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Guided Meditation: Posture of Mindfulness; Dharmette: Introduction to Mindfulness Pt 2 (2 of 5) Embodiment - Gil Fronsdal

The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on December 16, 2025. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Guided Meditation: Posture of Mindfulness

Warm greetings here from IMC in Redwood City. I'm happy to be with you all, and happy that all the technology here seems to be working fine.

One of the reasons to develop an embodied mindfulness—to develop a greater capacity to be embodied with our awareness—is to have awareness inhabit our body, to fill our body. It allows our ability to be aware, to be conscious, and to sense this world to almost radiate from the body rather than just the mind or our thoughts.

To not avail ourselves of the body is like someone who goes through the world with only one sense door available. Maybe they only see, or they only hear, or they only taste. Many of us are so involved in our cognitive world—thinking about things, analyzing things, making stories about things—that we miss a lot of the human capacity for understanding, intelligence, and creativity.

I liken it to walking in the dark. If you are in the dark and then slowly dawn comes, or the light gets turned on, you are able to take in so much more of the environment. You are able to understand how to be in the environment. The times I have walked in pitch-black darkness, like inside a building, the only thing I am really aware of is what is tactile—what is directly touching me, the walls, or what my feet touch. My world is very small.

But when the lights go on, the world gets much bigger. Sight takes in so much information that gets processed in many ways, almost unconsciously or subconsciously, automatically helping me walk, know where to go, where to look, and how to understand the situation I am in.

By turning on the light of awareness in the body, so much more gets to be understood. So much more gets to be included in the way that our inner life processes stuff and understands what is happening. Because it is more inclusive of so much more information and signals, life becomes more three-dimensional, more full, and more complete.

It might not feel that way when we think that stories are what make life exciting, or that stories are what give it meaning or substance, and so we stay thinking about things. There is no need to have thinking as an enemy, or even the story-making mind as an enemy. But for it to be part of a much bigger intelligence, a much bigger capacity to be awake, is good.

So, assume a meditation posture. This means beginning to adjust your body so your body is going to support attention and awareness. Some people, when they meditate, focus so much on relaxing and becoming calm and peaceful that sometimes they neglect awakening their body. They neglect a certain kind of inner vitality of attention that creates a different context for meditation—a context of inclusion and integration of this practice of mindfulness.

Today, maybe adjust your posture along your spine. Move from the base of the spine slowly up to the base of the skull, and make ever-so-small adjustments so the spine is a little bit more awake. A lot more energized or sensitive. Ensure that the spine and the back are alive with sensations, just enough to support being embodied, being present physically.

Then, take a few long, slow, deep breaths. As you do that, feel the subtle adjustments, waves, and oscillation in the spine. Maybe let the attention rise up the spine on the inhale and flow back down to the base on the exhale.

Take a few more deeper, fuller breaths. As you exhale, as the attention travels down the spine, relax the body. Relax the shoulders. Relax the belly. Then, let the breathing return to normal.

Notice elsewhere in the torso how the rib cage moves, the belly, the diaphragm. As you breathe in and as you exhale, notice where the shifting sensations of breathing are. It is like awakening your body, or a reminder to awaken a heightened sensitivity to awareness of the body. The body is awareness—the way the body experiences itself.

Also, feel if there is any tension, pressure, or agitation in the thinking mind—any way that there is a pull into the thinking mind, into thoughts. As you exhale, relax. Soften the thinking mind.

As you breathe in, feel the vitality, aliveness, and sensations of your whole torso and your whole body. As you exhale, relax the thinking mind so your thoughts slide away, relaxing into your body.

As you inhale, let your awareness move and travel throughout the whole body, the whole torso. Almost as if awareness follows along with expansion, the movement of the inhale, feeling the hum of vitality, of aliveness. Come to a broad, panoramic sense of the body before you exhale. Then, settle back in deeply to some place deep within where the exhale ends.

