Our overall focus is still on the Buddha's Full Discourse on Breathing but we are going to do a Deep Dive into the Calm-Ease mediation. It's a lovely meditation that is always applicable and it is readily available with its simple gathas. In - Out, Calm - Ease, Smile - Release and Present Moment - Wonderful Moment.
The Deep Dive will cover: Try and Break the Meditation | Peace and Happiness | Crossing the Line into BEing | Smiling Love | Healthy Relationships | and Liberation.
There is so much life to experience and discover with the Calm-Ease meditation. ...Thank you for your gift, Thay.
Try to Break It | 1 of 6
Podcast, Episode 7
This podcast is all about experiencing the Buddha's Full Awareness of Breathing and Thich Nhat Hahn has given us a beautiful gift to do just that with his Calm - Ease meditation.
It is a very simple meditation. In - Out
The given focus is very simple. Calm - Ease
The contemplations are not deep and complicated. Smile - Release
And that's enough? Surely there's more needed to grow myself and deepen my spiritual path. Yes? Present Moment - Wonderful Moment.
Soon enough, you will be able answer those questions for yourself by just Being with the meditation.
Surely, There's more to this Meditation!
Be Curious and Inquisitive
In the longer audio version, Thay introduces In - Out. Then, I feel you can hear him smiling as he says, "Enjoy" while he releases you so you can be with your breathe. Why does he say "Enjoy"? Isn't this about being aware of my in-breath and being aware of my full out-breath? What is there to enjoy? Please, spend your time and - Go find it! Discover why he said "Enjoy". Thay has offered you an invitation to enjoy your breath.
You can search for many of these answers in books, videos and texts; however, all the answers are readily available in the Here and Now. You can experience the answers to your questions. As your practice grows, I encourage you to begin exploring all or parts of the Calm - Ease mediation.
You Can't Break the Meditation
To know the enjoyment of In - Out, you can chose to be with In-Out for the whole meditation. You can just be there with your breathe for the next 5 sits or for the next 5 months. As stated in my typical introduction, There's no rush. We are not going anywhere. We are just slowly opening our eyes to the reality we are already existing within. Breathing In - Out is fully immersed in that reality.
The Plum Village Apps meditation timer is great for setting up a meditation. Here is one you do. Or you do it yourself. You can't break this mediation.
In - Out
Do a few In-Outs spoken with your thoughts as you follow your breathe.
Be curious about your experience, and listen. Gently Listen as your mind says, In-Out.
Listen to your breathing. Listen to your body. Listen to your mind. Listen and mindfully make observations. Listen to your breathing and your body together. What does it feel like? Observing and listening is being very mindful.
Maybe you're curious about, "Thay says smiling is a practice." What is my experience as I say, In and simultaneously smile? Please do it. Listen and smile to discover how it affects your meditative experience. Maybe you have the Plum Village Apps timer set for 10 minutes and bells at 2 minutes. When the bell rings, let its ring soak into you and listen to your experience. Do you like it? Then return to your breathing, In-Out. In & Smile - Out & Enjoy. This can be the whole meditation. Try it and see if the meditation breaks apart.
You can listen for 30 seconds, 5 minutes, 30 minutes or on-and-off the whole day. Just Listen. That's easy to do. : )
Deep - Slow
Thay introduces them as an alternative to In-Out.
My curiosity may be, "how do these two words affect my experience of my in breathe and my out breathe?" Is the experience the same as In-Out or different? Please, go find out. Listening to Deep-Slow can also be the whole meditation.
As you listen, you notice how your tummy expands and shoulders drop. That's a nice mindful observation. Go be there and listen. You can't break the meditation.
Feel my tummy expand. - Feel my shoulders drop.
My curiosity may be, "What does it feel like to feel my stomach rise while listening to my whole in breathe?" Listening to both simultaneously is about BEING. What is it like just BEING? Spend time listening and you'll know the answer. It's waiting on you. : )
Why not? Throw in a Calm - Ease. You can't break this meditation.
The order is kind of gone at this point, but from listening, the meditation isn't broken.
Maybe I'll try to break the meditation. I'll listen to my calming body followed by an Out. Calm - Out. Gently Listen. : )
Maybe I'll break it while combining In and Calm followed by Smile. In & Calm - Smile
Please try to break it. Listen and observe any two experiences while meditating and focus on them. How resilient is this meditation?
In - Slow
My curiosity may be, "I've already done this one. What is the experience if I do it again? Will feel the same?" Please go find out. : )
Hmm, I'm noticing the temperature of the air coming and leaving my nose. I'll place my focus there and listen with my breath.
Cool air into my nose. - Warm air leaving my nose.
