I'm Danielle and we're going to, we're going to try something a
little bit different tonight and if you like it, we can keep
doing it in future weeks. And if you don't like it, we can
do something else. Want to talk tonight about
Lojang. Lojang is a training program, a
mind heart training program associated with Tibetan Buddhism
and pragmatic Buddhism's. Our lineage goes through Chan
and Zen, so it doesn't go through Tibetan, but we do think
about using tools that might be helpful.
And I think that the idea of this Lojang training might be
helpful to us. So Lojang training in the strict
sense, in the Tibetan Buddin sense, it's a very structured
training program that requires a lot of guidance and a lot of
reflection. And we're not, I'm not
approaching it exactly this way. I'm thinking about this more as
a sort of cognitive reframing tool and a tool that we could
use maybe to help us achieve our better achieve the goals of
enlightenment in awakening. So the idea with Lojang is
there's a series of 59 slogans or phrases or or statements, and
the idea is to deeply meditate on one of the statements and
meditate so much that the statement kind of becomes more
abstract and conceptual and kind of settles into your body.
All of these statements are designed to help us think about
various facets of Buddhism so that we can think about how they
work in our lives and then how they become a part of how we
kind of engaged in the world. I can't go over all 59, so I'm
just going to go over a few that can help us at least with this
idea of perception and refraining the way that we see
the world so that we can better train our mind and our heart.
So we're less reactive, we're less ego centered, and we are
better able to achieve the kind of enlightenment that we're
going for. And I keep saying achieve as if
it was a goal oriented thing, but you know what I'm saying?
This is, you know, it's not a a race, but it's a practice
anyway. So I'm going to talk about a few
of them. So 1 slogan #2 says regard all
dharmas as dreams. One of the points of these is
that sometimes these slogans seem very abstract and that way
they're a little bit like a Zen koan where it's kind of trying
to figure out what it means as part of what you gain through
enlightenment. But I'm going to explain it to
you to make it a little bit easier.
I'm not going to make you sit there and just like meditate on
what does this mean when we're saying regard all dharmas as
dreams, when we, when he, they talk about this, what they're
saying is that all of our experiences, 1 they're, they're
always changing, right? So this does relate to the
concept of impermanence, that even though our experiences feel
real and tangible, it is all sort of temporary and it's all
you know in our interpretation of an event.
The idea with this regard all dharmas as dreams is to think
about your experiences not as sort of concrete fixed reality,
but as a really fluid part of life.
The purpose of focusing on this idea is to help us to let go of
our attachment to the way that things that we think things
should be, or the way we want things to be or the way we don't
want things to be. So the idea is if we can imagine
a very our very fluid state of of existence and that we frame
that state of existence and understand it in a variety of
maybe not so helpful ways. Like you've had dreams and
they're just bizarre and they don't really make sense of
things. Sometimes we experience world in
our world in that way. So the idea is if we can think
about life as a really fluid, moment by moment dynamic
experience that we interpret in a variety of ways, we can let go
of the story that we're telling ourselves about what the way
that things are or the way that things should be.
So that's the point of focusing on this idea of regard all
dharmas as dreams, another one when the world is filled with
evil, transform all mishaps into the path of awakening.
This one I felt was really appropriate for right now a lot
of people are suffering, and the idea there is to use all of
life's difficulties as opportunities for practice.
One of the reasons that many of us come to Buddhism is because
we're told that it can help us help alleviate our suffering and
the suffering of others, right? Which means we experience
suffering. What this is telling us is try
to learn from those experiences or use those experiences to help
you on your path. We often get really reactive
when things don't go the way that we want.
When we see things that are bad that are happening in the world
where people are getting hurt or where we're we we are getting
hurt, we tend to have a really strong initial reaction that may
not be helpful. And instead what this is telling
us is like you're going to have a strong reaction when you see
bad things in the world. When bad things happen to you,
of course you're going to have a strong reaction.
But instead of acting through that strong, a strong reaction,
use that as a moment of reflection, of learning, of
observation. See if you can step back from
that reaction and see where it's living in your body and make a
more intentional choice about how moving, about moving
forward. So the idea of when the world is
filled with evil, transform all mishaps into the path of
awakening is that we can use our daily experience, no matter how
difficult it is, to help us reframe the way that we interact
with the world. This is not to say that we
should pretend like nothing bad is happening, but this is to say
that we don't have to take on the weight of all of the bad
things that are happening to us or to the people that we love.
