How To Meditate & Find Peace Of Mind (Session 2)

Okay,

So for obviously as I said last week for this next few weeks we will be continuing on that same theme,

Meditation for beginners.

And so the one hour sessions are quite short so we're going to split them slightly and we'll do a bit of meditation skills first thing,

Then our guided meditation and then we'll go into the talk for the day.

So last week our meditation was settling body,

Speech and mind in the natural states.

And it doesn't matter if we weren't here last week or if we missed it at all because it's going to form the foundation of every meditation we do from here.

So I think I said last week that it's sort of that foundation,

It's that preparation for meditation.

So every meditation we're going to do we're going to start with that process.

But for this week and the next couple of weeks we're going to focus on mindfulness of breathing and we're going to do different modes of mindfulness of breathing.

We're going to try three different ways of doing it because it's a practice that was taught 2,

500 years ago and actually there's evidence that shows that it was being done even before that for at least a couple of thousand years before that.

People were meditating using mindfulness of breathing and there's three particular methods that I've been taught that have been very helpful and they're helpful for different reasons.

So the method we're going to do this week is a method taught by Arya Sangha,

A 4th century Indian Buddhist master.

And this approach is mindfulness of breathing while we focus on the whole body,

While the whole body breathes.

So it's not just the sensations of the air at the nostrils,

Not just the chest,

But it's everywhere in the body.

And we notice subtle sensations even in the legs,

Even in the arms,

In the head,

Just subtle rhythmic sensations,

Prana,

Energy,

Movements,

Tingling of all kinds.

And the reason the whole body approach was taught is because it's really,

Really good for relaxation.

It's good for letting go,

Really unwinding and in meditation,

In shamatha meditation,

So concentration meditation I mentioned last week,

All meditation that's about concentrating the mind,

Calming the mind,

Making it really clear,

Focused,

All those meditations.

There's sort of this pyramid and what we need to do is we need to start off with a foundation of relaxation.

That's key and that's crucial.

If we don't start off our meditation with a sense of relaxation,

We find that we're quite distracted,

We become more tense,

We become more frustrated,

We don't really get the benefits that we wanted.

So we start off with relaxation and from relaxation is stability.

Stability is that continuity of attention,

How long we can hold our attention on the breath.

And then from there is our clarity,

Our vividness and that's about,

Let's say you're looking at a TV screen and it's very blurry and then it gets a much clearer picture.

So that's about how clearly we see the breath,

We see the sensations.

And it's taught to do it in these ways because if we do it in any other way,

We find that we run into problems.

So if you try to go straight for stability,

If you try to focus really well on an object for long periods of time without being quite relaxed,

You get really tense,

You get really stressed.

You can do that,

You know,

Like holding a fist but you can't hold it for very long before it starts to hurt.

You know,

You couldn't hold a fist for 24 hours.

So you can hold your attention on the breath really,

You know,

Really harshly,

Sort of like go in there and get it but you find that you'll actually become more tense.

Any job where somebody has to focus for long periods of time on one thing,

You find that,

You know,

It leads to stress,

It leads to tension.

So it needs to start off with a sense of relaxation.

Then if we try to go straight for vividness,

If we try to go straight for,

You know,

Really subtle sensations,

Really get focused in well,

See it very clearly but we're not relaxed and we don't have stability,

Then you find you can actually unhinge the mind a little bit.

You can make yourself a bit unstable.

So there's these 10-day silent retreats that are quite popular and if people go on those and it's their first time doing a 10-day silent retreat and they don't go in there and they don't start with relaxation,

They're focusing really like closely on everything.

They move their body really slowly,

Everything's quite calm and it's very good for the retreat but then they go home and they go back to their kids,

They go back to their job,

They go back to cars.

You know,

Even going to the cafe,

To a coffee shop is really loud and noisy and they find that everything's just really like vibrant,

Everything's really loud and it's quite jarring.

So you can kind of unhinge yourself if you try to go straight for vigilance,

Straight for clarity.

So we need to start relaxation,

Then build stability without losing relaxation and then build vividness without losing stability and relaxation.