Cooling Nose - Warming Nose
Now my curiosity about my experience shifts. May be, "I'll focus on a small part of my breathing/body. Then I'll fluctuate and listen to my whole body"
Cooling Nose - Warming Nose
Cooling Nose & listening to whole body - Warming Nose & listening to whole body
Has the meditation broken yet? What is your experience as you gently listen?
Now, Let's Experience Our Breathing
We can do the one above or you can do one on your own. Either way, I encourage you to just be with your breath and explore your experience with it. Personally as I mentioned in episode 0, I spent 9 months with just In - Out. I did sprinkle in other gathas, lines of the calm-ease meditation, and sometimes I would do other meditations but just being with my breathing was the meditation I returned to time and time again. It's important to realize that there isn't a rush nor do you need to achieve something. We aren't going anywhere. We are just letting go and opening our eyes. So I encourage you for the next 2 weeks to just BE with your breath, gently listen to your breath, and with curiosity, explore.
14 minutes meditation with bells at 2 mins. Mediation's audio.
In - Out
Deep & Listen - Slow & Listen
Feel my tummy expand & In - Feel my shoulders drop & Out
Calm - Ease & Listen
In & Smile - Out & Listen
Your turn, by gently listening, pick two experience happening while breathing. Those now are paired with your In-Out.
In & Experience - Out & Experience
You can keep the same two or explore other experiences.
In & Experience - Out & Experience
Enjoy : )
Peace & Happiness | 2 of 6
Podcast, Episode 8
How do I know I'm doing it correctly?
There is so much to listen too, so much to feel and so much to experience. I don't want to go off the rails into wanderings of my mind.
How do I know I'm doing it correctly?
Thay has given us plenty of direction in the Calm - Ease meditation to know if we're doing it correctly. There are two north star experiences we have to affirm us: Peace and Happiness.
In - Out
In the last episode of this Calm-Ease Deep Dive series, I invited you to freely explore your breath. This isn't a rigidly defined process but an organic discovery of Being with your breath. The more time you spend in this relationship of Being and mindfully breathing, the more meaningful, the more purposeful and the more beautiful mindful breathing becomes. You can't break this meditation so I encourage you to be naturally curious even playful in this discovery. At one point, the Buddha leaned back and laughed at the sky. That's some serious playfulness.
For me there is one word that describes the experience of In - Out: Loveliness. During my breathing, the air flows in and out of me so gently. It is a very tender feeling within me. It also feels powerful like a slow moving and very deep river. With gentleness, it carries and supports the life within me. It is dependable. I can always count on my breathing. It varies from calm to anxious but it's always there. It is a touchstone within uncertain moments. I can stop and listen to it anytime. In - Out. It's tenderness and strength are the stem holding up a large beautiful flower, called Loveliness.
Calm - Ease
Loveliness flows and blooms into peacefulness, one of the two north stars in the Calm - Ease meditation.
I calm my body and mind.
So much can be happening in the moment and if I briefly pause, I can feel those anxieties and energies within my body and mind. My stomach can become tight and upset, tension builds in my shoulders and my mind can't stop racing around and into every topic's nook and cranny. Being aware of all this is listening, not thinking. I am stopping and listening to the here and now. I am not thinking and placing values or judgments on anything that is happening as that would take me away from being mindful. I am mindfully aware this is all happening. : )
Now we'll sprinkle in some inter-being and share the loveliness of our breath with everything else happening in the moment. You can breath In and touch the loveliness of your breath. Then breath out and share it with anxieties and energies of your body and mind. Know that you are just soothing them. The soothing will CALM them. Spend time calming everything, the high anxieties, the quieter ones, the neutral feelings and even the excited feelings.
In & Loveliness - Out & Loveliness & Tensions
This is BEING, not thinking. It can be a very dynamic and a wonderful experience.
As you offer the loveliness of your breath, you can invite your body and mind to embrace and accept the breath's soothing qualities. You're not forcing this upon your tensions. You are inviting and Gently sharing the Loveliness. As the Loveliness is accepted, the tensions will begin to EASE.
Calm - Ease
Peacefulness is now rising into our awareness. Our breath, body and mind are experiencing more and more PEACE.
Smile - Release
There is so much to be said about the Smile and it is a future episode in The Calm-Ease Deep Dive series.
The Smile is Love.
As we Calm and Ease by sharing the Loveliness of our breath we are quieting the noise surrounding our anxieties, fears and hurts. Mindful breathing and listening, not thinking, has brought into our awareness all that is happening in the present moment. As tensions are calmed and eased, we can now Look Deeply into them without much effort. All of these seeds need the same exact experience. They need to be Loved. Sometimes loving is recognizing, sometimes it is offering patience and sometimes it is offering kindness. Because you are continuing to listen and not think, it will be very apparent to you just how to offer the needed love. When we offer love, we naturally SMILE. Think about hugging a very close and dear loved one, see how a smile blooms.