We can observe that things are happening.
We don't have to hold on to the emotional weight of the bad
things happening. The idea with this is that using
this, using bad things that happened to you or to the people
that you love, as practice, is to let go of that emotional
reactivity so that you can engage in the work that would
actually be helpful for you and for others.
It is really difficult to solve big problems that are causing a
lot of pain while you're in the midst of the pain because all of
your actions are informed by that sort of pain.
So if we can step back and observe that we are in a
difficult situation, that we are observing pain and suffering,
then that can help us to not be as reactive, to be more
intentional about how we're going to engage with these bad
things that are happening to us or to other people in our lives.
Two more. So one is drive all blames into
one. This is this one gets
misinterpreted a lot because people think that that means
like blame people for what's happening.
And the one is you it your reactivity.
So the idea is to take responsibility for your own
reactivity. So one of the problems that
often happens when we are suffering or when we see
suffering, we want to assign blame.
Whose fault is it? Whose responsibility is it?
What's the cause of it? And what this is saying is that
that doesn't necessarily help you, that what's better is to
take responsible for what's coming up for you, your own
reactivity about this thing that is problematic or hurtful or
whatever, and sit with that part, sit with your reactivity.
And in the same way, if you can sit with your reactivity,
observe it, step back from it instead of like allowing it to
consume you, you might be able to be more intentional in the
way that you engage with whatever that thing is that you
want to blame somebody else for. So it's not saying to take
everything onto yourself in the sense of like, I'm responsible
for everything, it's all my fault.
It's to say that I am responsible for the way what I
put out into the world, how I react to things.
I may not be able to fully control all of the kind of
emotional physiological reactions that come up, but if I
can think about that there are emotional physiological
reactions coming up, then I can use some of my volition and act
more intentionally and not act out of that kind of reactivity.
And then the last one I'll talk about is be grateful to
everyone. This is another one that can be
misinterpreted and can be and can fall into the sort of false
positivity realm. But really the idea is that
everyone in your life can be a teacher to you that can help you
on this path. Sometimes they are a teacher
because they are doing things that are really problematic,
right? So it's not that you want to
emulate everyone that you see and that you're grateful that
everybody's doing bad things, but that people that are
engaging in activities that seem to be harmful or are causing you
harm can actually still teach you a lot about what you're
reacting to, how you're perceiving the situation.
So it's all of these together are about observing the world
the way that it is and trying to be accountable for your
perceptions of the world and your reactions to the world.
So not in a blaming kind of way, but in recognizing that this is,
this physical form is what we have.
This is how we understand the world and our physical form, our
mind, our body, our heart, gives us a lot of information that can
be not helpful. They can help us.
They can help us misunderstand the world.
So if we're spending time focusing on what's coming up for
us, if we're grateful to people as teachers, even if what
they've done was hurtful to us, if we look at what's happening
in the world, in our lives, or in the wider world as harmful
and damaging, but step away from the emotional weight of that,
all of these can help us to navigate the world more clearly.
And if we were engaging in a true low Zhang training, it
would be focusing intensely on one of those, picking one
slogan, one phrase, 1 mantra, and really allowing that to
settle in about what that means for us, what comes up for us and
how we can make that useful in our daily practice.
So I'm going to turn it over to you because I'd like to hear
your comments. Your, your, if you've ever had
experience or heard of Lojang, I'd be interested to hear that.
If you want to know more about Lojang, I'd also like to hear
that because we can talk about this more.
There's 59 slogans. That's a lot to choose from.
And, or if there's anything that came up in particular about the
slogans that I picked to discuss tonight, I would really
appreciate hearing that. So I'll turn it over to you.
This time is yours. When you speak, please start
with your name so we can get to know you better.
What do you have? Can I?
Ask that you read the slogans. Yes, I can, I can.
So I read slogan #2 Regard all dharmas as dreams.
I read slogan #11 When the world is filled with evil, Transform
all mishaps into the path of awakening.
I read slogan #12 Drive all blames into one and slogan 13 be
grateful to everyone. Hi, I'm Kathy.
I like all three. They give us permission to say
yes, to touch other people. And so therefore I may, because
OK used to be called a busy body, but I've changed it to
kindness busy body, which is different.
I volunteer at the public school on Wednesdays.
And this week I walked into the classroom.
It was a brand new classroom. I had never been there before.