And so this particular method that we're going to do,

Mindfulness of breathing in general,

Is really,

Really good for those of us who get really distracted very easily.

That was what the Buddha said 2,

500 years ago and that's what many contemplators have said since.

If you're quite distracted,

If you're easily prone to rumination,

You should do mindfulness of breathing.

And that was relevant then and they didn't have phones and TV and internet and everything else.

So I think we're all even more prone to rumination nowadays.

So it's very relevant to us here and the Buddha taught 40 different methods of calming the mind,

Quietening the mind,

But none more so than mindfulness of breathing.

So many people think it's a beginner's practice,

It's just something you start with and then you sort of move on,

But it's really not.

It's the method that the Buddha himself used the night he achieved enlightenment,

Which is actually the anniversary of that is today.

Today is a very special day,

Sakadawa is the day we celebrate the day that the Buddha achieved enlightenment,

Also his birth as well.

But on that day he did mindfulness of breathing,

So it's nothing,

It's not sort of a trivial practice,

But it's very,

Very profound.

So this first method,

We're going to do relaxation.

And so what that means is in this meditation I don't want you to focus too much on my object isn't very clear,

I can't really,

You know,

It's not very vivid,

It's not very clear.

Or I keep getting distracted and I keep having to bring myself back.

Don't worry about that so much.

Keep trying to relax more and more and more as the meditation progresses.

Make that your focus.

Just get really relaxed as best you can.

If you keep getting distracted,

Keep having to bring yourself back,

It's okay,

Just relax more,

Relax more.

And that's what I really want us to focus on for this session.

So with that,

Please find a comfortable position.

You can be lying down or in the Shavasana,

So that's lying flat,

Arms and legs just kind of 30 degrees out,

And palms up,

Or if you can be seated as well as you prefer.

I see many people opting for the lying down option,

It's a good one.

Excellent.

Another thing I wanted to just emphasize as we start to get into this comfortable posture is the importance of stillness in meditation.

So the more still we can become,

Actually the easier our meditation will be,

The easier it will be for us to maintain focus on our object.

So every time you fidget,

Every time you move,

Every time your eyes move,

You kind of destabilize your attention,

You have to start all over again.

So please,

To the best of your ability,

Try to maintain stillness.

And let's begin with our meditation.

GONG We begin as always by allowing the awareness to descend into the body,

Right down to the ground where we're in contact with the cushion,

The chair,

The floor.

Right down to these sensations of firmness and solidity,

The earth element.

And then like a fragrance filling a room,

Let your awareness fill the entire space of the body,

From the soles of the feet to the top of the head.

This is not about visualizing the body,

But simply witnessing the sensations we experience.

And bring to mind your most meaningful motivation for this meditation,

That it be of benefit to not only yourself,

But others around you.

And as you attend to the body,

If you find any areas of tension,

Tightness,

Invite yourself to relax that tension.

Release that tightness.

If you are lying down,

You want to get very,

Very relaxed,

Release all control of your muscles,

Everything relaxed,

Loose.

But psychologically,

You want to adopt a posture of vigilance so that you don't become sleepy or tired,

But you remain very vigilant,

Very awake.

And bring your attention to the face.

Relax the muscles of the forehead.

Let the forehead be spacious,

Open,

As well as the space between the eyebrows.

No contraction,

No tightness.

Relax the muscles of the eyes,

The mouth,

The jaw.

Perhaps you let the shoulders drop.

And let every out-breath be an opportunity to relax more and more deeply in the body.

So you allow the breathing to flow naturally,

But on every out-breath,

Relax and release like you've never relaxed before.

And set aside any concerns or worries about anything outside of this experience right now.

Any worries or hopes about the past,

The future,

Even thoughts about the present,

About how the meditation is or isn't going.

Set all of that aside.

And as you come to rest here in stillness,

Start to become aware of all the tactile sensations in the body from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet.

Observe the movements throughout the body,

Particularly any movements of prana,

This energetic flow,

Vibration,

Any tingling,

Movements of all kinds.

Try to rest your body and mind in stillness while you observe this motion in the body.

