Mindfulness Meditation With Sharon Salzberg 05/24/2021

Welcome to the mindfulness meditation podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Art.

We are a museum in Chelsea,

New York City that connects visitors to the art and ideas of the Himalayas and serves as a space for reflection and personal transformation.

I'm your host,

Dawn Eshelman.

Every Monday we present a meditation session inspired by a different artwork from the Rubin Museum's collection and led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area.

This podcast is a recording of our weekly practice currently held virtually.

In the description for each episode,

You will find information about the theme for that week's session,

Including an image of the related artwork.

Our mindfulness meditation podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center,

The Interdependence Project,

And Parabola Magazine.

And now,

Please enjoy your practice.

Hi,

Everybody.

Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation Online here with the Rubin Museum of Art.

I'm Dawn Eshelman.

Great to be here with you.

We're a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City,

And it's great to be with you all for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation online.

We are looking at a work of art together from our collection.

Then we'll hear a brief talk from our teacher,

Who is today the fabulous Tracy Cochran.

And then we'll sit together for a short guided meditation by Tracy,

15 to 20 minutes.

Okay,

So we're actually going to take a look together at this artwork that we were looking at.

This selection for you today is inspired by the theme we've been discussing all month,

Which is awareness,

Right?

And we've been talking about the relationship between awareness and enlightenment.

The object that we're looking at today,

This is white Tara with long life deities.

This is from 19th century Tibet,

And this is pigments on cloth.

This is a Tonka painting.

And here we see the beautiful Tara.

We know that she can be depicted in many forms.

This is white Tara.

And in this form,

She represents and bestows longevity.

So long life,

Right?

And we see that she's seated as she often is on her Lotus throne.

And that she has a beautiful kind of nimbus behind her,

Which is that dark blue color in the background.

And then the sort of gradation of orange kind of ochre behind her.

And she's a female Buddha.

She's the kind of most known and beloved female deity in the Slughs Khan.

And she works for the benefit of all beings.

I think today we want to draw special attention to a really remarkable detail here,

Which is that she has eyes,

Not only in the front of her face,

Not only here on the third eye on her forehead,

But she has eyes on the bottoms of her feet,

On the palms of her hands as well.

And this really represents this idea of pristine awareness.

So this ability to be amazingly aware and that that's connected to divinity.

We'll learn more about Tara and I can't help but point out the many,

Many beautiful pink lotuses behind her.

But for now,

We'll pause and bring on our teacher,

Tracy Cochran.

Tracy has been a student and a teacher of meditation and spiritual practice for decades.

She's the founder of the Hudson River Sangha,

Which is now virtual and open to all.

And the link for her weekly meditations can be found on her website,

Tracycockran.

Org.

So in addition to teaching here at the Rubin,

Tracy has taught mindfulness meditation and mindful writing at the New York Insight Meditation Center and schools,

Corporations,

Other venues all over the world.

She's a writer and the editorial director of Parabola Magazine,

Which is an acclaimed quarterly magazine that brings timeless spiritual wisdom to the burning questions of today.

And you can find a lot more about her,

Her podcasts on her website and also parabola.

Org.

Thank you so much for being here,

Tracy.

Well,

Thank you Dawn.

And I'm delighted to be back.

And like all of you who are sitting with me today,

We're coming back to our bodily experience.

And sometimes I can feel kind of anxiety producing or disappointing.

I don't want to come back to just my experience.

I want something better.

And when we sit down together and look at an image like the one we just saw,

It can seem like something so far away.

And in a certain sense it is.

It came from Tibet.

It came from another time.

And it depicts something that seems to come from another world,

Someplace very far from where we might be sitting,

What we might be feeling right now.

But what I would like you to consider is that first of all,

These beautiful sacred images weren't originally hanging in museums.

They were in places that people traveled to,

To have a special feeling about themselves,

To be reminded of what their true potential was.

And Tara in particular is like the best friend you always wanted.

Tara is an embodiment not just of compassion and kindness,

But of unwavering loyalty.

Tara made a vow that she was going to show up again and again and again and again.

No matter what was going on,

If you need Tara's presence,

Tara is there.

So just think about that for a moment.

No matter what is going on,

No matter what you're feeling,

Notice how it feels if you're accompanied by a friend who is the very embodiment of compassion,

Of allowing,

Seeing you with loving eyes,

Reminding you of your true potential,

Your true goodness.

And notice that even if nothing has changed in terms of your outer circumstances,

You feel more free,

More at ease.

And then consider that Tara isn't somebody separate,

But an aspect of you,

An aspect of your own possibilities that you forget,

I forget,

When we're anxious and afraid,

We think we don't have what we need,

We're not strong enough or smart enough or young enough.

And then when Tara is present,

That little bit of kindness,

That little bit of compassion,

We begin to settle down and open up and remember that we belong to the world.

We belong here.

We're not alone.

Tara is our own innate potential to meet life,

To be part of it with compassion and wise awareness.

And this witness,

She has all these eyes,

Is not just an awareness of the mind,

It's not just thinking,

It's an awareness of sensing.

And one thing I love about this awareness that is associated with enlightenment is that it refers not just to a light in the head,

But to a feeling of lightning,

Of things being less heavy.

And yesterday to some of my friends,

I read a single line of poetry from Emily Dickinson that I'd like to share again.

And she writes,

Not knowing when the dawn will come,

I open every door.

And what if we think those doors as our senses,

Sense doors,

Touch and smell and any inner sensation and every way that we experience life.

And what if we don't strive,

But just relax back into the feeling of being present and notice that as we do this,

We can't help but open to a new possibility,

A new sense of compassion or resilience,

A sense of accompaniment.

But let's practice this,

Not just hear about it.

So take a comfortable seat and let your eyes close if you're comfortable with closed eyes.

And just notice how it feels to be here today.

Notice how it feels to be with other people,

Even though they're far flung,

They're with you,

Accompanying you.

And see that there is an awareness here,

An awareness inside you that isn't just in the head.

It is also sensation.

Touch the feeling of the skin.

The movement of breath.

The sense of gravity,

Of weight.

Let everything be present.

And notice that when thinking happens,

This is perfectly natural and that we can see this with great gentleness and gently come back to the sensation of being present in a body.

Noticing how awareness with kindness softens you,

Softens tension,

Opens the fist of thought.

Let yourself rest in awareness.

Experience it as acceptance without limit.

You are welcome here.

And when you get lost in thinking,

In picturing,

In experiencing,

In experiencing,

In experiencing,

In picturing,

Gently come back again.

Rest in your bodily experience.

And notice how it feels to be seen with kindness and acceptance.

You are welcome here.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And see that resting in awareness,

You feel accompanied,

Not alone,

Not separate from life,

But open to it,

Held by it.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice that there's nothing,

No feeling,

No thought that this awareness can't touch with kindness and interest and acceptance.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice that you feel a little more open,

Lighter,

And more relaxed.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

Notice how it feels to be completely welcome to be just as you are.

And open to a greater awareness.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

Notice how it feels to experience a lifting of fear.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

And notice as you relax and settle,

A presence appears that is awareness inside and outside.

Thank you,

Tracy.

Thank you all for joining us.

We will see you in two weeks,

Two weeks time.

Have a wonderful two weeks.

Take good care.

That concludes this week's practice.

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We invite you to become a member.

Thank you for listening.