And there was that the teacher was shouting at a student who
was trembling. And I don't know what happened
to cause teacher to lose it, but we're talking about second
graders and I have a visitor. The teacher could make you leave
at any time, right? I'm just a volunteer.
But I couldn't not do something. The teacher's back was to me, so
she didn't even know I was in the room yet.
And all's I did was raise my eyebrows and go, oh, I did make
a notice of promise. But I swear all the cheating
relax I've I was aiming at that person, the child trembling.
But everyone was on edge because of this big yelling going on.
And I just tapped a person and took them to the back and read
votes. That's right, literacy poach and
just got done in business. I felt bad all week.
For being like a clown. I thought it was clown and I was
judging myself. But you're giving me permission.
That I saw evil and I vomit to do somethings.
I I do think that a lot of people, when they see things
that are harmful, really want to do something to help.
I think especially people that come to to Buddhism really want
to make the world a better place and really want to help.
And I think the challenge is figuring out what is the balance
right? Because when is it ego driven
helping or when is it like trying to control other people
and when is it like trying to establish some clear parameters
for the way that the world works?
And that takes a lot of practice.
It does take a lot of practice and it, and it, it takes, I
would argue it takes a lot of meditation, it takes a lot of
groundedness and reflection for us to kind of assess if, if do
we, when we interact with people, are we interacting with
people to say like, oh, no, that's, that's a harmful
behavior. Let's talk about this.
Or are we just trying to make people do what we want?
It's, it can be kind of a difficult sort of thing.
And I do agree that part of what Buddhism is saying is that you
should be interacting with people.
We are interconnected beings. We we are connected to each
other in a variety of different ways.
And we shouldn't try to isolate ourselves.
That's not the solution is to withdraw from everything, but
the solution also isn't to try to, you know, smother other
people with whatever it is we think is the right thing to do.
So I think you're exactly right. Finding what that balance is and
how to engage in a way that is, you know, let's say wholesome or
helpful or more acknowledges more are interconnectedness.
That's that's what we're going for.
We don't want to withdraw from the world, even when the world
is sometimes scary and mean. This my name is Aaron.
This is an interesting lady to digest these 59 you said points
and we we do have the issue that they're like translated into
English and and that we have that to digest and that might
take a little more unwinding to initially get the true meaning
of the intent of the real statement.
But in kind of my joking, I was referencing the comedian prior
to this say that just there's younger people that have never
wound anything in their life and like just sitting there and
being like, oh, this is Avhs tape.
I have returner. I'd reminded before returner to
sit there and wait the seven to 30 minutes or whatever it took.
I can't remember. I really and a lot of tapes, I
can't remember how long it cook, but I feel there's a hole.
There's an absence of just sitting and being present, and I
think that this could be a tool to do that, have these
individual points and to meditate on them and to just
really draw down on something small for so long, to ground
yourself in meaning of it and understand it.
It affects us in different ways and points and 59 of them is a
lot, but it's something. If I were to do it.
I would want to take one for a week and digest that.
So if I'm to do that and that have times where it's in my
mind, but not necessarily just doing, but but that's it is it
is interesting to me. What I'm noticing about, though,
in my intent is to privately Mull over it and figure it out.
And we talked. We had such a beautiful,
meaningful. We talked about Sanga and how
technically important was to just our life.
And so right now we're trying to formulate how, how I could bring
that practice into A to a more social thing, because to me it
feels like homework to go home new way or so I don't don't know
if that's the intent. It is work.
Then the homework that you go home do by.
Yourself well, to be fair, the Lojang training is kind of
homework that you do on your own the part of the reflection, but
it is supposed to be like understanding that concept can
hashing that out with other people is a really helpful part.
I mean in traditional Lojang training, you do this with
intensely with a teacher who can guide you and tell you all of
the kind of points and counterpoints and that sort of
stuff but there is I mean this is one of the the things that I
appreciate about Buddhism. The three jewels are a real
thing that the idea of like the the Buddha, we are responsible
for doing this work on our own right.
This is homework the Dharma. This is the homework that we're
supposed to study, but then the sangha is really, we do learn to
set settle this into our body better.
When we're in a group, that part of it is about talking with
other people. It's one of the advantages that
we have in this group because we have such a variety of different
opinions and different ways of seeing the world that there's
lots of people that can reflect on the exact same slogan, for
example, and see things in a different way and it can land a
little bit differently. So it's both it's it's a group
projects, but also and homework for an individual.