And among the many sensations throughout the body,

You will start to note these rhythmic sensations that are clearly associated with the flow of the breath.

So that's not only the rise and fall of the abdomen,

Expansion of the diaphragm,

Sensations in the chest and the nostrils where we feel the air itself,

But attend closely.

As the breathing continues to flow effortlessly,

You might sense or detect fluctuations of energy of prana in your legs,

Throughout the torso,

The arms,

Up into the head.

And for the rest of the meditation,

Selectively focus on those fluctuations,

Those movements throughout the entire body that are quite clearly correlated with the in and the outflow of the breath.

There is thought to not fully understand the And don't let your awareness be drawn away from its stillness into any thoughts or start roaming around the body.

Let your awareness remain right where it wants to be.

But notice these sensations throughout the body,

Which are the sensations of the breathing.

The whole body is breathing,

So be aware of the whole body breathing.

Let your awareness remain right where it wants to be.

And remembering that we are emphasizing relaxation,

So moment to moment,

As you do attend to these sensations,

Let yourself relax.

Let every out breath be like your whole body is sighing.

Let your awareness remain right where it wants to be.

And if you do become distracted,

If your mind begins to wander,

Remember to relax,

Release,

Return.

So relax more in the body,

Release that distraction and guide yourself,

Return back to these sensations in the body.

Let your awareness remain right where it wants to be.

And the balance we seek to strike with this first mode of attending to the whole body,

Is that breath by breath we are relaxing more and more,

But without losing the degree of clarity,

Wakefulness with which we began the meditation.

So make sure as you do become more and more relaxed that you don't become dull,

Your mind doesn't slip into laxity.

Let your awareness remain right where it wants to be.

And in your own time,

Gently relax your concentration,

Bring your meditation to an end.

Especially if you are lying down,

Gently move the hands,

The feet.

You may have certain movements,

But bring yourself back.

So as always we will go into our discussion at the end of the session,

So if there's any experience you want to share in that meditation,

Keep hold of it for now.

And we'll talk about it shortly.

But for now I wanted to pick up on what it was we were exploring last week.

And last week we were looking at this most basic teaching of Buddhism,

Weren't we,

That we all have this preference to experience happiness,

Joy,

Peace,

Calm,

Comfort,

Contentment,

And to avoid any suffering,

Any pain.

And what we explored was the reasons we haven't really quite found that yet.

And mostly it's because we've been looking outside of ourselves so much,

We've been looking for other people and other things outside of us to solve the problems of the mind,

The ill feeling we have in the mind.

We want somebody else to take it away,

Somebody else to sort it out,

To sort it out by solving issues,

Problems.

So we run away from the mind when it gets difficult,

We run away from challenges,

Difficult emotions.

We don't want to look at them,

We don't want to experience them,

So we sort of just run the other way.

Turns us to the sensory world,

Other people,

Other things.

So to pick up where we left off,

The knowledge of modern technology,

The progress that we've made has been incredible.

The things we can do,

The things we can achieve,

The things that we can access through our phones,

It's just incredible really.

We can fly in a metal box in the sky,

That's just weird.

So the kind of things that we can do is incredible,

But despite that there's still a lot of stress,

There's still a lot of tension,

There's still a lot of frustration.

We find it difficult to relax,

We find it difficult to switch off.

And so that tells us,

Doesn't it,

That the problems of the mind are not solved by making things faster,

Easier,

More convenient,

Playing with the outside world.

But if we want to find a happiness,

Find a contentment,

Be free from some sort of suffering,

Even just have a bit less anxiety,

A bit less stress,

We need to start looking at the mind,

We need to start learning to control the mind.

And that's the function of meditation,

Isn't it,

That's the function of a contemplative way of life.

So right now when things go wrong in our life,

We tend to look at the external thing as the problem,

As the cause of the difficult emotion,

Don't we?

If I was to ask you,

Think back today or this last week,

The last time that you got angry or stressed or frustrated,

Just take a moment to think back.

And if I asked you why that happened,

You don't have to shout out,

But just have a think about why.

