Resting In Awareness

Hello and welcome everyone to another live session.

My name is Tomek and I'm very happy to be here facilitating another live on Insight Timer this time resting in awareness.

Hello Caroline,

Hello Sharon.

Good to see you both here.

How are you guys?

Hello Judy,

Hello Nola.

Hello Marion,

Beautiful.

Hello Yolanta.

Good to see you all here.

So as always I will give you a minute or two to sign in,

To settle down and get ready for today's session.

If you are here for the first time,

Please raise your hand and I'm sure the people,

All of listeners and all of you who are here on a regular basis will extend a warm welcome to all of you who are here for the first time.

Oh hello Alvaro.

Good to see you.

Alvaro joining us from Colombia.

So as always I can see we have a mix of people from around the world and I think this is the nature of those live events that we're joining from across the world and yeah,

Try to spend and have a quality time together.

Right here at the beginning of this live event I want to thank you for all your kind support and generosity that you have been showing me over a long period of time and particularly during the last live event.

I really appreciate your help and your support.

So thank you for that.

Hello Susan.

Susan is joining us from Chicago.

Alisa from Pittsburgh.

Caroline so generously made a donation to this cause.

Thank you so much.

Hello Dorothy from Massachusetts.

Beautiful.

Our circle is growing.

I mean circle of everyone who is here today.

Hello Lori.

Beautiful.

Well as you are tuning in and joining in once again I want to say that today I want to talk to you about a very powerful method that I personally use in my meditation practice which is resting in awareness.

And even this morning when I was sitting I've noticed that there are so many thoughts that come to my mind and the presence and the reality around me consists of so many different things and yet my awareness very often choose to rest into things that are quite disturbing.

And after meditating for I don't know 15 years now I've realized that even though having so many hours spent on the meditation cushion I still struggle so to speak with quieting my mind.

And the reason I discover over and over again for that process to happen it's simply because as a perfectionist and to some extent control freak I try to exert my control over what is happening and that always always without the miss ends up in a disaster for me.

Because being very goal oriented I always put myself a certain objective into meditation which as we'll explain in a second is in itself it's very positive.

However the expectations to fulfill that objective are very often too high or too grandiose so to speak.

So the realization I had recently was that rather for rather searching for happiness fulfillment and all those highly marketed so to speak qualities emotions or feelings highly sought for how about I settle for peace.

And resting in awareness is one of those methods that allow me to experience all range of emotions both those considered pleasant and unpleasant in a peaceful state.

And this is something that I want to share with you today that feeling of peaceful acceptance of whatever comes my way which is by the way in a nutshell a description of this technique or method called called resting in awareness.

But right now I'd like to ask you what is your challenge or what are your challenges when you said to your daily practice.

Perhaps you can type it in the comment section of this event.

Lisa says giving up control has been very challenging.

And this is understandable that there are certain expectations that quote unquote the world puts in front of us.

And there are also expectations that we put on ourselves through the works of our personality to develop our ego personality or ego identity that craves and grabs grasps and attaches itself to all those things that we want.

And achieving peace within that aspect or within confines of those expectations can be very difficult and quite frankly it has been difficult to me because what I found is that I started judging my meditation.

One thing that we always ask not to do have be have the not judgmental approach but I started realizing that I'm judging my meditation practice based on how I feel which brings to brings to mind a question.

Do I suppose to judge myself during the meditation practice or would I rather accept myself for who I am and actually get to know myself better through that.

Because let's face it we are not always this perfect version the perfect human being compassionate and kind and patient a lot of times we experience anger anxiety we are sad we are grieving we experience all range of emotions and quite frankly the fact that we do experience the whole range of emotions makes us humans.

So if you again in the name of control put in front of yourself that goal of being happy throughout the meditation again you might find yourself being disappointed and doing something or again feeling very opposite to what your intention was.

The balance of resting in awareness and taking actions to elicit change.

Thank you Sharon this is a wonderful wonderful way of putting it this is clearly or this is certainly my challenge as well because it is not only about letting everything come your way and accept it without discernment.

It is one thing to create a space where we observe observe things and accept things as a common our way but it is also very important to take actions.

However what is important to notice is that when we are at peace with ourselves and in an environment that acknowledges all range of emotions taking those actions is much easier or those actions flow from a very different space and place and I dare to say it is easier to act when you at peace rather than a state of resistance.

Caroline says I'm slowly getting on top of the inner critic and learning to embrace finding the depth of my being my essence.

This is truly truly and wonderfully spoken Caroline because in a nutshell that's what the purpose of meditation is rather than allowing the inner critic get in the way inner critic being an integral part of our personality.

This is something that is very important to acknowledge.

