So,
But now is the opportunity for you to ordain your mind,
Which is just letting it go,
Shaving off the past and the future,
So you can have a peaceful time.
So,
If you allow light to close your eyes as the lights go down,
To give it ambience and atmosphere.
So,
Just sitting here with your eyes closed,
Just bringing your attention back home.
Wonderful thing that we have these occasions just to be.
Just come back from Malaysia,
Telling everybody,
Now is the time to return to your status as a human being,
Not a human going or a human lingering in the past,
But becoming a human being,
Which means being here.
With your eyes closed,
Just allow the attention to come home and be here.
Being here with your body,
What does your body feel like?
What feelings,
Sensations can you pick up in your body?
Instead of running away from them,
Just allow them to exist.
Allow them to be.
Then be kind.
Being kind to your body.
That means if you need to move,
Move.
If you need to wiggle your bottom,
Wiggle it to make it comfortable.
If you need to adjust your legs,
Move your feet,
Please do so.
This is the time for fidgeting.
Fidgeting the first five-minute fidget out of kindness.
I'd like to say that this is not just preparation of your body.
It's preparation of your attitude,
An attitude in meditation of kindness and attention,
Otherwise known as kind fullness.
Grace,
.
.
.
When the body is relaxed,
Relax it further.
Don't just assume this body is relaxed enough.
Give it real TLC,
Real care and attention.
You deserve this.
Running around all week,
The body becomes tense.
It doesn't need some freedom,
Some peace.
To be able to experience the happiness of physical relaxation.
If there's any tight muscles anywhere in your body,
Be aware of them,
Give them kindness and you'll see them relax.
Mindfulness giving you feedback.
Any congestion in your nose,
Like I have a little bit now,
Or itch in your throat,
Or ache in your belly.
Be aware,
Give it kindness and see if your awareness gives you the feedback.
It is relaxing,
It's getting easier.
It's like your whole body has been to a spa.
Only coming here doesn't cost any money.
That's the only difference.
.
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.
.
Once the body is relaxed enough that you can feel that delight,
Beautiful peace,
Openness,
Hardly a tight muscle in the body.
Then you can let the body go.
Do exactly the same to the mental world.
Relax it.
Being aware of the thoughts,
Past,
Future,
And the emotions,
The tightness,
The stress in the mental world.
Just imagine that there's something pulling your mind,
Like pulling an elastic band,
And you release it so it's loose.
It's often the past pulls us back so we can't enjoy the present,
Or the future pulls us off into tomorrow or the next day.
It stops us relaxing in the present.
Just release all that tension which keeps you lingering in the past.
Just release all that burden of thinking you have to fix up the future.
Let everything go.
When you do relax,
Can you notice that delightful feeling in the mind when you're not drawn back to the past,
When you don't have to run to the future?
It's called the delight of peace and freedom.
The past is a prison.
For something which happened in the past,
We're still having to pay the sentence.
The future is just an escape.
It stops us being real in the present.
So come and be real,
A human being.
Whatever you're experiencing now,
Be kind to it.
Give this beautiful compassion to this moment,
Opening the door of your heart fully to whatever is happening now.
When you're kind,
This moment relaxes.
It's not tight or tense.
You don't have to struggle and strive and make things happen anymore.
You're not a striver.
You're a being who's relaxing.
Just noticing peace come into your mind.
Delighting that peace.
The peace of just being here.
There's nowhere to go,
No duties,
No responsibilities,
No path to drag you down.
This is beautiful moment in a Buddhist center with nothing to do and everything to be.
Just being now.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
A lot of times when you're in the moment,
Your breath can come up.
The only thing left moving.
So if you wish,
You can just be with your breathing.
Just to make sure that you don't get lost in thoughts,
You can say as you breathe in,
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathing out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Continue like that.
Psychologically,
It will bring peace into your mind and allow you to let go of all those problems,
Difficulties,
Fears,
All the baggage.
You can let it go and be peaceful.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Breathe out,
Let go.
Not getting caught up in thinking.
Being in the moment,
Just being peace,
Letting go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go,
Let go.
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Very close to the end of the meditation now.
As usual,
Ask yourself how you feel at the end of the meditation.
What's it like inside?
How peaceful are you?
What does peace feel like?
Especially notice the pleasure of peace.
Beautiful,
Delightful freedom.
No busyness,
Not having to do things,
Not having to compete or perform.
Just be free at last.
I am now going to ring the gong three times.
Please listen to every ringing of the gong as usual.
Don't open your eyes until the last ringing of the gong vanishes.
Open your eyes now.
Come out of the meditation.
So that you can get yourself nice and comfortable.