Most likely,

It's a list of people,

Things,

Places,

People that disappointed us,

People that said things,

Things that happened that shouldn't have happened.

It's not so much a list of internal things,

You know,

That,

Oh,

My mind wasn't very relaxed that day or whatever,

You know,

It's,

You know,

That person did it to me,

They did this,

They said that,

Or this happened.

You know,

I was stuck in traffic,

So I became angry.

It's sort of like a,

There's just external thing,

Internal emotion,

There's nothing else that happens in that process,

That's how it sort of feels.

You know,

I'm happy because you said this,

I'm disappointed,

Annoyed because they didn't have that.

I'm frustrated because my colleagues keep making mistakes,

Etc.

And so that kind of sounds,

Probably that sounds familiar.

And there's a hypothesis from the Buddha that,

Okay,

Whatever problems we experience actually comes from the side of the mind.

And it is what happens in the mind that determines whether it's going to be a problem or not.

If we were to respond to a difficult situation in our life,

For example,

With a peaceful mind or a positive mind or quite a practical mind,

Then it probably wouldn't be a problem,

We wouldn't even see it as a problem,

It would just be an event that happened in life,

Just something that needed to be dealt with.

Problems only arise when a difficult type mind responds to it and labels it as a problem.

You know,

When something goes wrong,

It doesn't come with a label.

It's us,

Isn't it?

That gives it that label.

And so a mind that's caught up in klesha,

Klesha is this Buddhist term for mental afflictions,

The way that our mind is sort of distorted,

Warped from being peaceful into anxiety or anger or whatever.

A mind that's quite rigid in its thinking,

A mind that has a lot of bad habits,

That's what creates problems.

So the theory from the Buddha then is that if we want to be free of problems,

Stop looking at the external,

Stop trying to arrange all our toys in a row,

Make everything outside of us and everyone outside of us perfect,

But start looking in the mind because that never ends.

That external sort of solving things,

That doesn't end,

As we looked at last week.

We've been there,

We've done that since day one,

That's what we've been doing,

Trying to sort out everything outside of us.

So the hypothesis then,

The working hypothesis that we take on is if we want to be free of problems,

We need to transform the mind.

We need to uncover the true mind,

The flexible mind,

The peaceful,

Calm mind that we all already have.

You know,

Pull the veil of those mental afflictions away.

And actually the Buddha taught that the mind has the power to create all pleasant and unpleasant situations and actually it's the mind that creates our reality.

And so we're all experiencing this same reality,

We're all here in this room,

We all see this table,

But we're all in a version of our own reality that's coloured by our beliefs,

How we feel,

Whether we're tired,

Our emotions.

So you might see this table and you might think,

Maybe you haven't even looked at it before,

You didn't even know what the colours were.

But you might look at it and think,

Oh it looks kind of a bit,

You know,

Hand-made,

Shabby,

Doesn't look that great.

When I look at it,

I see that man who made it out of palettes,

So I see that it used to be palettes,

I see the care that went into it,

I see a whole different story behind it.

So we're all here,

We see the same reality,

But we see a different version of it.

So I think this room is quite pleasant,

You might think it's not very pleasant.

One person might think this is quite interesting,

Somebody else might think that I'm boring them to death right now.

So we all are in the same reality,

But we're all experiencing our own version,

And it's the mind that's doing that.

And what we put out there in the world,

We get back.

And that's not some sort of magic,

Just a magical rule of karma or something,

But it's quite obvious.

If our mind is always off the leash,

If we're always getting angry in traffic,

If we're always kicking the dog and shouting at our partner,

And that's sort of the way we interact with the world,

Then we kind of get that same thing back through two ways.

The first is that people won't like us very much,

People won't want to be around us,

People will fear us,

People won't respect us.

And so they'll give us that same kind of energy back.

And the second is that we're creating and solidifying bad habits.

So if you get angry in traffic,

Anger is going to come easier to you next time round,

Because you've created a pathway in the mind.

Brain science tells us this as well,

That every time we do an action we create a neural pathway.

The more you do it,

The stronger that pathway becomes.

That's how you form a habit.

And right now,

We have created some bad habits.

