all breathe,

We all know we're breathing,

Just watch that experience and that sensation.

So you're focusing on something.

And the nice thing about watching your breath is that everybody knows,

Every psychologist knows that when you're upset and angry,

The breath feels one way,

When you settle down,

The breath feels another way.

The breath responds to your emotional states.

And in particular,

The more peaceful and calm you get,

The slower and smoother is your breath.

So the breath is a great indicator of your mental state of relaxation.

And what we do with the breath,

When we get the breath,

We get hold of it,

It's just like I think a couple of weeks ago I told you how to relax your body.

Remember we say you take a part of the body,

Maybe your knees,

Maybe have an ache and a pain there,

Focus your attention there,

And as soon as you can pick up a feeling in your knees,

You've got connection there,

Mind to body connection.

You've got some sort of way of putting your mind down there by picking up a feeling.

And then you send kindness,

Relaxing that part of the body.

It's very easy for people to relax.

For example,

You can take a part of your body now,

Just relax,

Relax your shoulders now,

Come on,

Relax your shoulders,

You can all do that.

How did you do that?

The reason you learn how to relax is because you've got mindfulness there,

You pick up some sensations there and you use a feedback mechanism,

The brain decides to do something,

The muscles relax,

You feel,

Yeah,

It's going in the right direction,

It's relaxing,

You go further along that path,

You relax more and more,

And you get used to the feeling of relaxing the body.

We all know the difference,

We can always feel when our body is tense and tight,

We can always feel when it's relaxed.

And you use the same mechanism to actually relax your breath.

You can feel the breath,

You've got to feel it first of all,

And then allow it just to relax,

So the breath gets nice and soft and peaceful and calm.

Because you're relaxing your breath,

You're also relaxing your body,

Because you're also relaxing your body,

You're also relaxing your mind as well.

So this is a very good relaxing of your poor brain.

It's very easy to relax your arms and your legs,

It's even possible to relax your heart.

But the part of your body which gives you the most trouble is that organ between your ears and behind your eyes,

Which causes you immense amount of problem and trouble with your poor brain.

So now you're going to relax your brain.

Imagine if you could give your brain a massage,

You get someone to stick a finger in the ear and a finger in the other ear and just massage your brain,

Like you give foot massages or back massages,

Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to do?

But unfortunately we can't do that.

What we can do,

We can massage the brain with meditation.

So it's like brain massage,

What we teach here.

Not TM but BM,

Brain massage.

And when we massage our brain,

We're through breath meditation,

The breath gets so nice,

The brain gets so nice,

And that way we can really relax and get really still and peaceful.

But more things happen in meditation because you're just washing the breath,

The breath gets lovely and smooth.

When the breath becomes smooth and relaxed,

It feels nice.

Just the way when your body relaxes,

It feels nice.

Remember that feeling when you first wake up in bed in the morning?

You're just so cozy,

You don't want to get up out of bed,

Especially if it's a Saturday or Sunday morning,

You don't have to go to work.

As for me,

I have to work every morning of my life,

Only seven days a week,

365 days a year.

Oh,

I'm in the wrong job,

But I enjoy it.

But anyway,

No complaining or moaning.

When we learn how to relax in the morning,

We feel so cozy.

Think of that feeling,

That sensation,

If it's a delightful relaxation.

The same way when the breath becomes nice and smooth and peaceful,

It's a delightful feeling.

And when you start to delight in this beautiful breath,

Going backwards and forwards,

It means you don't have to force any attention at all.

The mind rests there,

You don't have to force anything.

In the same way,

You don't have to force yourself to sit in an armchair.

Armchair is nice and relaxing.

Breath is like the armchair of the mind.

You can relax there and spend a lot of time in ease,

Relaxing,

Being at peace.

But only when you give that breath importance.

If other things are more important than your breathing,

You will find that your mind will wander off somewhere.

If the dinner,

The party,

Work or whatever is more important to you,

You will not stay.

So remember,

Give importance first of all to this very moment.

Now,

It's vital,

Give importance to the silence,

The knowing of the mind rather than the thinking about it.

And then give importance and value to your breath.

Nothing else matters,

Just watching the breath.

And then calm it down.

When it calms and relaxes,

You get into the deep and wonderful states of meditation.

You get to that stage where you don't need to try anymore because the meditation gets so lovely and delightful.