We cannot just say I want to eradicate eradicate the inner critic from my life.

We may put this objective in front of us but the truth is we will never able to completely get rid of it and simply erased from our minds and from from the structures of our brain.

This is the nature of so-called a default network in our brain to have that inner critic to have that feedback that tells you are this feels this way because because of something happened in the past this is an important thing.

However letting we can still function and we still can be peaceful even though we know that inner critic is there and that's embracing the essence that's and that's experience that encompasses all what we call being a human.

Judy says I have difficulty calming my thoughts.

I'm sure I assume that's what Judy tries to say.

Maybe this is this is the right place to be right now because I feel the same way my thoughts during every single meditation after after so many years of meditating which again may be frustrating because I see I see that that calming my thoughts was never the purpose.

On the contrary when I sat to the meditation this morning I start observing my thoughts and I acknowledge the fact and came to my meditation with the idea that the thoughts will calm and my mind will wander and my awareness will be distracted.

But having the attitude of acceptance and setting yourself a goal of resting and awareness whatever the awareness or where the awareness goes to I will try to show you how extremely helpful that is not in your meditation practice but pretty much in every interaction that you have with people around you with your partners with your friends with your family.

I'm sorry to hear Marion that you cannot cannot hear me.

Clearly there's some technical difficulties.

I think we have a new version of Insight Time app at the moment and things are happening.

I hope you'll be able to tune in later.

I will try to actually publish speaking of that I started publishing the audio version of those live events and adding them to my Insight Time library.

So maybe you can you'll be able to listen to it on the Insight Time.

So one of the principles of resting in awareness practice is restlessness versus resting restlessness versus resting.

The principle for resting in awareness lies in creating a space or a capsule so to speak around the thoughts emotions and feelings that we experience.

It is not about trying to change them or even accept them because acceptance has that quality that we have to interact with a thought emotional feeling.

The way I experienced it and I experienced for instance this morning is that the thought appears and my intellect automatically try to say oh this is good this is bad and at this very moment I distance myself from it and again it it feels to me as if I create a space or a capsule or an orb around this and start observing it.

Sometimes I can get the distance out of it in so to speak in the space of awareness.

Sometimes I observe how those thoughts translate into bodily sensations and all these subtle energies that are present in my body.

But most importantly I distance myself and take a place or a position of an observer again and that I and then I realize that's what not judgmental observing means.

Allowing everything allowing all those things that your intellect would consider unpleasant not helpful counterproductive but in the space of meditation it is not our job to engage intellect is to see intellect as only one aspect of the being and as Caroline beautifully put get in touch with the essence or get acquainted with the essence which I believe that so many of us are distancing ourselves from through our daily actions.

We are so much in our heads and in our minds identified completely with the thought process identified completely with with the intellectual part of the self which it is is not the entire aspect of you we are not all intellectual beings we are human beings embracing as I said before the entire spectrum of emotions and experience some of which are outside of the spectrum of intellect itself.