There are things that,

You know,

We have triggers,

Things that do lead us to become stressed,

Things that do lead us to become angry.

And we need to start working on some of those habits,

Because every time we do it,

We solidify that pathway.

We gain no new coping mechanisms.

So we might think,

You know,

Okay,

I'll solve that external thing,

Because that gets rid of the ill feeling.

And it does,

Right?

You know,

If you have a problem and you get upset and angry and whatever about it,

And then you finally get it sorted,

The anger and the upset goes away.

So,

Okay,

My problem is solved,

So is my internal feeling.

But the next time something goes wrong,

The next time you're in that situation,

The next time you have a problem,

Here comes anger and stress again,

Because you've trained yourself.

That's how I respond.

That's what I do.

So we're stuck in this bit of a loop here,

And all actions start in the mind.

And so right now we might feel like we are the driver of this vehicle,

This body and mind,

The one in charge.

But in many ways,

We're kind of a bit of a servant to it.

Whenever it wants to do something,

Whenever it wants to think of something,

We might think we're in control,

But when you're trying to sleep and the ruminating mind won't give up,

And just keeps going over and over and over again,

Where's our control then?

So we follow along,

And that's been how it's been since the start of our life.

But if we start practicing meditation regularly,

If we start doing that,

Start working with the mind,

Getting to know the mind,

First of all through mindfulness of breathing,

Not some,

You know,

We don't have to go on a ten day retreat,

We don't have to disappear in the mountains for three months,

We advance slowly.

It's like teaching a baby to walk.

It takes time,

And it's a gradual process.

And so the same is true of the mind.

So we start with just mindfulness of breathing,

Just ten,

Fifteen minutes mindfulness of breathing regularly,

To start to get in touch with the mind,

To start to get to know the mind,

Work on the mind,

Train the mind.

And then eventually we'll start to have a steady,

Calm mind that we can start to investigate,

We can start to explore.

Okay,

How does that emotion work?

How does that thought work?

Where does that come from?

Is there something I can do about that?

And then we can reverse that and start to gain control.

Because actually,

You know,

How we think it is that something goes wrong and we feel stressed,

That's sort of like an automatic process.

In the teachings of modern psychology,

Especially the work of Paul Ekman on emotions,

We actually see there's a massive process that happens in between stimulus and a response.

There's a huge process that goes on.

And we see that in the teachings of the Buddha as well,

Of mind psychology,

That it's not quite as clear cut as that.

And that's why when something does go wrong,

We might respond one way,

But somebody else responds differently.

If it was just as clear cut as problem,

Response,

Everybody would have the same response,

But everybody has different responses.

And that's because it's based on your triggers,

Your past experiences,

Your current mental state,

And the sort of bad habits that we've created.

The psychological and physical factors,

Every emotion has a physical experience in the body.

There's all sorts of things that are at play there,

That right now we don't have access to,

Right now we don't know about,

And right now we can't influence.

But the more we get in touch with the mind,

The more we can.

There's a quote from Viktor Frankl,

Who's a Holocaust survivor,

And he said that between stimulus and response there is a space.

And in that space is our chance to choose our response,

And in our response lies our freedom.

And so the more we get in touch with our mind,

The more we meditate.

People say this just after one or two weeks of meditating.

I had a bit more calm,

I was able to sort of pause before I responded.

I was able to have a bit more clarity of mind,

And not just bite and respond automatically,

But they had a bit more choice in it.

So that's absolutely possible for all of us.

And that's how we start to find some freedom.

And this concept of freedom,

This word nirvana you might have heard in Buddhism,

It's not like a physical place that you go to.

Nirvana means the extinguishing of fire,

And the fires that it's talking about is the fires of attachment,

Aversion,

Ignorance.

It's our mind right now,

But free of that stress,

Free of that anxiety,

Free of that anger,

Free of these bad habits.

It's not some special place you go to,

But it's our mind right now,

Once we've gotten rid of all of the turbulence,

Once we've gotten rid of the nonsense that's in there.

So meditation is not about becoming a different person,

Or transforming yourself,

Taking yourself from regular old David to some new David.