Offered love is easily accepted. Your fears and hurts have been agitating you to alert you that love is needed. Love doesn't fix or repair or restore. Love transforms the hurts into a beautiful flower of more love and compassion. This RELEASES those agitations the hurt was sending out to you.
Smile - Release
which can also be: Love - Transform
Remember if you are only listening and naturally responding, you can't break the meditation. Listening is the meditation. Loving is the meditation.
The suffering is transformed into a multitude of compassionate flowers. Each flower instills a deep experience of Contentment. Contentment blooms into happiness, the last North Star of the Calm - Ease mediation.
Present Moment - Wonderful Moment
This your gift to yourself and another. As you mindfully breathed, you just listened. Then with inter-being you shared loveliness with everything in your Here and Now. Peacefulness started to bloom within your awareness. This allowed you to offer love and transform your suffering into flowers of compassion and understanding. Contentment sets in and Happiness begins to flow within you. Sitting and Being in the full experience of Peacefulness and Happiness is your gift to you. Now you can offer it to another. That's a wonderful moment.
How do I know I'm doing it correctly?
You will know you're doing it correctly if you find Peace and Happiness are being nurtured, cultivated and continue to bloom within you.
Upcoming Episodes
The Calm - Ease meditation is centrally grounded in the Buddha's Full Discourse on Breathing. This meditation directly goes through steps 1 through 10. Right now, the podcast is still exploring steps 1 and 2 and the website is mid way through 3 and 4. We'll continue stepping through and going deeper into experiencing the discourse. So as you explore the moment with the curiosity of child in self discovery, stay grounded in Peace and Happiness and know with confidence your following the discourses' path. : ) I love you.
Oh, and if you continue practice listening, not thinking, and experiencing in the Calm-Ease meditation, then curiosity will lead you naturally into steps 11 - 16. This happens because those steps are just right there. : )
Let's Just Be, Listen and Share Loveliness
In this meditation, allow yourself to just listen while mindfully breathing. If you start to think, smile lovingly to it and return to listening to yourself Innnnn - Ouuuuuut. Notice how peace and happiness are continually cultivated just by listening and sharing love. Remember, don't take my word for it. Experience it yourself and enjoy discovering this is all within you. : )
The Calm - Ease Meditation
12 minute meditation with bells at 2 mins. Mediation's audio.
In - Out
Deep - Slow
You can explore your breath while listening to In - Out BE the in-breath and BE the out-breath. No thinking, just listen
In & Loveliness - Loveliness & Anything in your body or mind
Notice how this Calms and Eases any part of you. Look for Peacefulness.
In & Aware of tension seed - Lovingly Smile a hug the seed
Notice how tension is released. Look for contentment that blooms into Happiness.
Present Moment - Wonderful Moment
Notice how you are more Peaceful and Happily content. This is loving yourself. Love that can be offered to another.
Crossing the Line into BEing | 3 of 6
Podcast, Episode 9
Being is as it implies. It does not mean void of experience or awareness. Mindfully breathing and listening, is Being. The Calm-Ease meditation gives plenty of opportunity to wonderfully BE.
Understanding Our Mind
The following excerpts are from Thich Nhat Hanh's book "Understanding our Mind", page 53, 70 and 71.
The first field of perception is the perception of things-in-themselves, perceiving directly without distortion or delusions. This is the only one of the three modes of perception that is direct. pg 53
The mode of perception that leads to the realm of things-in-themselves is direct. A direct perception does not involve thought or imagination; it is not the result of comparison or reasoning. pg 70
Stored consciousness does not engage in thinking, comparing or imagining. Its mode of perception is always direct. Therefore, the mode of the five universal mental formations as they function with the store consciousness is also always direct. pg 71
Struggling to Quiet my Mind
We have become so accustomed to the noisy chatter in our minds that we assume not having it is a mind void of thought or experience. This makes it very difficult to sit and clear our mind. If the noise is gone, how do I hold my attention on absolutely nothing? That is extremely difficult and then we miss the peace and happiness of the moment.
Let's Cross that Line
Let's make it easier and more joyful. Calm-Ease begins with the in breath and out breath. The intention is to become fully aware of each. We are not thinking about it we are listening to each. It is good to start off thinking 'Innnnn - Ouuuut'; however, you can gently let go of the words and fully listen to the in breath and the out breath. This is crossing the line into Being.
Everything that is heard or felt in your listening is happening in the moment. You can hear or feel the air cooling and heating, your body relaxing on the out breath, the tummy extending and contracting, your weight shifting as you breath. As you sit and experience through listening, you begin to feel more peaceful. That's listening too. "Oooo, this is nice." That is being mindful.
