Day 147/365: 30-Minute Meditation | Ajahn Brahm

Yes,

And the guided meditation and the talk,

Only one talk.

They really exploit me.

Two talks and even worse,

I have to watch all of you guys eat a ten course meal and I get nothing,

Absolutely zipped and hero.

The suffering of a monk.

But anyway,

Now it's time to have no suffering at all and to let go of everything so you can have a nice peaceful meditation.

It's very nice to be back here after teaching a meditation retreat and teaching in Korea.

I'll tell you all about that afterwards.

But now,

It's a time to close your eyes,

Close your ears and close your thoughts.

If you could do that,

It would be wonderful.

But there is a way,

It's called meditation,

To find peace right in the centre of now.

Closing your eyes and right now,

Feel your body.

Get to know how your body feels right now.

Your heat,

Tension,

Aches,

Pleasure,

Whatever is in your body,

Get to know her.

And be a friend to your body,

Not a master,

Not a mistress.

Stop keeping ordering your body around and pushing her this way and pulling him this way.

Be a friend to your body.

Ask your body,

Body,

How are you?

Anything I can do for you.

Do you want your legs adjusted?

Do you need your bottom adjusted?

How about a scratch?

Ask your body what it needs.

That's someone who respects the body in which they live.

Don't always try and control the body.

Just learn to listen to her,

Respect her,

Work with your body and then your body will be relaxed.

When I observe my body at the beginning of the meditation,

There's always some part which is a bit tense or needs some TLC,

Some tender loving care.

And I give it my full attention.

With my attention,

I also give it this wonderful compassion.

The throat is a bit,

I don't know,

A bit sort of itchy.

So right now I say,

The throat,

I really care for you.

I give you all my energy,

So may you relax,

Find some peace,

So any irritation will just soften and vanish.

The awareness is called mindfulness.

Mindfulness gives you feedback,

You can see how your body changes until you learn what relaxation feels like.

You know when your legs open out,

Relax,

There's hardly any tension left in them at all.

You can feel the central part of your body with all its organs,

Totally relaxed,

Nothing being held tightly.

Your shoulders,

Your arms,

There's not a tight muscle or tendon anywhere.

If there is one,

Relax it.

And then irritation,

Just give it a huge burst of your caring,

Attentive energy.

And then with your head,

Please pay attention to the beginning of meditation to your face.

Relax all the muscles around your eyes and around your mouth too.

So the whole face feels like it's been massaged,

Feels really loose,

No tightness,

No tension,

No stress.

By relaxing the body,

You also relax your mind.

The two are so interwoven,

Relaxing one tends to bring ease to the other.

Once you relax the body,

Feels good,

Then let it go.

Take the attention away from your body onto your mental world.

What are you thinking or feeling right now?

What are your hopes,

Your dreams,

What have you taken into this meditation from the past?

So first of all we know the state of our mental world.

And then we relax this mental world by being kind to your mind.

By which I mean letting go of the burden,

The heavy bag called your past.

We carry the past around so much,

It wears out our mind.

So our mind is not joyful and happy,

It's just so weighed down by the worry of the past.

We also carry the other bag of the future,

All our fears and plans and hopes and dreams and worries and anxieties.

Put that down too.

So in this meditation you are carrying no burden in your mental world.

No past,

No future.

What's it like when you have no past,

No future?

What's left?

That is called now.

Beautiful present moment listening to my voice or when I'm quiet,

The sound of the fans.

Listening to the feelings in your body.

Just being.

That's why we call us human beings,

We are not human goings.

We are being here,

Feeling human again.

So just be.

What's it like to be without going anywhere,

Without lingering in the past?

Just be.

What does that feel like?

It doesn't matter what you are being,

What you are,

Be kind to it.

Whatever this moment is,

It belongs.

You belong.

So we embrace this moment with kindness,

With respect,

Just being here.

If you are aware of a thought,

It's just a thought,

It's happening now,

That's all.

Feeling in the body just now.

Sound just now.

As you focus on the now-ness,

The presence of real life.

Same with only I'm.

Just be in here.

Whatever you're experiencing right now,

See if you can open up your heart to it.

Whatever you feel or hear,

Whether it's what you like or dislike,

Just let it be with kindness.

Opening the door of your heart to this moment,

Whether it's pleasant or unpleasant,

Whatever this is,

I'm at peace with it.

You find in life you can make peace with almost anything.

You're truly wise with everything.

So you're not fighting yourself,

You're not fighting life.

For once you're just being,

Being at peace.

Don't even fight your thoughts,

Just let them be.

And see how relaxed and still you can be.

Notice what it feels like when you don't fight life.

Can you make peace?

I often say in meditation,

It does not matter at all what you're experiencing.

It really matters how you experience things,

How you react to what you hear and feel and think.

React with peace,

With kindness,

With gentleness and then the whole world becomes peaceful.

The whole world becomes kind and gentle because that's how you react to it.

If you have words going on in your head,

See if you can put spaces between the words.

Notice the silence,

The silence in those spaces.

First you force spaces between your words.

Once your mind recognizes that is silence and silence is beautiful,

The silent mind will grow.

So you're just being,

Not thinking,

Not having a conversation with life,

Just being in this moment,

Being silent inside.

P.

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And for those of you who want to follow your breathing,

As you're breathing in,

Breathe in with the word,

Breathing in peace,

Breathe out,

Let go,

Breathe in peace,

Breathe out,

Let go,

Let go,

Peace,

Let go.

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Getting close to the end of the meditation now.

How does it feel?

How does your body and mind feel now?

How relaxed and peaceful is it?

It's good to notice the beautifully relaxed body,

And to indulge in that feeling.

It's worth savouring.

The body which is at ease with itself.

And now it is your mental well,

Before it may be so consumed with thoughts and worries and fears and trouble from the past.

And now it's free,

Free from all the burdens,

Just being.

Being in this calm and safe temple,

North of Perth.

Just being here.

Free from all busyness,

Not trying to get something done or worrying where you're going to go next.

Just being.

Being free.

Being peace.

Oh what joy.

And now I've got to ring the gong three times.

Please listen to every ringing of the gong.

And only when the last ringing fades,

Only then open your eyes to come out the meditation at the end of the third ringing of the gong.

GONG Oh that's really nice.

So those outside who want to come in,

It's actually amazing,

There's still a couple of chairs free.