But actually it's just about uncovering what was already there.

Because we are already calm,

We are already peaceful,

When we meditate that just happens,

You find that.

You're naturally loving as well.

When people have a,

You know,

I've known some people to do meditation retreat and they said,

You know,

I'm quite a callous person,

I don't really have compassion for many people.

But when I went into retreat,

When I did some meditation,

Suddenly I just started feeling a lot of love and calm for people,

And compassion for people.

Because that's just a natural quality of our mind.

So the point of hearing this again,

And the point of trying to get this motivation to practice meditation,

Is because,

As Shanti Deva says,

You don't cure yourself of an illness by reading the ingredients and reading the instructions on a medicine label.

You actually have to take the medicine.

And so the same is true for the meditation.

We can read and study about it and learn about it,

But that doesn't cure the ill feeling of the mind.

We actually have to put in the work,

We have to take the medicine.

So,

Then to go back to this concept of problems.

Because it's problems really in life that makes us stressed,

That makes us angry.

You know,

Problems are the problem.

You know,

I'm fine,

It's if things would stop going wrong,

If I'd stop having problems,

Everything would be great.

But what do all of our problems have in common?

Somebody yesterday said,

Other people.

At their root,

Every problem has unpleasant feeling.

You know,

As I was saying earlier,

If there wasn't an unpleasant feeling,

Then it wouldn't be a problem.

You know,

We might just see it as an event,

A situation.

So let's say that my washing machine was broke.

You know,

It doesn't spin and the clothes don't drain and it always comes out wet.

I'd say,

I have a problem.

But in reality,

It's not our problem,

It's the washing machine's problem.

And that seems like just wordplay,

But we haven't got a problem.

You know,

We don't have an issue with spinning.

We're draining just fine.

The problem,

Our problem,

Is in the mind.

So Buddhism encourages us to split things into two problems,

The inner problem and the outer problem.

Our problem is the inner problem,

That's inside the mind.

The washing machine's problem is an outer problem,

And that just requires an outer solution.

So one of the theories from Buddhism is that there's no need for unpleasant feeling when we do have a problem.

And that's,

You know,

Quite an impactful statement,

Because that doesn't seem like the norm.

But,

You know,

When the washing machine breaks,

It doesn't develop unhappy feelings and sort of give it to you.

You know,

Like we said,

It's the side of the mind that creates negative feeling.

Because it's a washing machine,

A washing machine has no feelings,

It has no emotions.

And that happens on our side.

It's us who responds with a mind that's unhappy,

Tight,

Uncomfortable.

So external problem requires external solution.

And an internal problem,

Which is,

You know,

Our feelings of the mind,

That requires an internal solution.

So there's a really great quote from Shanti Deva.

And he says that if a problem has a remedy,

Then why be unhappy?

And if a problem has no remedy,

Then why be unhappy?

And I really love that statement,

Because it's so practical.

And so,

For example,

The washing machine.

The washing machine's broke.

If it has a solution,

If it can be fixed,

Then why do I need to worry?

It has a solution,

It can be fixed.

So my worry is not really going to add anything.

Let's just get it fixed.

You know,

It's fine.

I don't need to worry about it.

Don't need to stress about it.

But let's say it has no solution.

Let's say it's beyond repair.

Also then,

What's the point of my worry?

My worry is not going to suddenly make it repairable.

My worry is almost like a child throwing a fit in the aisle at ASDA.

It's trying to change the universe,

Trying to get so worked up that the universe might take pity and might sort it for us.

But my worry is actually not going to make that washing machine suddenly repairable.

So in both circumstances,

There's no need for my worry,

There's no need for my stress.

So it's possible to see,

Evaluate,

And deal with our problems with a practical,

Happy,

Peaceful mind.

And I truly believe that there is no problem so severe that we can't deal with it with a peaceful,

Practical mind.

And there are examples of people who deal with some of the worst things.

You know,

I think I mentioned this last week,

In terms of their partner's terminal illness or their own terminal illness.

And they can have peace of mind,

They can have practical mind,

They can have a calm mind,

Even in the midst of all of that.