Noisy Thoughts are Enlightening
The Calm-Ease meditation starts with the breath then moves to the body and mind. You can listen to the experience of the in breath and your back at the same time. For your out breath you can listen to the experinece of breathing and your relaxing back AND your smile as you are taking care of yourself. Now your mind has plenty to focus upon as it is fully engaged in listening and being. Those noisy thoughts can still be heard but they are so much softer. Being mindful, you can recognize how soft those thoughts have become. "Whoa, I hear them but they don't draw me in anymore." Don't step into those thoughts as that is not being mindful. You can now BE with those noisy thoughts. You can listen to your inbreathe and your shoulders rising while also being aware of those noisy thoughts. At this point, you no longer need to focus away from them, they can just be. I am sure if you hold all three in your awareness and simply listen to the experience, you will find the beauty in those noisy thoughts. You can more easily enjoy the no-birth no-death experience. The noisy thoughts are now here to enlighten us. : )
Historical and Ultimate Perspective
Keeping our perspective in the Historical is doubly difficult as our suffering waters more seeds. Suffering happens because the breadth and depth of our vision isn't very far. It is more narrow and less accurate than the Ultimate perspective. Our past conclusions and guiding principals are based on the historical which hinder our vision from seeing the hurt as it truly is. In fact, those conclusions based in the Historical perspective compound the hurt and our suffering. It gets so painful we want nothing to do with those past moments, so the suffering lingers, waiting on us to bring the needed love for transformation. Sitting to meditate with our thoughts continues this momentum from the Historical perspective. However, sitting and listening to our experience moves us away from the Historical and our understanding can now shift towards the Ultimate.
With In - Out, Thay invites us to begin listening. Our mind starts to quiet. Then he introduces Calm - Ease and our awareness grows from our breathing and now includes our body. The listening experience grows and the mind has a more enriched experience to focus upon. Our thinking becomes more quiet as we transition from the Historical to the Ultimate. Then Thay moves us deeper in to peace with Smile - Release. The richness of experience grows and it becomes easier to just enjoy the listening. Contentment becomes a part of the experience and happiness begins to bloom.
What Does Active Listening Sound Like
Since our mind has stopping thinking, we can now experience our suffering differently. It becomes very easy to Look Deeply and Touch the suffering. This is all done with continuing to simply listen. Our awareness becomes more centered on the Ultimate where our vision grows in depth and breadth. We all know the suffering while in the Historical. Here is experience of the Ultimate grants us:
In - Out.
In & Listening - Out & Listening
Whoa, I feel a fear. (This is being mindful as it's an observation that is happening right now.)
In & Listening - Out & Listening
Oh, I am afraid and it happened because of these events. ( Notice there is no thinking here. The judgement was made.)
In & Listening - Out & Listening
Ahh, I have suffered long enough. I am going to breath in the loveliness of my inbreath and with it's Kindness, I am going to Gently share it's peace to sooth that fear. ...
In - Out.
In & Loveliness - Loveliness to Sooth you, Pain.
You don't have to suffer alone anymore. You let me know when you are hurting and I'll share our lovely in breath with you.
In & Loveliness - Loveliness to Sooth you"
Remember, we aren't going anywhere. We are just letting go..
The more we let go of thinking, the more we can transform the suffering caused from embracing our thinking. The more we actively listen to our experience in the moment, the more we step over the line.
Let's Cross the Line and Just Be
12 minute meditation with bells at 2 mins. Mediation's audio.
Listening to my In Breath - Out & Enjoy my Breath
Aware of In Breath & its gentleness - Listening to my Body
In Breath & Gentleness - Listening to Body
Aware of In Breath & its gentleness - Sharing my breath's gentleness with my Body
In Breath & Gentleness - Sharing Gentleness with Body
Gentleness - Sharing Gentleness with Body
Gentleness - Sharing
As you are listening to the Gentleness and Sharing, let go a little more and let your mind experience more of you. Then simply enjoy the listening.
Just mindfully breath and enjoy BEing.
Hạnh, N. (2006). Understanding Our Mind (pp. 53, 70-71). Parallax Press.
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Smiling Love | 4 of 6
Podcast, Episode 10
The smile is a ubiquitous experience and a constant companion in one's journey of letting go.
In - Out
Thich Nhat Hanh introduces the smile in the very beginning. In the longer Calm-Ease version, Thay says, "In - Out. Enjoy." at the 1 minute mark.
He is inviting us to look for an enjoyable experience and naturally, 'enjoyable' evokes a smile. So somehow, In - Out has an enjoyable quality to it. Each of us has the responsibility to find that enjoyment. So take your time and simply BE. The enjoyment is there waiting on you.
To affirm we are doing it correctly, at 7:53 he says,
"If you feel you enjoy your deep and slow breath, It means you are practicing correctly. "
Realize he isn't asking you to think about what is happening. He states "if you feel you enjoy". Feeling enjoyment is an experience, not a thought. We are simply listening to our breathing. Listening to how our body moves. Listening to how it feels to breathe. Listening to the full experience of breathing and in there, we will find the experience of joy.