And isn't it that we learn the concepts, kind of understand
them, but it's in the presence of others?
So that's homework out in the world of the testimony privacy.
My name's Carolyn. I'm very interested to worry
more about this. It sounds what you the examples
you've given us today. I could feel like if I practice
some of that like Dharma. And the evilness like skeet, you
know, just been listening to the news.
Sometimes there's such a waste. Thank you.
I wish I could do something but you this sounds like a a
potential way to look at things differently so you don't feel
the way. Step away a little bit.
Observe and have different feelings or questions or come up
with something more creative and it sounds great to me.
Be able to have a different perspective on things and the
interconnection with others always.
That's something I throw. I would like to work more on its
well and the Dharma. This sounds so interesting to
me. Yeah.
I just think they're all very interesting concepts that will
help us cope and be less suffering in the world.
I mean, to be fair, this is the kind of thing that we do every
week anyway, but this is, it's a way to focus that like part of
the Dharma that we're talking about.
I mean, all Buddhism is a, is a mind training program, mind body
training program, where we are trying to be aware of whatever
is coming up for us and then learn practices that allow us to
step back from that kind of reactivity.
So all of Buddhism is is trying to help us to do that.
This is one way to do that right up, focusing on one particular
statement and then kind of going deep into into that.
So yes, we can. We don't have to be as explicit
using humor slogans. If this doesn't work for people,
we're going to continue to do this same idea.
The idea of like cognitive reframing is a big part of
Buddhism. And to be able to reframe
something, you have to know what it is that you're thinking and
what it is that you want to be thinking instead.
And so this is this is a way to help with that.
It gives us something more concrete to hang on to.
I'm Steven. I just wanted to say I'll keep
it short tonight, but the one that I kind of like, just the
one that I simply wouldn't gravitate torque.
So the one of all Dharmas or dreams, the thing that kind of
arose in that for me is that one of the cool things that I've
found a lot of keys in Buddhism is the idea that being awake is
sort of like what it means to be a well adjusted person in that
there's no prescriptive rules about when, where, how and why
you should maybe intervene or not intervene depending on
context. And so it's kind of a call to us
as people that we have a responsibility to be awake and
to be present because each situation requires that ability
to evaluate if our input is useful, skillful, you know, I'm
going to contribute to something in the conversation.
And so like what Kathy was saying with the classroom notes,
it's tough to know what to do in the moment, right?
Especially when we're caught off guard.
And you, if you're thinking about interacting with someone,
you're not sure if it's ego and emotion, you haven't had a
chance to reflect on it, you know, and maybe it's an acute
situation where you have to do something.
So that was kind of interesting to me that all dharmas are
dreams because it sort of points to that, that even this thing
that we are all gathering here to practice with Buddhism, the
tenant of this framework itself and saying, hey, you still have
to be responsible and bring your awareness and be evaluating in
real time, which is. I I love the the idea of
awakening in general, and and that's what this that one's all
our most our dreams makes me think of like we're most most of
us are kind of sleepwalking through life, like just reacting
and and a kind of on autopilot and it's or avoiding.
Yep, Yep, exactly. It's helpful to think about
that. We are trying to wake up.
And one of the things that like all of the Buddhist practice,
we're trying to learn how to become more spontaneously
skillful, right? So the the premise is that our
sort of inclinations, our cultural inclinations, our
physiological inclinations are leading us to reactions that are
not helpful. They are unskillful in the sense
that they cause us suffering and they cause suffering for other
people. And what we're trying to do is
reach, train our mind and body so that eventually we can become
spontaneously skillful. So this, this idea about waking
up means that we have to engage in some really intentional
practices, right? We have to reflect on things,
learn things about the world. We have to observe what's coming
up in our body. We have to step back and spend
some time in meditation often so that we can observe kind of
what's happening and, and there is an element of planning.
So this part of the cognitive restructuring is OK.
Well, what a, what would I do in a situation like this?
Or how would I respond or, or how did I respond?
That can be helpful if it's helping us to think through a
different frame of reference so that when we get into a similar
situation in the future, maybe we can respond with more skill,
right? Instead of not knowing what to
do or being really reactive. That's, that's the goal.
But to your point, it's not that easy.
Easy. I mean, we have a lifetime of
momentum in a particular way of being, and we're trying to learn
a new way of being. So it does take a lot of
intentional practice. It takes reflection, takes
meditation, and it takes making mistakes because that's part of
being human too. But we it, it does get easier in
the sense that there are more opportunities, more, more
instances of being spontaneously skillful after we've practiced
than before we've practiced. But I think what we all want is
to be spontaneously skillful all the time, and that takes some
sustained practice. There was.
