Go with the Flow
Guided Meditation with Shinzen Young
Take a moment to settle into your posture. Place some of your
attention on your body sensations. At the same time, place some
attention behind your closed eyes, where mental images are likely
to be seen. Also place some attention in your head, where internal
talk is likely to be heard. Get a sense of what it’s like to
simultaneously focus attention in these three areas.
Now, if you’re aware of body sensation and nothing else, say
“body,” out loud or to yourself. If you’re aware of visual thinking
and nothing else, say “image.” If you’re aware of verbal thinking
and nothing else, say “talk.” If you’re aware of more than one of
these at the same time, choose one and focus on it. Label your
awareness in this way every few seconds for ten minutes or so.
Now we’re going to add some detail. When you label “body,” that
body sensation may last or disappear. If it disappears, say “gone.”
Similarly, when you label “image,” that mental image may stick
around or vanish. If it vanishes, say “gone.” When you label
“talk,” that particular burst of talk may continue or die away. If
it dies away, say “gone.” So, now you have four labels: body,
image, talk, and gone. Continue in this way for another ten minutes
or so.
Now, I would ask you some questions and give you some choices.
If one of the elements (body, image, talk) was strongly activated,
we might decide to work with that element in more detail. On the
other hand, we might decide to pursue the opposite course of paying
attention to the least active, most restful element. Or we might
decide to simply continue with the procedure as we have been doing
it. Let’s say that body sensation was very active and we decided to
work with that. The continuing guidance might go something like
this:
Bring all your attention to your body sensations. When you’re
aware of a body sensation that seems solid and unchanging, say
“solid.” When you’re aware of a body sensation that seems soft or
flowing, say “flow.” Whenever you’re aware that a solid sensation
or a burst of flow vanishes, say “gone.”
As you label in my presence, I would carefully listen to your
tone of voice and pace. The goal is to note continuously, but not
frenetically. I might give you feedback to speed up or to slow
down. Furthermore, the tone of your voice gives me an indication of
the depth of your equanimity, so I might ask you to change the
tone. I’d also be listening for what proportion of the time you
were noting solidity, fluidity, or vanishing. I would guide you
differently depending on what predominated. Say, for example, that
every three or four labels was “flow.” In that case, my continuing
guidance might go something like this:
Now focus all your attention on that flow. Flow can occur in
various “flavors”: waviness, vibration, expansion, contraction, and
so forth. Focus all your attention on the flow in your body,
ignoring solidity just for now. Also let mental images and internal
talk be in the background. Each time you note “flow,” go with the
flow. Let it massage you. Let it nurture you. Let it meditate
you.
Thus, through an interactive decision tree, we would be able to
spot a natural opening—in this case, insight into impermanence.
—SHINZEN YOUNG
http://www.tricycle.com/interview/the-point-contact?page=0,2&offer=dharma