Thay continues with,
"Shall we try again? Deep... Slow... And if you feel pleasant, smile."
The smile is connected with the experience of enjoyment and pleasantness in the very beginning of the Calm-Ease meditation.
Calm - Ease
As you BE in your meditation, you will experinece your breath and your body and mind at the same time. Your awareness fills with this experience and it will quiet your thinking mind. Notice how breathing is still included here while BEING. Since breathing is present, an enjoyable and pleasing experience is still happening. It is now blended with the body and mind. The smile continues here.
Smile - Release
If we are mindfully breathing and BEING with our breath within the whole body, the smile broadens with purpose. The smile is now connected to enjoyment, pleasantness and relaxation.
At 21:14, "Smiling means relaxing to all your muscles in your face. Every time you smile, you relax all these muscles on your face. And your nervous system becomes relaxed."
At his point, the smile holds something really big and critical in one's journey of letting go, love. Thay continues with,
"And smiling here is to yourself. That is the practice of loving kindness directed to oneself. Breathing in, I smile. Breathing out, I release."
This is compassionate love for oneself.
At 22:17 he says, "Breathing in I smile. Nothing is as important as my peace. I smile to everything, even my suffering, to my difficulties."
Let's imagine we are sitting with a close friend or loved one and they tell us of a hurtful moment they've experience. Think about how we would offer a smile. Our loved one would need our compassionate smile, our patient smile, kindness smile, caring smile or our gentle smile of listening. Our loved one would need our love and each of these smiles is of love. There isn't judgement here, only our kindness of recognition of our suffering and our gentleness of simply listening. This is the smile of love.
Thay invites us to offer love to ourselves delivered within our smile. If you want, as you breath in and recognize a hurtful moment, you can wrap love around it. Naturally, you'll find yourself smiling with the hug. You breathe out and release the anxiety and tensions it is causing. This soothes the hurt.
Notice this is not getting rid of the hurt. You are not releasing the hurtful moment. You are releasing the tension generated by it. You don't want to get rid of the hurtful moment. You want to continue mindfully breathing, kindly recognizing it and gently listening to it as you BE with it. At this point, you'll be able to look deeply into it and touch its source. Then you can offer it Love so it can transform into flowers that will always be with you.
Lastly, Thay has given us another purpose for our smile, intrinsic motivation to sit and mindfully breathe again.
"Nothing is as important as my peace. "
There will be times when you don't feel like sitting and breathing. Remember, "Nothing is as important as my peace." and that's all the motivation you may need. Maybe you feel off and you can't find your smile. Returning to your sitting practice will bring your smile back.
At this point, Thay has wrapped: enjoyment, peace, relaxation, compassionate love and intrinsic motivation to the one's smile in their practice.
Whew!
Present Moment - Wonderful Moment
At 29:59 he says, "Breathing In, I establish myself in the present moment. Breathing out, I realize this is a wonderful moment. ... If you have some concentration, that exercise will bring you a lot of joy."
Clearly, a wonderful moment is going to include smiles, but here's my favorite part, "If you have some concentration." He does not say perfect or excellent, he says some. As you sit and BE, your thinking mind will quiet, but maybe it still can be heard. Maybe at some moments it still is pretty loud. It's okay because you have "some concentration" on experiencing the moment; hence, there is a "lot of joy" waiting on you to experience it. How wonderful is that!
Thay continues with,
"Dear Friends, these exercises can be practiced everywhere, at any time. When you sit on a bus ... when you are in the kitchen preparing a meal, ... you can practice while walking, ... when you line up to wait"
Mindful breathing doesn't have to end when you stand up from sitting. It can continue as we live life. AND the mindful breathing doesn't have to be as concentrated as when we are sitting. Everyday life pulls us from the peaceful and happy mind. It happens to everyone, but we can still return to mindful breathing in little moments throughout the day. Will our concentration be long, sustained or deep in those little moments? Probably not, but here's the cool part. There will be "some concentration"; thus, there is "a lot of joy" waiting on us with just a little bit of effort. : ) What a gift.
Just Be
In case you are wondering, how will I ensure I have all of these experiences while I sit and smile? Well, you can let that thought go. That is your thinking mind and when we sit, we want to become aware of our experience through listening. That is BEING. Each of these experiences are very natural reactions so you don't have to think 'where are they'. AlI you need to do is gently listen for them. "Oh, I'm smiling right now because I am experiencing this lovely peace."
Remember, if you're BEING, you can't break the mediation. If you're experiencing deep peace within Calm - Ease and the bell rings for Smile - Release, you can simply continue with Calm - Ease. Let it soak into your awareness. Stay and rest there. That's healing. Stay and BE there. This is your true home.