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's this is just
making me think, especially some of the things we just now said
about, you know, just as an example, metaphorically, if you
walk across the desert or go for a run or ride your bike some
long distance, do something that depletes your body or hydration.
And then you, you know, you go and you drink a soda or if you
have a coffee or, you know, some something that's a diuretic,
it's just going to make it worse.
You're not going to hydrate. But that's what we do a lot of
the time, not necessarily after a run, but you know, we often
hydrate ourselves by drinking things that are not hydrating.
And, and it's partially because of culture, right?
We, you know, when our bodies need food, sometimes we eat
things that are not really food, not really nourishing.
And I think that when I hear the like these things we talk about
a lot and some things you were saying just now about our
culture and it it kind of tells us that when you have some sort
of issue. You.
Should do these things, right? You should go to social media.
You should, you know, I mean, how many TV shows have you seen?
Whenever someone's upset, what do they do the next scene?
They're at the bar. Right, someone's upset, someone
has an argument with their wife or girlfriend or boyfriend, the
next scene they're at the bar and or they're drinking
somewhere somehow, right? There is so many aspects of our
culture that tell us to deal with problems in these ways that
are self-destructive. Just like going for a marathon
run and drinking whiskey. And I and I think like these are
the water in that meta core, right?
These things are what you're what you're supposed to do.
These are the healthy ways to deal with problems, to deal with
issues and conflict and stress. But we just have like this
chaotic culture that is telling us to do everything but this
stuff. Actually the exact opposite of
these things. We have the president who's I
don't have to talk about them too much, but any retribution,
right? I mean, retribution is like the
way things go now on a national scale.
And it's not just because of that guy, but it's also because
we've had already decades of like, you know, smartphones and
social media and reaction, right?
Like unthoughtful reactions things.
And yeah, I mean, I like to think of it kind of like, well,
when I have some sort of issue, do I want to drink the whiskey
or the water, All right. When I could run for a marathon,
do I want to come back home and drink some water and hydrate
myself? Or do I want to do something
self-destructive? And I don't know, I'm not saying
that I'm great at it. I'm just saying that that that's
the way that that's the metaphor that came up for you.
And these things are the nourishing, hydrating, healthy
things do. I think that is that can often
be a little bit of a challenge because when you grow up in a
culture that's telling you the ways that the path to happiness
is the various things that we've been told, whatever that is, you
know, buy more things or have a better job or live in a bigger
house or all of these things, we're told that that this is the
path to happiness. And you know, a lot of various
different messages that we've been told.
And and so as far as we know, that is the water because that's
what we're told. This is what will make you
happy. Do these things and it will make
you happy. And so it, what I appreciate
about Buddhism, but it's also kind of frustrating is it's
telling us like, well, why don't you evaluate the effects of
those solutions? Just sit with it, Try the things
that they're saying will cause you happiness and sit with it.
Did that 'cause you lasting happiness?
Did it give you a sense of contentment and peacefulness?
And, and if you go through that many as of us say like, OK, no,
it turns out it doesn't make me happier.
No matter what size the house is or what kind of car it is or
whatever The thing is that supposed to make me happy?
The drugs or the alcohol or, you know, all the food, whatever
those things. And then then trying to figure
out, OK, so clearly that's not the water in this metaphor.
It's, it's, that's what we've been told.
This is what will make you feel better.
This is what will hydrate you. We have to figure out like
phrases like this or different kinds of Buddhist practices that
can actually, when we assess them, make us feel more peaceful
or content or, or grounded. But once, even when we do, we go
right back into the world where the, this is just the way that
the world is. And so it's, it's one of the
reasons why practice is difficult and why we have to
continue. I mean, you have to continue
practicing anyway. Any practice, you need to
continue to keep up with it, right?
That's true of running or playing the piano or, or
anything else. Buddhist meditation is the same,
but it's especially true when you're in a context where you're
not getting that message reinforced from other people,
places, or things, right? So this is one of the biggest
problems and where actually the sangha makes a big difference
because when you're trying to do it all on your own, we can of
course, you know, you can have the strength of mind.