Sometimes you just can't get out.

You're sitting there very happy,

You don't want to leave.

And I or the other monks or the nun rings the bell and says,

Oh no,

We have to finish now.

I want to go on further.

And when you have that response to the ringing of the bell,

Then you know you can understand meditation and how happy it can be.

So that's giving value to the different stages of meditation and not giving value to this other stuff which you can do all the time.

What are you adding to the meditation objects?

Close your eyes.

First of all bring your awareness to your physical body sitting here.

This is just the preliminaries to make sure your body is comfortable.

Take a few minutes on this.

Usually it takes at least a minute or two after closing your eyes before your mind is sensitive enough to pick up feelings in the body to know whether you're in a good posture or not.

Okay.

.

.

If there is anything you can do now to adjust your posture please do so.

Make sure your legs are in the right position especially if you are sitting on the floor cross legged.

If you are on the chair make sure your bottom is not having any creased clothing biting into it.

Your hands are nice and comfortable.

Your body is neither too stiff nor too loose.

The last thing and it does help is to put a little smile on your face.

In all parts of work a smile on the face makes whatever you are doing easier and more fun.

Once the body is set up really give importance to this thing we call present moment,

This now.

So the past,

Everything which has ever happened to you including what happened a few moments ago,

Says it's not important now.

I will not pick up and be concerned about what's history.

And also I will not go running off and planning what I'm going to do next,

Neither getting excited,

Anticipating,

Nor getting worried and afraid.

Let the past be,

Let the future be.

In meditation I'm just going to focus on this window called present moment awareness.

Live as it happens,

Listening to sounds,

Feeling sensations in the body,

Or even knowing thoughts as long as they are happening in this very moment.

I give importance and value to this moment.

It's as if the present moment was worth a thousand dollars and you can't afford to lose such a big amount of money.

So you stay in this moment.

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In the moment.

You don't abandon present moment awareness or silence,

You just add the awareness of the breath.

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So getting close to the end of this meditation period.

It's time to reflect on how you feel.

To notice the state of the mind after almost 45 minutes meditation.

To value the peace,

The contentment,

The freedom and even the inner happiness.

Which comes from this path of relaxing the body and the mind.

And now I'm going to ring the gong three times.

Please listen to every sound from the gong.

And only after the third ringing of the gong,

Only then come out from your meditation.

GONG There we go.

Hopefully in this session you'll learn something more about the nature of the mind.

How the awareness will choose where it wishes to go and if you set up the mind to value the stages of the meditation.

If you like condition the mind beforehand,

The meditation gets easier.

Just how you set up the mind beforehand is sometimes crucial.

So you keep conditioning the mind.

This present moment awareness is important,

Silence is valuable.

So the breath is an important thing to watch.

After a while the brain or the mind gives in,

Watches these things.

And it finally becomes very easy and it's nice to be able to be simple.

The peace and the pleasure of meditation comes because you're doing a very simple activity which neither stresses the body nor stresses the mind.

But relieves all that tightness and gives comfort and rest.

And after a few minutes of comfort and rest the energy starts to build up,

Mindfulness increases.

You become more alert,

More awake and obviously by a natural progression more inner contentment,

More happiness comes.

Which is the joy of meditation,

To have a lovely time.

And after a while of practicing this,

Just like any other skill which you learn whether it's playing a piano or playing golf or learning how to type,

Practice does make perfect.

And after a while you get very skilled at how to use your mind.

When you learn all those skills,

Even though your body decays and you're not as fit as you used to be and won't be able to play the piano as skillfully as you used to be or play golf or whatever,

You find your meditation is a skill because it relies upon the mind which is ageless.

In fact it gets better.

The older one becomes,

The more alert one can be.

So all of those of you who are thinking about,

Ah,

I'm getting old,

I'm getting forgetful,

Is this the beginning of Dementia or Alzheimer's?

Good meditators,

Don't forget.

Sharp mindfulness,

They say if you don't use it,

You lose it.

So if you develop your mindfulness very sharp,

You will always be very sharp.

It's an interesting study to be made,

It hasn't been done yet.

So they'll be very surprised if meditators even got Dementia.

The meditative property that is,

Certainly the incidence of such things should be far less than the common person.

Simply because we train our mind.

If you train it,

You won't lose it.