You End Where You Began
When you sit and just BE, you ARE. There isn't a need to pretend you are something you are not. This is liberating and freeing. A smile is the natural response.
While BEING you become aware of your suffering. Offering yourself a kind and gentle smile recognizes your suffering and begins its loving transition into compassionate flowers. A smile is a natural response to this change.
The flowers are shared with yourself and others, paving the way for more beautiful transitions. A smile is a natural response in this experience too.
As the wildflower garden of knowledge and compassion grows in your awareness, you let go of more perceptions, beliefs, ideas and conclusions that have caused you suffering. A happy smile blooms.
Your mindful breathing continues beyond your sitting. The meditation does not end and continues in your walk, your conversations and in your thoughts as you live your day. You end the day with a sit and you realize your smile has been there all day with you and it greets you again with your first breath. This is a lovely, all-day smile.
Letting go of more, you become more aware of the life within you, around you, within others, in the mountains and streams and beyond yet further. You breathe in and BE the experience of all of it. Your definitions of self become more clear. The smile of freedom is experienced.
As your focus stays upon your experience of just BEING and letting your thoughts go, it becomes more and more apparent that life has been living emptiness, signlessness and aimlessness all along. This is a joyous and celebratory smile.
It is the same smile that was with you in the very beginning and has always been with you. It has supported you, expressed love with and for you and it has affirmed you at every step of letting go.
Hello, my smile. I am glad you are here.
Let's Sit and Enjoy our Smile
I invite you to enjoy this meditation, to enjoy these moments, to enjoy your breathing, to enjoy listening to your body and mind, to enjoy your offered kindness, gentleness and love offered to all of you and lastly to enjoy the wonderful moment. When the last bell rings, do you remember all of your smiles? As you stand up, remember, you are still breathing. If this awareness brings you a sense of safety and absurdness, then please, enjoy your smile that just bloomed .
12 minute meditation with bells at 2 mins. Meditation's audio.
Listening to my In Breath - Out & Enjoy my Breath
Aware of In Breath & its gentleness - Listening to my Body
In Breath & Gentleness - Listening to Body
Aware of In Breath & its gentleness - Sharing my breath's gentleness with my Body
In Breath & Gentleness - Sharing Gentleness with Body
Gentleness - Sharing Gentleness with Body
Gentleness - Sharing
As you are listening to the Gentleness and Sharing, let go a little more and let your mind experience more of you. Then simply enjoy the listening.
Just mindfully breath and enjoy BEing.
Healthy Relationships | 5 of 6
Podcast, Episode 11
A patient, kind, thoughtful, compassionate, insightful, loving friend is a beautiful gift that can support us in seeing the beauty in our suffering. Such a friend is always grounded in the moment so they can be fully present. They are BEing so their mind isn't filled with criticality or judgement. They are fully immersed in listening. Just listening. They hear both the happiness and peace of the moment, as well as our suffering. Breathing and listening to their experience of the moment, insight comes and is offered as a loving invitation. Maybe the insight is, "I will sit with you so you don't have to be alone." The Calm-Ease meditation sets us up to be a friend to ourself, and then secondly, a friend for another.
The Calm-Ease meditation cultivates our intra-personal relationship between our suffering and the insights from the seeds of conscience. We begin the meditation by listening to our breath and then both our breath and our body. Our mind becomes filled with the awareness of our sensory experiences, which is our sensory conscience. As we breath in we are fully aware of our lungs filling with air, our shoulders rising, the tension in our shoulders and a subtle shifting of our weight across our bottom and legs. At the conclusion of our out-breath, we can feel our whole body relaxing and sinking more deeply with each released breath. We are BEing with our breath and body. It's in the here and now that the critical and judgment mind quiets. We can tune it out like the surrounding conversations at a restaurant.
The Cleveland Clinic states "Communication is key, but so is kindness" in their article on the healthy relationships. While BEing, we are listening deeply and listening is an important half of communication. Kindness is easily expressed and offered as our judgement mind is quieted. Conditions too are quieted since judgements of better and worse are quelled. You can listen to your suffering unconditionally and without judgement. You hear just as it is, nothing more, nothing less.
The Calm-Ease meditation fills our mind with the sensory experiences of our breath then our body.
In - Out, "Hello, my breathe."
Calm - Ease, "Oo my tired body, you can ease and relax."
We are listening to our breath. We are listening to our body. We are listening for tightness and offering it calmness. We listen then we offer ease. That is all we're doing. Listening and responding with loving kindness. So the mediation is in accord with the Cleveland Clinic's statement, "Communication is key, but so is kindness."
