Impermanence Meditation

Bell Today we're going to do a meditation on impermanence.

Start by getting into your most meditative posture.

Make sure that you're comfortable to sit for some time.

Recommend sitting in a chair with your feet flat on the floor.

Your back as straight as you can get it without forcing it.

Sitting up tall.

Your hands either resting on your knees or with one hand inside the other and your thumbs touching.

Make sure your jaw is relaxed and not clenching it.

Your tongue is just resting at the floor of your mouth.

Maybe just touching the backs of your teeth.

You can have your eyes closed or if you like you can have them just slightly open looking down at the floor in front of you.

Not focusing on anything in particular but holding a soft gaze.

Start to focus on your breath.

If it helps you can concentrate on that contact point where you feel the cool air passing by your nostrils or mouth when you inhale.

The warmth of the air as you exhale.

Maybe start to pay some attention to the rhythm of your breath today.

The rate at which your body rises and falls with every inhale and exhale.

Notice where the breath is stopping today.

If it's getting all the way down into your belly maybe it's stopping a little higher up in your chest or in your throat.

Wherever you're at you don't need to try and control the breath but just notice it.

Now start to think about what your body is actually made of.

Consider the different parts of your body.

Skin.

Blood.

Bones.

Hair.

Water.

Organs.

Start to think about how each of these parts of your body is in turn made up of even smaller parts.

Made up of cells.

Those cells and atoms may be invisible but we know that they are moving,

Changing,

Reproducing or even dying all the time.

See if you can really try to picture all the change in movement in those cells.

Consider the fact that even though we are sitting still,

Even though we're not moving,

Every minute,

Every second,

Even every millisecond there's constant movement in those cells.

Even though we are sitting still,

Even though we're not moving,

Every minute,

Every second,

Even every millisecond there's constant change and constant movement taking place throughout our own bodies down to the tiniest most subtle level.

Even thinking of your cells like a busy city.

Things constantly changing,

Moving,

Evolving.

All the time.

Now take that awareness outside of yourself.

Begin to open your eyes to look at the room around you.

Let your eyes start to wander around the physical objects in the room.

Now think for a moment about the fact that all of these things around us are also made up of tiny particles.

Those particles are also changing every second and every millisecond.

Not staying the same,

But changing from one tiny second to the next.

Ever so slowly particles and fabric begins to wear.

Those in wood begin to decay,

Rot.

Glass begins to age,

Fog or discolor.

Starting at the tiniest little particles.

Now take that same awareness even further outside of this room.

Sort of think about other things that exist outside of the room that you're sitting in.

There are other people whose bodies,

Whose cells are also at a very subtle level constantly changing,

Constantly moving.

Never staying the same from one millisecond to the next.

Think about the earth and trees,

Mountains,

Buildings,

Houses,

Cars and roads.

The heavenly bodies in the sky,

The sun,

Moon,

Stars and clouds.

They're not static,

They're not frozen,

They're constantly moving,

They're always changing.

Every second and every millisecond there's change in the environment around us.

Think about how as these things are changing they're also gradually,

Slowly becoming older,

Worn out.

And eventually at some point in time all of these things will go out of existence.

But at the same time they'll also feed into something new that changes and comes into being.

Sit for a few moments with the idea that nothing goes on forever.

Now consider something,

Some things or a situation that you may be attached to.

That you may be disappointed with how it turned out.

Or that you may still be determined to have it turn out in a certain way.

It could be people or things like possessions you have or food or your car or your house.

Now think ten years from now,

In ten more years how will these objects appear?

What about fifty years from now,

What will they be like then?

Think about them one hundred years from now,

A hundred years from how they are right now.

What will they be like then?

Now let's take a moment to think about none of these things changing.

As if you hit a stop button on a remote where everything is hung in space exactly as it is now.

How would it feel if none of these things changed?

If everything were suspended in time just this way for eternity.

Nothing's moving,

Not even an inch.

How does it feel when change isn't possible?

When these things feel stuck?

We consider some positive ways that you can use this experience and this understanding.

What does change allow us to do?

What does time allow us to heal?

Can freedom exist without change?

You can conclude this meditation by asking yourself the question,

What do I now know?

You can continue to think about the answer to this question as you hear the meditation bells.

With the third bell you can open your eyes and come back to the room.

Until next time.