So one of the notes I made preparing to this meditation is practicing receptivity responding to the world as it is or resisting the world as it is and you can see that responding to the world lies in the domain of essence of being of awareness and resisting the world as it is very often lies in the domain of the intellect every time we try to intellectualize things every time we try to attach a thinking process to the experience it goes like that okay it is raining hmm I have to do this I have to do that this is good for me this is bad for me there are always in our mind a spectrum of emotions that are attached to it that as intellect does we try to validate whatever the experience is through the perspective of what is useful for us but we know for a fact that if we do it very often the experiences that come to our awareness won't be along the lines of what we want as a matter of fact jokingly I've heard it in one of the lines of house MD a popular TV show and house goes well as the old philosopher Mick Jagger says you don't always get what you want and this is so true and who judges that what you want is it really the essence of you or is it actually just the intellect ego or ego identity that has a very specific rule set of things that it wants so as opposed to judging and resisting resting in awareness has the quality of receptivity where truly non-judgmental approach can be experienced and to help you that to help with that process I suggest to during the meditation that we will do in a moment actually from the very beginning to expect and assume that there'll be range of unwanted unpleasant thoughts emotion feelings come to our mind and be ready to almost preemptively create that space around them and allow them fully to be there and see what will be the result of it what will be experienced if we approach the approach awareness from that perspective so within resting in awareness practice there are three steps and those three steps actually are quite similar to most of the meditations I do first step is relaxation it is important that you always feel at ease at peace and relaxed when you study meditation you may take a couple of deeper breaths roll your shoulders drop your shoulders away from your ears rest your legs on the floor that's what I always invite you to do when you feel relaxed and then there'll be the the part that you exert a bit of effort thoughts will come and our emotions will appear and your mind will wander and the inner critic and the stream of thoughts a restlessness anxiety and that's absolutely okay I will ask you to invite those emotions that this is the activation part where you learn how to be at ease with everything that comes your way and after a couple of minutes of that when you may experience when you learn and get you so familiar with everything that comes your way there'll be a third part very important the integration because within short period of time you learn that it is possible actually to hold the space for everything that comes your way that it is possible to rest in awareness and when this happens that's where actually rewiring of your brain happens that's where the new neural pathways are being created that are different from the usual resisting and and pushing against or or walking against the current and if you give it enough time even the more amazing thing happen that all those neural connections that in your in the default network part of your brain they are start being pruned and they actually being being dismantled because the longer you stay in that receptive state the longer you give yourself time to integrate this new state of being closer to the essence further away from the ego identity the more your brain gets accustomed to it and this way you become the active ingredient of the transformation which is the the whole point of every meditation to come closer to the true self get closer to home and further away from all those things that were holding us hostage all those things that actually keep us away from experiencing the peace of mind that I mentioned at the beginning of our life session Hey so how does it how does it sound is it something that we would like to try okay so as I said just a moment ago let us prepare ourselves for the experiential part of it and begin by making yourself at ease begin by in your own time taking a couple of deeper cleansing breaths every time you slow down your breath make it more regular deeper you send a message to your nervous system it is time to rest rest your feet on the floor put your hands in your lap allow your eyes to close ask a little kid that thinks that every time you close your eyes and I cannot see you nobody else can see me either bring to your awareness this is your private moment moment of experiencing who you really are without reservation the very beginning accepting and embracing all range of thoughts emotions and feelings that will come towards you intentionally accepting them creating space around them which is the objective of this meditation to rest in awareness whatever that awareness is applied to and right now you may already feel experience that thoughts emotions feelings are appearing on the canvas of your awareness and your awareness applies itself to any of the above and that makes you feel in a certain way and to connect with that feeling I invite you to recognize the subtle energy within you you may experience it as a tension or opening tightness hotness coldness maybe a tingling in any parts of your body within the boundaries of your physical body and whatever you experience is at the moment apply the attitude of receptivity to it create a spatial capsule around what you experience noticing that the experience is not equivalent to the self who are the experiencer is it your thoughts is it your physical body who is it or what is it that is experiencing this so if possible create a distance between the observer the self and the experience itself whether it is the experience of the physical body the body sensations or thoughts or emotions or feelings or images and give yourself permission to experience it fully you may find that your intellect will try to give it a label good the bad positive negative pleasant unpleasant I want it I don't want it and who's giving those labels is it you do you make a mental or conscious choice to give those labels imagine as if you distancing yourself more and more from this experience even the sound of my voice being one of those experiences you listen to me you hear the sound of my voice you may agree with it and yet my sound is not you you simply experiencing it and allowing allowing it to come to your awareness this is a deeply personal experience and we often want to be compassionate want to be kind want to experience joy but we forget that it is impossible to experience all those emotions without also experiencing sadness dissatisfaction anxiety this impossible to experience those without being afraid and right now we are creating space in which there is room for all of the all of the above and you are creating the room in the awareness for all of the above there is a crack in everything that's how the light gets in a famous quote but by leonard clann so right now by acknowledging everything that comes your way being in that receptive state activating that part of you were usually resistance exists but part of you that say i don't want to feel this way this is unpleasant this is bad be allowed to be an observer of all those things opening yourself to the full spectrum of human experience without resting in the witness as the integration part where you allow freely for all those experiences to come your way now that you have capacity to embrace it you create a space for all of the above resting in awareness only when you truly accept thoughts emotions and feelings that are considered by your mind as unpleasant and unwanted only then you truly understand what a being observer means to understand what that awareness does not discriminate there between