Continuing to listen, we are offering the kindness, gentleness and the loving of our smile "to yourself. That is the practice of loving kindness, directed to oneself.", as Thay says in the longer Calm-Ease version. There is plenty of communication here in the intra-personal relationship and kindness is expressed and offered through our loving smile. Our judging mind is quieted; hence, we only see ourself as we naturally are, without labels, without imposed beliefs or self imposed expectations. This is a safe place. This is our true home.
Listen to how Thay speaks of this experience in the chapter "Listening to Ourselves", from his How to Connect book on page 48.
Mindfulness of listening and speaking can help us restore communication. We begin by coming home to ourselves and practicing mere recognition, which means listening to whatever thoughts and emotions rise up without judging them, and then letting them pass without holding onto them. We can learn to listen to our own suffering. We don't have to try and get away from ourselves or cover up unpleasant or uncomfortable feelings. We are there for ourselves, to understand ourselves, our suffering and our difficulties, and to transform. Before we can listen to another person, we need to spend time listening to ourselves.
The intra-personal relationship is like any other relationship. It takes time to trust it. There is a period of 'getting to know you'. A time of discovery. Enjoy this time. It's always there for you. As you become comfortable with being in this space, your healing will continue and you'll grow and mature more quickly. Eventually, you'll be excited to discover suffering in you. You'll know exactly how to greet it. How to listen to it and how to love it so it can transition into a beautiful flower of compassion. These flowers are for you and for you to lovingly offer to another.
Here, Thay speaks of Listening to Others. Hear how similar it is as "Listen to Ourselves". The difference in the paragraphs are the flowers of compassion. While BEing in the moment, you greet another and your flowering compassion will bloom towards that person. You will know just how to greet them. How to listen to them and just how to offer them love. Maybe you'll hear how they don't feel recognized and you offer them, "I see how you have carried this pain and how hard it has been for you. I can listen if you would like to share more so you can let go and heal the suffering."
"Listening to Others", page 56
The most effective way to show compassion to another person is to listen to them. Once we know how to listen to our own suffering with compassion, we can listen to someone else with the same compassion, and our listening is like a salve for their wounds. We listen with only one purpose, which is to give them the change to speak out what is in their heart and to suffer less. We refrain from interrupting or attempting to correct what we hear. When we see and understand the other person's suffering, compassion is born in our heart, and we no longer blame them for their behavior. We only want to help and bring relief. We can do this by listening deeply, with compassion, and without judgement.
Let's experience this healthy relationship in a meditation.
14 minute meditation with bells at 2 mins. Mediation's Audio
With kindness, greet your whole in breath. - Enjoy every out breath for just what it is
Kindly greet - Enjoy
"Hello, my body." Smile. - "I am here for you."
"Hello" - "I am here for you."
"I am listening to you" - "I hear your tensions and aches."
"Listening" - "Hearing"
With calmness, smiles to your body's tensions. - Gently share your breath's softness so the tensions can ease.
Smile to tensions. - Share softness with tensions.
Lovingly smile to your body. - Enjoy the soothing release.
Smile - Release
Feel the wholeness of your breathe and body as one. - Rest in the moment's beauty.
breathe and body as one. - Rest in beauty.
Present Moment - Wonderful Moment
Wishing you Peace and Happiness as Wonderment and Gratitude interplay ending in erupting joy.
The Colors of Liberation | 6 of 6
Podcast, Episode 12
The last half of the Full Discourse on Breathing focuses on liberating our awareness through contemplation on Emptiness, Aimlessness and Signlessness. However, that does not mean that the three doors are not found in Thay's Calm-Ease meditation. They are fully present there and we experience them in the meditation.
This is possible because of Emptiness' No-Birth | No-Death or No-Self. The Calm-Ease meditation grounds our awareness into the moment and we experience Happiness and Peace. We cannot separate peace and happiness from the three doors of liberation any more than we can experience liberation without happiness and peace. They inter-ARE. So when we are sitting in the moment we are experiencing liberation.
Maybe we haven't let enough go within our beliefs, perceptions and our thoughts to fully see the three doors. That's okay. As we let go, our awareness grows. If the only window to our room is very small, we can only see so much.
Yet the whole world is still there. Maybe when the sun shines in we see reds and yellow-greens. We enjoy them, especially when they begin to move playfully. If we could let go of the wall supporting the window a little more, the window can expand, broadening our awareness. "Oh, those colors are leaves. Nice, there's a Japanese maple." We continue to enjoy the colors and their dance. We are able to rest and heal, thus letting go more of the wall's structure. The window widens more. "O. There's the sun! Hey, the yellow-green is from the tree behind the maple." The enjoyment continues, we choose to look deeply into our suffering and touching our suffering's root and lovingly offering it the love it needs to heal. The window of awareness opens more. "Ah, the wind blows the tree's leaves and makes the yellow-green and the maple's red leaves dance across my window's view. " You peacefully smile with the realization that - you've enjoyed your growing awareness the whole time. You can remember the first time you saw the colors dancing and enjoyed them, not knowing what they were. That joy has never left as your window has grown. It's the same, consistent joy that has come from experiencing the dancing visual delights of color.
