This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Knowing Distraction; Intro to Mindfulness (1 of 25) Beginning with Breathing. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Guided Meditation: Knowing Distraction; Dharmette: Intro To Mindfulness (1 of 25) Beginning with Breathing - Gil Fronsdal

The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on January 08, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Guided Meditation: Knowing Distraction

Good morning everyone, and I hope you can hear me. It would be nice to have a sound check. I am at the Insight Retreat Center. Some of you remember Mahāpajāpatī, or rather the nun Paṭācārā¹—one of the early nuns who was very important in the early Buddhist tradition, a great teacher for many other nuns. And now we have a wonderful statue of her in the walking meditation hall. Good, so the sound is good, great.

I'm here in the walking meditation hall at the Insight Retreat Center, helping to teach our IMC teacher training program. We have 15 people that we're training to become the next generation of teachers, and I'm delighted to be able to be back here. Two of those are Liz Powell and Kodo Conover², who taught for the last two weeks. I'm delighted that they could be here at 7:00 a.m. and teach with you while I had a vacation. I'm very happy to be back here and to be with you at the beginning of the year.

The plan for the next five weeks that I'm here is to offer the basic teachings that we teach at IMC, the basic teachings that I teach when I lead an intro to mindfulness meditation class, or the format used for retreats. There are five areas: breath, body, emotions, thoughts, and then life itself—the rest of it. I want to spend a week on each area to be able to go into some depth, nuance, and application of these five important areas.

This week we'll be focusing on breathing, and each day we'll go a little bit further with this topic of mindfulness of breathing. Then we'll repeat the same for the body. To begin with the most basic way of doing meditation—which is relevant for people who are new and relevant for people who are very experienced—I think the more experienced we are, the more useful it is to return to basics, and the more we appreciate the simplicity of the basic aspects of meditation. We're not looking for fireworks. We're not looking for something very special beyond the specialness of being fully present for life as it comes to us, to be present for it as it is, and to delight or appreciate deeply our capacity to be conscious, to be aware of what's happening, and to find a refuge in that awareness.

So, the most simple way of understanding—or I propose today a very simple way of understanding the beginning of meditation—is to become aware of how distracted you are. To become aware of how we're not in the present moment, that we lose our sense of poignant awareness of the present. We lose touch with the fact that it's a special, very special, marvelous thing. A marvel to be conscious, even. What is it? How did the universe arise so that the universe could be conscious of itself in this way, that is, through us?

The metaphor I'd like to offer, one that I like very much to use, is that of a very clear mountain creek. You're sitting on the edge of the creek—this is based on an experience I had up in the mountains not far from here—and not being able to tell whether the water is flowing or not. It seemed very, very still. So I took a stick and put it into the water vertically, and then I could see that there was a little current, little wavelets that were formed on the edge of the stick. I saw, "Oh, there's a current. The water is in fact moving."

Sometimes it's difficult to see that our mind is moving a lot. It's distracted and caught up, and because we're so caught up in it, we're distracted from our distractions by our distractions. Something as simple as returning to the breath, returning to the body here in the present moment... Rather than thinking you have to be successful at staying with the breath or staying present with the body, every time we return and stay with the breathing for just a little while, if it highlights how you're distracted, how the mind is wandering off—that's successful! That's a good moment to say, "Oh, that's what I'm concerned with. That's what I'm caught up in. Oh, this is a busy mind. This is a distracted mind. This is a preoccupation with my feelings and what's going on. This is what's taking me away from this moment, being present, conscious here. This is how I lose touch with the miracle of mindfulness, the miracle of awareness."

To assume a meditation posture... It's a posture that is meant to express an interest, a dedication to being present, to really being here. If we take a posture that is sometimes too relaxed, where no muscles are being used to be present, then there's less support from the body to really be here. It's fine to be laying down if that's how you meditate, but even then it might be possible to have one or both arms—maybe the elbows on the side but the forearms pointing to the ceiling—so there's a kind of intentionality to be here, a physical participation of, "Yes, here I am."

For those sitting in a chair, if it works, sit up a little straighter so that the spine, chest, belly, and head are expressing this capacity to be present, supporting our ability to notice when we become distracted, when we get pulled into the world of thoughts or feelings so we're no longer aware of now.

Lower your gaze, and if it's comfortable, close your eyes. Spend a few moments preparing yourself for the meditation by taking a few deeper breaths, just deep enough that it stays comfortable for you, and a long exhale. Deeper breaths, fuller breaths, and slower breaths can be a way that helps the muscles in our body to relax. Slow, a little deeper breaths seem to function as a reassurance for our nervous system that things are okay for these minutes. And as you exhale, relax your body.

Then let your breathing return to normal, or almost normal. It might be nice to let your breathing continue to be a little slower, a little longer, deeper, and as you do so, to relax your body.

Settling into your body, become aware of the body's experience of breathing. Some people will feel the breathing in their chest as the chest moves in and out, expands and contracts. Some people feel the body breathing in the belly, the expansion and contraction of the belly. Some people feel the body breathing with the air going in and out through the nostrils. And some people feel all of that, a kind of global experience of breathing.