experiences it or your ego identity that attaches labels and although your ego your personality has a difficult time taking those experiences on board you and your true essence can and it does include all of the above and through that transcends the usual me ego identity making life more rich more full and more fulfilling resisting less being more receptive being less afraid of what comes your way because now you know or you know better that hurt has only meaning in your mind and as we come to the conclusion of this meditation once again and praise yourself and embrace all the experience in the expanded state of awareness where more things can happen because you have the capacity to include more things and create a mental note that it is possible to encompass more by taking a different vantage point and when you're ready begin reconnecting with your physical senses once again start being aware of the boundaries of your physical body the vessel through which you perceive the world around you the physical part of it at least travel back recognizing the space around you the sounds recognizing the sound of my voice and when you're ready open your eyes and welcome back wonderful thank you for this meditation so how did feel I can see that quite a few of you joined during meditation thank you for joining hello Dan if I remember I very often meditate with Dan in the morning Dan comic if I'm if I'm if I'm not incorrect hello Monica hello Jay welcome and thank you for this wonderful meditation so what is what was your experience of it how did you how do you experience resting in awareness what is your takeaway thank you Rita thank you Jay and hello Jennifer from New Zealand the reason why resting in the awareness is so important because it not only applies to the meditation cushion in our daily practice but very much the attitude of receptivity it creates or practices attitude of receptivity that in very practical way can be applied to any of the experiences bring to mind moments when you went to a shopping center and and there were big crowds and you feel overwhelmed and you wanted to escape you want to get out bring to mind the times when you felt hurt by the words said by our close friends or somebody around you rather than I'd be rather than being completely identified with the hurt with the experience you create a bubble around it momentarily step back and allow yourself to experience the hurt in a different way as in I am hurting as opposed to I experience the sensations of hurt it is a very important skill not easy at all I give you that but very useful nevertheless Caroline says the receptive part of the meditation left me feeling so blessed to be in such a great company I felt deeply aware beautiful I think this is a very important part of this of these meditations that we can be here together in and that sense brings so makes it meditation much easier Laurie says difficult this is from feeling itself I can understand why this practice is difficult because the fact that we are so identified and on a daily basis most of the time throughout the day through the self and letting go of it is perhaps the most important sorry most important and most difficult thing that they ever can do the spiritual masters that talk about transcending the self as a result of fruit of years and years of practice I'm not trying to claim that this is going to happen overnight or of the period of one meditation but I hope you get a taste that it is possible and how useful this can be Nola if there is no judgment of awareness is there a time when we become so accepting that the edges become blurred and one becomes neutral and puppet like this is a very good question and and it touches upon the sense of self and how we experience the self and I believe in all that in this practice in the objectiveness sense of this practice is that experience of self from the distance where you are no longer attached to physical body nor the emotions that being experienced with a physical body nor the thoughts and you have and you gain a different perspective it is a beginning of transcending the ego and the thoughts and emotions and feelings that we experience there is a sense of again the experience and the experiencer quite a esoteric and quite deep perception nevertheless possible and also useful in our daily life again particularly when we experience those strong emotions sadhika says I saw the email reminder so left everything has sat down I was very scattering before joining this made me realized that I'm putting many labels my experiences lately very much so I think you can join the club of all of us who feel exactly the same way the giving labels to the experience is that's what our intellect does constantly and quite frankly for me personally this is the source of so much and ease and suffering because of that judgment because the identification that whatever happens to me it is me it is me who experience it right and it leaves me very often powerless and say I can't do anything unless I come to my spiritual senses or inner senses and ask myself do I really need to be in control all the time the one really am I really those emotions thoughts and feelings Ali says I heard the mind is great when used as a tool but not when it's running the show very much so my version of the same phrase goes mind is a wonderful it's a it's a terrible master by but a wonderful servant or the mind is a wonderful servant by it but a terrible master and that's very much something that applies to today's meditation when you rest in awareness and you observe the works of the mind rather than identifying yourself with it I'm learning I'm not my thoughts and feelings but I can use them if they are helpful this is exactly how thoughts and feelings are intended to act in a healthy mind which again I admit my mind is not as healthy as I wish it would be from that perspective that that those stores and feelings very often run the show rather than being the tool to experience reality in a better way so very much I agree with you what a wonderful session thank you very much guys for being here and for contributing to the space with your comments and with your experiences of our in my case my thoughts is the only way to connect with the reality and how I can connect with others interesting interesting so Alvaro how about how about the emotions how about the feelings that the experience when connecting with others I'm not saying you are wrong because if that's what your perception is that's exactly what the state of affairs is was Henry Ford that said if you can or if you cannot you are right so we are choosing our way of perceiving things and we are fully responsible for the way we perceive the world and nobody can change that so if you think this is how you experience the world this is exactly how it happens thank you Carly for your support Sadikah says I feel like there's so much to be said about this topic very much so however I always invite you after the session maybe today maybe tomorrow maybe in a week ahead to actually put into practice everything that you learn today and maybe try to apply the experience that you had during the meditation onto situation that and outs that is outside of the meditation cushion that's how I perceive meditation as a tool as a practice to live your life better to enhance your interaction with the reality with your friends with your family to make your relationships better to make you to help you live your life more fully and more fulfilled and if by any chance you finding difficult to apply those tools to everyday situations I am actually offering mentoring here on inside timer that is very much designed to improve your awareness around everything that you experience and help you developing your ideal identity to be more aligned with the core values that maybe you abandoned at some point and when you embrace that awareness when you developed and when you embrace the awareness and start recognizing what is your true identity then you can