You can, you know, sit in meditation, you can do your
reading, but it is more difficult if you are outside of
a community of, of support. It just makes it a little bit
easier when there, when you can be like, there are other people
like me. I'm not just this weirdo all of
the time. I there are other people that
are kind of following the same path.
It just, it makes a little bit easier because if you talk to
other people that don't think the way that Buddhism is
encouraging us to think, I mean, they often will be like, there
might be something wrong with you because this is the water
and you're like, but it doesn't feel hydrating to be.
So yeah, it's helpful to come to a place where you're like, OK, I
can get some some confirmation that it's working for other
people too. So what would we?
What would it stop like if internal weight cookie meditate
on I'm meditating you just thinking.
Yeah. So in the Lojang training, the
it's called an analytical meditation.
So the idea is really like thinking, like being an intense
and like thinking about that, that concept.
It is meditative in the sense that like if you have, if you
ever tried to sustain thought on one thing, you still get
distracted and then you start thinking about your grocery list
again. So it is, it's a different kind
of meditation than we do, right? We, we sit in zazen, we sit in
like the open, open awareness, the meditation sense.
So this is different. But the idea is to spend time
just focusing on that phrase and thinking about that phrase.
And then when you get distracted, keep coming back to
the phrase. And the idea is if you
concentrate explicitly enough on one phrase, eventually, if you
can sustain that concentration, then the phrase kind of like
sort of breaks up and becomes more of an abstract concept.
The idea is at that point, you can, like, let it settle into
your being instead of just into your mind.
And then throughout the week, as you're just going along your
daily activities, you bring that phrase to mind.
So just, you know, driving your car and you think about the
phrase and doing the dishes and you think about the phrase.
That's the idea about this kind of training.
So is it making it a habit? No, I mean, yes, yeah.
I mean, cuz it's about like retraining your mind and what is
the training program? But it's a habit building
program, right. And so we are trying to get
retrain the kind of distracted brain that we usually have, the
way that our mind goes in a different much of different
directions and the way that our body responds to things.
So we are trying to develop a new habit.
And sometimes these are like reminders, like, OK, I'm trying
to learn to be less reactive. So which of these phrases helps
me to remember to be less reactive?
And then you remind yourself. So in that way, it's helping you
to build a new habit, if that's what you meant.
So our phrase is being mindful, right?
I mean, you like in Buddhism, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So you can say, oh, there I vote again.
Old habit. Oh, we're fake.
OK, well, it's all, it's all connected, right.
So part of the argument then, Buddhism really believes in the
connection between the mind and the body.
So it is a way of thinking, but it settles into our body and
then it's a way of acting. So and that is that's, I think
what you mean by that kind of habit, like things that we do or
think or say. Yes.
You said, I think you said well comes up.
Did you mean what in your body? That's kind of like guys, great
abstract concept can be sort of detached from my body except the
back end, the Omni No, here I except for things that happened
that are pretty strong guilt or sensation.
So where? What's the example?
Something that come up in my body or in your body?
Yeah. So how, how do you become aware
what's coming up for you? Or what does that mean to become
aware of what's coming up for you?
So there's a couple. There's a first little caveat.
You know, how people perceive their own body sensation varies
from person to person. Some people are going to be very
aware of their physical sense of space and what's happening in
their body, and other people are going to be less aware.
So there's already a spectrum of that.
The idea is to try to increase your own awareness wherever you
are. Start from the amount of
awareness you have of your body and increase that that a little
bit. And I was, I was much the same
way. I think a lot of us in the West
are because we tend to cut ourselves off from the body
right where the culture of the mind, we want to know what we
think. We don't want to know what we
feel because that's like yucky, messy body stuff.
So it can be helpful to engage in like specific meditative
practices that are designed to get you to like focus on what
you're feeling. So body scans are really great
for this. And it can be like, no, nothing
extreme is happening. You're just sitting and focusing
on your body. And like, where do I feel, where
can I feel my shirt touching my arm?
Where do I feel my seat touching the ground?
Where do I feel the, the, the breeze on my, on my skin?
Like all of that, just focusing on those sensations that can be
part of becoming more aware. Then I would also recommend like
learning what comes up for us in a physiological sense is often
helpful. If you can do that when you are
in an emotional situation, you're having an emotional
reaction. It's really helpful during that
emotional reaction, if you can, to step back and then go into
your body. Like where do I feel that?
So where, where does it, where does the pain feel or the
discomfort or the tension? Like is it in my knees or my
legs or my head or my face or that kind of thing?