Not so much trying to stay with your breathing, but rather to have the connection to breathing highlight for you when you lose that connection, when you get pulled into distractions, thoughts, or preoccupations. And rather than drifting off in those thoughts and preoccupations, know clearly, "No, this is what's happening. Oh, here is a mind that's thinking, that's preoccupied, that has concerns." And if you have that kind of clarity, you're not really preoccupied; you're present. You know what's happening.

And then begin again with your breathing. Over and over again, return to your breathing and notice when you lose touch with that, when you're preoccupied or swept up in your thoughts and concerns again. Delight that you can see this, you can know this. For some of you, maybe it's kind of fun to do it like a little game, noticing as best you can where the mind is like a little toddler who's playing hide and go seek. The mind is kind of running off by itself so that you don't notice that you're thinking, you don't notice what you're caught up in. And you're delighted to say, "Hi, I see you." And then begin again with your breathing.

For this meditation, there's no need to be frustrated with not staying on your breathing. The function of mindfulness of breathing is to help you become clearer, more observant of when you're not with your breath and what it is that takes you away. To clearly see that, almost like you're taking a backward step and looking back: "Oh, this is a thinking mind. This is preoccupation. This is being pulled into the world of emotions. This is what takes me away from being present for this moment as it is."

If you know you are distracted, you're not really distracted anymore. You simply know. You recognize the forces of distraction that are operating in you without being lost in them.

And then as we come to the end of this sitting, appreciate or recognize that the more meaningful, direct, or connected ways we have of being with other people requires us to be present with them. The more distracted we are, the more we're caught up in our own thoughts and concerns, the less active friendliness, care, love, kindness, respect, and attention do we have for others. To become able to recognize when we're distracted, to be wise about it. To not be distracted by our distractions, but to be able to switch gears to offer our presence, our attention, here and now, so we can feel and appreciate the full humanity of someone else. And in so doing, to better be able to be friendly, kind, respectful, and well-wishing for others.

One of the very important aspects of Buddhist spirituality is to awaken our goodwill for others—people, animals, for life itself.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.

And may our ability to be present for others with our attention, our kindness—may that contribute to the welfare and happiness of everyone.

Thank you very much. I'm bowing to all of you. I don't have a bell here to ring to end the sitting, so this is now the end.

Dharmette: Intro To Mindfulness (1 of 25) Beginning with Breathing

So again, hello, and with this talk I begin now a week on mindfulness of breathing as part of a five-week series introducing the basic elements of mindfulness meditation as taught at IMC (Insight Meditation Center). I'm hoping to spend five days on each of these five topics: breathing, body, emotions, thinking, and then bringing the practice into our life. Over the five days, we're laying down a foundation and moving into a fuller experience of it. Maybe it will be appreciated by people who are well-experienced in practice as well. For those of you who have had basic instructions in mindfulness before, I hope that what I have to offer is a little bit different, has a little different perspective, and maybe goes a little bit further into the potentiality of this wonderful practice that we do.

So we're here to practice mindfulness, and the synonym I use for mindfulness is awareness. In developing a lucid awareness, or a clarity of awareness, we're really present for our experience. We're knowing it, we're feeling it, seeing it, we're really there with the experience in a way that feels a little bit like a miracle. Maybe it's not a miracle exactly—who knows what a miracle is—but what a marvel, what a special thing to be conscious, to be aware! Just to really feel that awareness, to feel that, to know that we're here and present. We're not going to be around and alive for that long, and this is the special time for us to be conscious, to be aware, to be present. The spark of life, this spark of consciousness, will soon enough pass and someone else will have it. There have been many people over the thousands of years who had their time to be present; now we have our time. To use that well, to discover the miracle of being really aware, the potentiality of it, and how it leads us to both a freedom and serves as a catalyst, evoking the emergence of a really beautiful potential that we have that comes with freedom.

It starts very simple, the instructions in mindfulness, and I would like to suggest that it starts first and foremost by just becoming aware that we're not aware, that we're distracted. To recognize clearly that we are distracted when we are distracted. When we sit down to meditate, the basic instruction is to meditate with breathing, to be mindful of your breathing. But rather than thinking that you're supposed to stay focused on the breath and that you're doing something wrong if your mind loses touch with breathing... Some people can barely be aware of one full breath before the mind wanders off, and then they get upset that the mind wanders off and they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing.

The beginning instruction is to use the breathing as a basis or foundation, not to be undistracted, but rather to have the breathing help you see how distracted you are. Sometimes what we discover when we sit down to meditate is that the mind is a hurricane. The mind is a waterfall, a cascading of thoughts, or a fountain spewing out things, or just chaos. Rather than thinking that then you're not meditating or doing it wrong, for mindfulness meditation, that's a fantastic first insight that many people discover. "The mind is out of control! Wow, the mind has a mind of its own. It's just thinking, fantasizing, remembering, planning, arguing, and complaining... Wow, it's doing all this stuff!"