So I think there's no problem so big.

But we don't start there.

We start with the spilled milk on the shirt,

We start with the small bit of traffic,

We start with the small things and work our way up.

But we can absolutely build that resilience so that we can be bulletproof,

We can be resilient to the things that go wrong in life.

Because you already have to deal with problems,

You already have to deal with that washing machine,

You have to find the money,

You have to find the mechanic,

You have to sort that out.

So why add the worry and the stress on top?

You already have to suffer,

You already have to sort out this problem.

The second is a self-inflicted suffering that we sort of add on top.

And then there's another quote from Shantideva from the same text.

This is Bodhisattva Charya,

The way of the Bodhisattva.

It's such a practical text,

I'm sure Nina you've looked at this text,

There's so much good advice in there.

And so he says,

Where would I find enough leather to cover the entire surface of the earth?

But with leather soles beneath my feet,

It's as if the whole world has been covered.

And so that one's a bit more subtle but it's essentially saying that,

You know,

Trying to solve all our problems outside is like trying to cover the whole world in leather.

When instead it would be much more practical to just put shoes on.

If we looked after the mind instead,

If we worked on our mind,

Then it's as if the whole world has been covered,

It's as if all the problems have been solved.

And while solving our internal problems and working through our anxieties,

Working through our stress,

Letting go of some of these bad habits,

It is difficult,

I'm not going to lie and say that it's a beautiful,

Wonderful journey of meditation from start to finish,

There's challenges along the way,

It gets difficult.

But it is possible,

Because we can see from our own example,

We can be more calm,

We can be more peaceful.

We can see examples of people who are a bit further along than us,

Their example of how they deal with challenges,

We can see it's possible for the human mind to achieve those states of mind.

But solving all our external problems,

That is impossible,

That's never going to end.

We know that from our own experience,

There is no end to that.

So while it is difficult to train the mind,

It is possible.

It is impossible instead to cover the whole world in leather.

So we need to come to a determination,

Don't we,

To meditate,

To work on these mental afflictions,

Our anxieties,

Our bad habits,

To reduce them,

To oppose them,

To bring to the forefront our peaceful,

Calm,

Loving nature.

That's the whole purpose of meditation and Buddhism.

The Buddha said once,

I teach about one thing and one thing only,

Suffering and how to get rid of it.

And that's the whole point,

Start to finish,

There's no other reason.

He never taught about the creation of the universe or anything like that because he said it's not relevant.

We suffer and we can get out of this and that was his whole point.

So that's the purpose of meditation,

That's why we meditate.

It's not just about that popular notion that you're supposed to empty your mind of thoughts because even emptying your mind completely of thoughts and having a blank mind is not possible.

There's always some vikalpa,

Some movement of the mind.

So meditation is so much more.

I put something on,

We have a Facebook group that I think I mentioned in an email and I put something the other day about,

Something that was quite helpful for me in the start,

Is about meditating for seven breaths.

So if everybody took a moment now,

I'll just,

Let's take five quiet seconds and see if you can hold your attention for an entire inhale and an entire exhale.

Let's just experiment,

See if we can do that.

So you might find that for one inhale,

One exhale it's actually quite easy to maintain your focus.

And then from one it's actually easy to do a second.

And when we sit down for a 30 minute meditation,

24 minute meditation,

Whatever it is,

A part of us already checks out.

A part of us goes,

I've got 30 minutes,

I've got time to kill.

I can just sit here and you know it's going to be good and I can get back to the breath later.

But when we've only got one inhalation,

One exhalation,

It's like,

Oh okay,

Be alert and we can focus on it.

So one recommendation that worked for me really well was to do meditations for just seven breaths.

So count seven whole inhalation and exhalation,

So that's one cycle of the breath.

And just do it for seven and see if you can maintain just for that seven and then stop.

That's the end of your meditation.

Of course you can always just get in touch if you have any questions in the week,

Who you want,

You know,

Any support with your practice,

I'm always available.

And if not,

I'll see you next week.

Thank you,

Thank you.

See you later.

Thank you everyone.

Thank you.