Relax into your body as if your body is a large room, a large temple in which you've turned on the light. And now you can sense the whole room. As you breathe, the whole body breathes.

If you are aware of discomfort or pleasure as you sit here, let that be a piece within the larger room. You don't focus on it exactly, but you let awareness touch it and become bigger than any discomfort. The bigger body. Breathing in and breathing out.

Gently enter your body more fully. Gently enter the area around your back and your spine to feel stability, maybe strength. To feel a fullness. When you feel sensations of your body, you are feeling the evidence of being alive. To be fully in the body is to be fully in life. Take it all in.

How does that make you wiser? How does that make you more understanding of what is important here and now? Right here.

As we come to the end of the sitting, imagine that what others need from you is to feel how you stand, how you sit, how you carry yourself in your body—that there is a confidence. There is a sense of being at rest and at ease with being alive through resting into the body. Your body is calm, settled, and steady.

Through your body, you are present—not with assertion and not with diminishment, but calm, relaxed, and fully present. Offering people a message of being grounded in oneself, standing tall in a sense—calm, available, and attentive. A posture of calm confidence through which kindness, friendship, and care are transmitted more fully.

May we, with our embodied confidence, transmit kindness and goodwill.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free and independent of what we say and what we do for others. May the way that we are present support the safety and well-being of others. May all beings be happy.

Thank you.

Dharmette: Introduction to Mindfulness Pt 2 (2 of 5) Embodiment

Hello and welcome to this second talk on the basic instructions for mindfulness, part two. Today the topic is mindfulness of the body.

One of the great delights of doing Buddhist practice for me was discovering how wonderful it is to be in the body. I didn't know this growing up; my body was a difficult place to be. But slowly over time, it is like the body woke up. The body became a wonderful reference point. The capacity to be embodied is really supportive for Buddhist practice and supportive for a good life.

We see many people whose attitude about themselves, their belief about who they are, and their attitude about life is enshrined in their posture. It is enshrined in the gestures and movements in which they hold their body and express themselves. There are not a few people who do not take time to find a balanced, upright, confident posture.

There is a way in which, when we do that, the mind responds. If the mind is shy, if the mind feels embarrassed or feels bad about itself—we feel like we are not worthy or important, or we have to diminish ourselves towards others and apologize for our existence—we shrink the body. If we are anxious a lot and the body is expressing our fear, we might be tapping our foot or wringing our hands, somehow letting the anxiety move through us. Or if we have anger, we let the body express its aggressiveness.

There are all kinds of ways that the inner life gets expressed through the body. We don't want to restrain anything, but also we don't want to give in to it. There is something about taking a balanced, upright posture that expresses confidence and self-worth. It is a posture that says, "Yes, I am allowed to be present here. I am allowed to exist and be upright. I don't have to prove myself, and I don't have to retreat and hide myself. I am allowed to be present fully."

One of the interesting practices to do in Buddhism is to choose to stand and sit in a posture of confidence and see how the mind responds. See how the mind resonates with that, or how it supports and reassures the mind and the heart. See how it is better than giving in to the anxiety, the anger, the frustrations, or the lack of self-worth that might be there.

If it is hard to do this socially because the message we want to convey to others is so powerful and sometimes subconscious, at least do it alone. At least do it in meditation. The value in meditation is that with a confident, upright posture—or a confident posture even lying down—all of us are here in a full, clear way.

We begin waking up all the senses in the body. The body is an antenna. So many of the nerve endings where we pick up sensations are there as antennas to take in information: to know whether it is hot or cold, whether there is pain or pleasure, whether something is hard or soft. We know the emotional impact we have from others and what is happening; a lot gets processed and expressed in the body.

If we are embodied in a confident posture, think of it as the antenna getting fine-tuned, like a radio in the old days. You are getting attuned to what is happening. You are there being yourself, available to get a clear signal, to get the full signal of what is available there. The more information we have, the more we are simply awake, aware, receptive, and open to what is happening in the body. The more information gets processed by the mind, the heart, and the inner life. It can begin informing us how to be present, how to let emotions and thoughts and feelings be processed, then unfold and dissolve and move through us rather than get caught and stuck.