See, "Oh, that's what's happening." That's the moment we're not distracted. To know that we're distracted, paradoxically, is to not be distracted, because we know what's going on. And then we're doing the mindfulness practice. This is a very important point, because if you don't understand this point and think the goal is to stay focused and continuous with the breathing, and then get upset when you're distracted, then you're just agitating yourself some more. You're just being even more distracted by the upset. Not being upset by a distracted mind is part of the training of mindfulness. To learn how not to be activated or reactivated by our likes and dislikes, what we think should be happening and not happening, how we judge ourselves for what's happening, but simply to learn the art of clearly seeing, clearly recognizing, "Oh, that's what's happening."

To take a meditation posture gives you some stability, so the posture itself expresses a sense of being really present. I'm inspired by little children, maybe children who can't even walk yet, maybe still in their diapers. I've seen them sometimes when they have a bare chest or torso on a warm day, and how they can sit upright on the floor. The uprightness of those spines is so beautiful to see, the alertness, the presence. Their bodies are completely relaxed—they're too young to carry a lot of tension sometimes—but there's a beauty in just the alertness of the body taking a posture where it's clear that they're attentive and present. Or like a dog standing at attention in a relaxed way, but it's clear the dog is really attending. So the idea is to find a posture that can be relaxed, not tense. If there's a lot of tension, then you want to emphasize a relaxing posture, but sooner or later it's not only about relaxing, it's also about a sense of strong attentiveness, an alert attentiveness through the body.

Take some care with the posture, and then relax, soften, and take some deep breaths both to help you relax further, but also to begin becoming familiar with what breathing is like. Let the breathing then, after a while, return to normal, and then notice how you're distracted. Notice how the mind wanders off, notice the preoccupations. Once you have a clarity of knowing that, ideally without judgment... If you're judging it, that's just one more distraction that you can be aware of: "Oh, judging, judging... thinking." Just seeing clearly what's going on, the tricks of the mind and how you get pulled away from the present moment. See how you're pulled into other times and places, or see how you're so judging or so reactive to what's happening in the present moment that the quality of attention is not fully present. It's being filtered through reactivity, pulling away, or wanting something different.

We're starting to become familiar with all the ways in which we are not fully present, without judgment about it, without criticism about it, and learning to appreciate that that is a moment of attention. That's a moment of mindfulness, to see how we're distracted. After a few moments of that clarity—"Oh boy, I'm really spending a lot of time planning my day... this is planning my day." Or, "I'm reviewing that conversation from yesterday and complaining, or coming up with a better response than I did." Or, "I'm just living in my regrets, reviewing over and over again the terrible things I did." That's what's happening. So instead of, "Oh, this is terrible, I'm a terrible person," or without justifying, "I need to plan, I'm supposed to plan," and coming up with all the different reasons why you're supposed to be doing it, the idea is to find that place where we can very matter-of-factly, simply, directly know: "I'm distracted. I'm caught up. This is how I'm caught up." We're starting to become familiar with the tricks of the mind, how the mind takes us away from a qualitatively rich way of being present here and now.

Do that for a few moments, and then come back to the breathing. At this very beginning point in the practice, the function of the breathing is not something to stay focused on—that's certainly nice if you can do it—but rather to help you see clearly how much you're wandering off. You have a reference point to see the movements of the mind. If we don't have a reference point, it's too easy to be pulled into the currents of the mind and not even know that we're being pulled down the river of the mind, because we're so in it.

Imagine you're floating in the current of a river and you don't even know it. But you grab onto a branch from a tree overhanging the river, and you're held there for a few minutes. You're not being pulled along in the current anymore, and then you feel the strength of the current: "Wow, it's a strong current," or, "No, today in this area, it's a weak current." And then you let go, and you're in the current for a while, and you don't even know you're in it until another branch comes along. The branch in mindfulness meditation is breathing. We hold on, and we see more clearly what's happening. And then we do it again and again, seeing how our mind is distracted. In this way, distraction is not proof that you're meditating wrong. Seeing distraction is how you know you're meditating. "Oh, this is what's happening! Now I see."

Over the next days, we'll talk more, and we'll talk more also about getting focused on breathing and staying more continuous with it, but this exercise lays the foundation for our ability to do that in a productive, useful way.

If you'd like, the homework you could do is to do this in your daily life as well, not just in meditation. Become aware of how you are distracted in everyday life. How you get pulled into your thoughts and preoccupations so the attention is not qualitatively rich for being fully present here for what's happening. With a conversation you have with another person, the activity you're doing in the kitchen, or cleaning, or driving, or whatever you're doing, start noticing the tricks of the mind.

Thank you. Tomorrow I will be back at IMC, and so I think the quality of the sound will be better. I realize in this room here it's kind of echoey; it's a big open room we use for walking meditation, and I don't have the microphone on. I apologize for those of you who, like me, maybe need hearing aids or something, that my voice is soft and maybe didn't come across so well today. I will tomorrow be back at IMC, and I look forward to being with you. I hope that you appreciate the nun Paṭācārā¹, who is sitting in such a wonderfully good model for an alert, dignified, really present way of being just here and now—relaxed and aware.

Thank you very much.