The three doors of liberation are experienced the same way while sitting and being in the moment. Maybe they are just blocks of color dancing in your lap or maybe you can start to make out the shape of the leaf. Either way, peace and happiness are always there.
Does it really Matter How Big Your Window Is?
Thankfully No. : ) Once you sit and mindfully breathe and gently listen, those colors are dancing right there within the Peace and Happiness. You don't have to wait, you can enjoy the colors of liberation right away. It's the enjoyment that intrinsically motivates to sit when you don't feel like it. Knowing of the joy excites you to sit again. BEing the joy is who you are.
Wonderment then Gratitude Leading to a Joyous Eruption
When we experience Peace and Happiness during the Calm-Ease mediation, Thay says we are doing it correctly. When we experience Wonderment followed by Gratitude we become ripe to lean back and "laugh at the sky" with Joy. These experiences are rooted deeply in liberation. When you experience any one of these you are seeing the colors of liberation.
Maybe after awhile of mindful breathing, you are amazed how Peace and Happiness are always available in the moment. They are constant and you can depend on them. You will find yourself smiling with delightful Wonderment followed by thankfulness.
Possibly it has been a long difficult day and you have lost your Happiness. After your kids have settled down to bed, you find a comfortable spot in your home and sit and mindfully listen to the bells that bring you into meditation. As you begin to listen to your breathing, your thinking mind begins to ever so lightly quiet down. You decide to continue with your breath so you switch from In-Out to Deep-Slow because when you say Slow, you can really feel your body calm. Then start "Calm-Ease" by listening to both your in breath and your shoulders. You exhale with a warm caring smile and share its warmth with your shoulders. You continue BEing as you sit through "Calm-Ease". Now it's a Wonderful Moment as you are BEing with all of you. Your mind is quieted enough to have some concentration. You experience a deep sense of contentment that blooms into Happiness. "Ah, that feels so good. I am home again and there's my Happiness." You experience Gratitude for the Happiness in your true home. Your smile now includes Gratitude.
Perhaps you have including your smile to help relax your facial muscles and help with your overall Ease. You smiled even though you haven't felt like smiling. You do this for several days. Finally today, you sit and as you close your eyes and your smile springs forth and greets you before you say, "In". You joyously laugh with this welcomed, unexpected experience.
Each of these smiles bloomed from moments of experiencing the colors of liberation. You know it because you could simply let go and just BE. You were wonderfully content to just BE. There was nowhere else to go, to become or an experienced awareness to obtain. You had arrived home. That's a wonderful liberation.
Emptiness of Interbeing
The more your mind was filled with the experience of breathing and feeling your body, the two melded into one whole experience. The breath provided energy for the body. The body expanded and contracted for the breath to be. They were interbeing. Experiencing both together, you were experiencing the deep peace of interbeing. For a moment, recall the peace with just experiencing the breath or just the body. Now compare and contrast that with the peace felt with experiencing the breath and the body as one. The depth is synergistically deeper. That is the experience of interbeing. That is the experience of emptiness.
Aimlessness
Recall the experience when your awareness with filled with both breath and body. Did you want to leave that awareness? How complete did you feel? Did you feel lacking in anyway? You were more than enough. Nothing to gain and nothing to become. You were experiencing the contentment of Aimlessness.
Signlessness
When you sit, you enjoy your breath. You enjoy your body. You enjoy your breathe within your body and your body within your breath. Neither is more important than the other. When you look deeply into them, you see life. Life needs a breath to have a body. Life needs a body for expression. It's not the parts that are significant, it is that life has created what ever it needs to continue. The breath and the body are momentary while life has been continuing. This realization is wonderment. Life has created you so it can continue and you get to momentary see life all around you. Gratitude begins to bloom that you are life seeing yourself everywhere. It's about then that joy begins to erupt and you tilt your head back and laugh with the sky.
Colors of Liberation
When you experience any one of these: peace, happiness, wonderment, gratitude and joy from your practice, know you are experiencing the colors of liberation coming in through your window of awareness.
Let's experience colors of liberation in a meditation.
Smile kindly to your in breathe. - Enjoy your out breathe.
Smile kindly - Enjoy
Breath in deeply - Rest in your slowing out breath
Deep - Slow
"Hello, my body." - "I am sharing my breath with you"
Hello, body. - Share breath
Calm body - Ease body
Calm - Ease
Aware of breath and body as one. - Rest in the peacefulness
Breath and body - Rest
Aware of breath and body as one. - Experience the life within you
Breath and body - Life
Aware of breath and body as one. - Grateful Life's Energy
Breath and body - Grateful
Just BE - You are Home.