The body is often what allows for movement, allows for freedom to move through the heart, the mind, and the body. So it is well worth cultivating not just mindfulness of the body, but cultivating mindfulness of posture.

Notice what your body is doing at any given time. What posture is your body assuming? And can you—without being tense, without it being a big project—assume a balanced, maybe confident posture that supports presence? The way you stand is a posture of presence. The way you sit is a posture of presence. The way you lie down is a posture of presence. The way you walk is a walk of really being present in your body.

At first, if you are not used to this, it might feel a little bit forced, like you are spending too much time doing work to try to be in the body. But over time, it becomes second nature. Just like in the beginning, driving a car or riding a bicycle took a lot of attention; it felt a little forced or like work. But over time, riding the bike or driving becomes second nature, and you don't have to give a lot of attention to it, while the whole system is taking it in.

It is the same with mindfulness of the body. At first, it is like learning to ride a bike. Over time, it becomes second nature. You will be wiser. You will be kinder. You will be more understanding of so many different things as they are happening in the present moment. You cannot be that way if you are caught up in the story, caught up in conceit, caught up in self-evaluation, thinking, "What is this for me? How am I? I'm not right. It needs to be different."

Let the body take the lead. Let the body be the guide, the support, your best friend.

There is a powerful story of after the Buddha died. Someone went to Ananda¹, who spent decades being the Buddha's attendant—following him, supporting him, listening to all his teachings, maybe his closest student in some way. After the Buddha died, someone asked Ananda, "Who is the teacher now that the Buddha is no longer here?"

Ananda's reply was, "Mindfulness of the body. That's the teacher now. That's the friend now."

It is phenomenal that what replaces the Buddha when he is not around is ourselves. It is attention clearly rooted and centered in our body.

So, bring attention not only to all the sensations of your body but also give attention to posture. See what posture you can take that helps awake the body, that helps enrich you with all the information and sensations of the body.

Most of our emotions are housed in our body. There is a wonderful, deep sensitivity to emotions, to resonance with other people that happens when we are present for all those little antennas that are in our body. Antennas that pick up the sensations and experience of the outer world, and the antennas that take up the sensations in the inner world. We want those to be well-tuned, like a stringed instrument, so that we walk through the world attuned. We walk through the world deeply connected, sensing this experience.

In the middle of it all is mindfulness of the breathing. Breathing is part of the bodily experience. It isn't like there are two different things: breathing and mindfulness of the body. This inclusive, broad feeling of being in a body includes breathing, and the rhythm of breathing can be a phenomenal support to move and sense and experience the body itself. The breathing itself is part of this deep inner intelligence—so much learning, so much sensitivity, so much receptivity that is available in the body that enriches life deeply.

Finally, one of the great discoveries in this practice is how, by being really present in the body—really grounded and centered—the thinking mind, the reactive mind, the evaluative mind doesn't have the upper hand. We can experience a profound sense of well-being, a profound sense of aliveness, of belonging, of confidence simply from being alive, simply for being here. It is our reactive mind that undermines us; the embodied mind can enliven us.

I would love to have you spend this day with mindfulness of posture and mindfulness of the body. See what you can learn about yourself by tuning in regularly to what you are doing with your body. What is the posture? What are the unnecessary movements or unnecessary postures that you are involved in that either bring you stress or in some ways undermine you or diminish you?

Can you enter into and take on a posture of confidence? A posture of confident presence that might not be how you feel, but which allows you to feel and hold how you are in a much better way than sinking into how you feel and succumbing to it.

Mindfulness of posture and mindfulness of the body is really core to the insight practice that we are doing.

Thank you very much, and tomorrow we will do mindfulness of emotions.