A Deep Dive Into Thay's Calm-Ease Meditation

Peace & Happiness | 2 of 6

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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.