This is where when I did that, this is when I realized that I
could hold a lot of work stress in my jaw.
Other kinds of stress I hold in different places, but my work
stress I hold in my jaw and I don't, but I'm not always aware
of that. So I had to do a lot of
reflection because it got to the point where I get so much stress
in my jaw. That was just like lock up and I
can hear a crack just from talking because it was, there
was like so much tension there. So, and I didn't even realize
that it was happening. So I had to do a lot of
reflection and, and now I'm much more aware.
So I just like check in with my jaw.
Like am I stressed about work stuff?
Nope. Jaw's OK Am I stressed?
Yeah, OK. I'm a little bit stressed about
work stuff and 'cause I, I don't pay attention as well in the
daily actions, engaging in work stuff where I'm like, this is a
stressful situation, but my body is like, excuse me, this is a
stressful situation. So that can be one way.
Now I know when I start to get tension and pain in my jaw, like
I'm having work stress and different other parts of bodies
that that like something like, you know, if I haven't slept
enough, my knee starts to hurt. This knee, the left knee hurts.
And when my left knee is hurting in this particular way, I
haven't gotten enough sleep. And I don't know why, but there
it is. And those are the things that
takes a lot of practice and a lot of sort of reflection.
Has anyone ever has anyone else been like engage disconnected
from your body sensations and figured out a way to get in
touch with them all? Right sucks it's just real short
the term emotion and feeling these different things.
These are very helpful for me to like digest like but I'm angry
in the head, but my shoulders are rolled forward and my back
is stiff. That's the feeling that they.
Create. Kind of sad in my head, but I
have kind of think of achy sense and attire.
It's like the feeling of sadness and noticing the differences of
feeling of an emotion at the mental state that the motion
having, like treating them as two different things of
examining. It's kind of what you said.
It's just like semantically in my head, using those two terms
as meaning input different things has been very helpful.
Maybe to digest them, but yeah. Oh, I come back getting a
massage or getting a massage or stretching and breathing deeply
and soon personable to get into the body and notice what is
happening in the body. We get to get a massage and
focus on when you're touching you and how your body feels.
Then you'll be so in your body afterwards.
No, tried it doesn't work. I don't want those people.
And I mean that I did. I got a jaw massage.
There was masseuse was like all in my mouth and like and I was
like, I don't like it and I don't think it's helping.
So it wasn't very meditative for me.
So I'm not going to do that. Let's try to avoid this rest.
Sorry, Douglas, what were you going to?
Say, and I was going to say also that one of the types of
meditation that Danielle was talking about is the Pashna
meditation. And in the Pashna, you spend a
whole, the whole time you're meditating with scanning your
body equal over and over and over.
And if you are doing that on a regular basis, or if you go to
one of the retreats and you do it for hours and hours and hours
and you start to become very aware of your body.
And one of the things that they teach you while you're in there
is that we have, as you're saying, this mental
disconnection from our bodies. But there is, there are things
happening in our bodies that we are that are not voluntary,
right? Like our organs are functioning
without us having to think about them.
Our blood is moving, our heart is pumping.
And then there are parts of our body that we do have control
over, like our arms, our hands, our eyes.
And then there's a part of our body that sits at the center of
those two things, right? The the functions that we don't
control and the functions we do control.
And then one of very few parts of our body that can go on
autopilot if we're not thinking about it or we can control it if
we are thinking about it, which our lungs, which is why
meditation, you know, people who meditate are very often focusing
on the lungs that the lungs for the passion of becomes this
conduit between the, the mental and the physical, the mind and
the body. And if you, once you become more
in touch with what's going on in your body, then you can start to
notice things like, as Danielle was saying that you know, when
you become upset sometime, not sometimes when you become upset,
there's a physiological change in your body.
As often times, if we're not aware of the fact that that
physiological change is separate from from the stimuli, then we
start to react to the physiological change, right?
Like the feelings that we get when we're upset pushes along a
reaction that if you were to disaggregate them and say, well,
actually this is just my physiological reaction, there's
a stimuli, but I don't have to respond to either.
I don't have to allow the physiological stimuli to make
the app. I can just see it and observe it
and then possibly let it go away.
Yeah. So that's.
We're about out of time, but if there's anyone who hasn't yet
spoken who would like to, I'll open the door for you.
Do you have something that you'd like to share?
OK, well, we'll close. When we close, we like to say,
may the fruit of our practice extend to all living beings.
Svaha.