Kim Allen: Guided Meditation 2: Fullness and Strength

So we'll settle in for our second sit together that will have more silence as we get into the sit. But I'll say some words setting us up for the new direction we'll be inviting. So this discourse on mindfulness of the body talks about how when we are not connected with the body, we're not mindful of our physical experience in some way. There's the possibility that Mara will find an opportunity or a support in us. That's the phrase used. Mara being the forces of distraction, of wanting and not wanting and fantasizing. So Mara finds a support in one image that's given. It's the image of an empty jug. It says, suppose there were a hollow empty water jug set out on a stand and a person came with a supply of water. Could they pour water into the jug? Of course the monks say yes. The Buddha says so too when someone has not developed and cultivated mindfulness of the body, Mara finds an opportunity and a support in them. So we can see this. The mind is influenceable. Influence, water flowing in. We're sitting peacefully in something arrives and it just fills us in. It floods us like an empty jug is indefensible or defenseless against water being poured into it. So this is not the profound teaching on emptiness. This is empty as in hollow not having substance, not having its own weight and strength. So we don't want our mind to be like that and mindfulness of the body helps us develop a stability, strength so that Mara doesn't find an opportunity. So we'll sit. You're already sitting but bringing the attention inward, breathing gently, maybe putting an inner smile onto your experience just to lighten things up a bit. Sensing your weight with the chair or the cushion, sensing the awareness in the mind as we bring our attention to the body as a whole. Begin by sensing its substantiality, the weight of your body. It's heft, some density to it. This is the earth element at the core of the body and the flesh that surrounds them. And in the posture we have a straightness to the body, energy and spine that holds the body comfortably straight. It makes sense that as you release the kind of small tensions that we hold in the shoulders or the neck or the low back, there's kind of a filling out of the body. When that tension releases the body gets a little bigger and as you inhale, allowing the chest to feel maybe sensing the heart moving forward a bit in the body. In clarity in the posture, you may think of images of the Buddha that you've seen. Buddha Rupa's often have a prominent chest in an upright posture. Buddha's posture is meant to convey confidence and strength comes from within. And we can sense the breathing movement of the air in and out. Reminds us that this is not a solid fixed body. But a dynamic one. It takes the air in and out, feeling that energy flow, letting the breath fill and fill in the body. Letting the body express itself through myriad sensations. Sometimes they may be like pixels or like an ocean field. The sensations in the body can become more dense. As the continuity of mindfulness increases, there's no need to focus harder. Just people like touch more continuously. We can sense this as a dynamic strength. It feels like wholeness or fullness in the body. In the words of the Buddha, suppose, set out on a stand, there were a water jug full of water right up to the brim so that crows could drink from it. And a person came with a supply of water. That person could not pour water into the jug. So too. When anyone has developed and cultivated mindfulness of the body, Laura cannot find an opportunity or a support in them. So this rich fullness of sensation protects the mind continuing to be mindful of the body. Its myriad sensations, its core of strength and uprightness, or filament with the breath flowing through. There's an art to letting the body fill without getting tight possible to use the breath if that balance is needed. The in-breath brings more fullness and strength. And the out-breath is like a relief valve that releases any tension that may have accumulated. Resting in wholeness if there's any sense of well-being arising in the body which can happen even if there is pain or discomfort open to that well-being. Let it add to the fullness and wholesome strength of the body and mind.