Back of the chair, but rather sit forward a little bit. What you're doing is finding a stable base, just as if you were on a cushion. So if you need to rock back and forth, right to left, to find that balance centered place, find stability, find gravity, And settle there for a minute.

[01:03]

Just right there. Right there. And from there, your posture.

[02:38]

From there, your spine, your back, your shoulders. Just let it rise straight up. both physically and energetically. Pay attention to where your upper body is in regards to your lower body and find the balance stable connection. And relax.

[03:49]

Right there. In particular, relax your face. Let go of your jaw. Soften your eyes. No. I'm aware of your breath.

[05:46]

Where is your breath? Just find it. the rhythm, breathing in and out. Let it include everything.

[06:54]

The sounds in the room, the light, the sensation of the body on the chair, taste in the mouth. Lower body, planted, upper body, upright and energetic.

[08:36]

Breath. Presence. Zadal. I'll get her.

[14:02]

Good morning. Let me say a little bit about today. One thing is that because there's a number of other activities happening here today, we're going to move from face to face. We're going to start here, maybe we'll die and start and do some sitting and then have lunch and then the afternoon will be in the Buddha Hall. So, You know, often as you transition from one space to another, you can kind of lose your focus or your connection. So hopefully you'll make it a practice. I'll try not to do that. And another thing is that with a regular Saturday morning schedule, there will be people arrive who are in a different activity.

[15:20]

So part of the challenge for us will be to keep our own sense of containment. I think it will work. And we'll, you know, obviously we'll signal you and make it clear what we're doing at any Christmas door. Great. So today we'd like to do a variety of things. And one is just had a day of practice together with a variety of modes. And then another is to take this time to review the first trimester. And I'd like to say a little bit about that. Something about the process of review. Let me start by talking about when we're sitting. Often when we're sitting, our mind gets hooked on a thought thought attached to something else, becomes a story, has a feeling, takes on its own reality.

[16:31]

And we go into something akin to a waking dream. And then suddenly you come back to awareness. And then often, what just happened is opaque. We don't know. And then sometimes it's an interesting process where if we pause, it sort of comes back into awareness. I was like, oh, I was just thinking of such and such. And there's something about doing that kind of pause and reconnecting that helps make that look the content of what we were thinking about and the pattern of how would you be conscious or go die in the sense being that's not so conscious. Is that clear?

[17:33]

That kind of pattern? And I would say that's what we're doing a lot with meditation. We're trying to stay on a conscious connection. It's a little bit like we're floating on top. Awareness is floating on top of the activity of minds. and emotion and psychology, whatever else gets hooked or doesn't. And then we can do the same over a longer period of time. It's a little bit trickier, right? Because the beauty of doing it seconds after it happens, you have a clearer recollection. But there is a usefulness in reflecting things back on a period of time. And that's one of the first things we're going to do this morning. We're going to ask you to reflect about, well, where were you at when you came?

[18:35]

That's what we said, you know, did you bring, there was no fit to go. But here was my answer to those questions. And then what happened? And then where are you lacking now? And then the tricky part is How much is this based on accurate recollection of what happened? And how much is it the story I'm concocting now around what happened? And that is a challenge. And that's why we were asking if you did have that reference point of what you wrote down the first time. Because then that gives you some definite statement, some mark. of your own thinking or feeling at that time. But even if you don't, just to reflect back on it, that's how you lift it up into a more conscious way.

[19:40]

And then there's also something about noticing what doesn't seem to come to. You know, sometimes like even in your meditation, you just know, I simply don't know what thought I was caught in for the last couple of minutes. That's worse noting too. And similarly, oh, I don't know where I was at then, what happened then. And what you can use, you know, so in your sight then, you know, you use awareness of body and awareness of breath as a kind of, what we might call, tangible reference point. So you can use that over this period of time, this arc of time. Well, how much and to what degree did I sustain a regular practice? Did I do it for two weeks? I can recall that pretty well and then there was a week where I didn't do anything. I just don't remember what it was that happened then.

[20:44]

Or maybe you remember very vividly what happened then. So whatever you come up with to know that You know, when you did it, when you didn't do it, when you in patrol clearly, oh, I was really busy at work and I was actually feeling quite corrected and I didn't do any practice. Or, gee, that week is a mystery. I just don't remember what the heck happened. And then is there any pattern? And is there any trajectory, you know? Something's been shifting. Not so much to make up a story about it. That's what the process is now. It's more how accurately can you attend to it and describe it as clearly as you can.

[21:44]

And then the last part is and here's Here's my thinking, feeling now. And answering the same questions now, here's where I am. Certainly, let me broaden the scope a little bit of that, unless you have any questions about that. Well, maybe you will when you get into it. So to broaden the scope. So the first trimester is foundational. Create the habit of sitting regularly. And it just creates our capacity to be aware. It creates our capacity to be aware. There's a difference between time to ask ourselves what happened and then go into stories we have about it.

[22:47]

In contrast, having direct experience. Our stories are just a repeat of our usual psychological formation of thought and view. When we have direct experience, it gives us a new reference point. Sometimes it might align beautifully for who we think we are, and sometimes it might be in marvelous contrast. You think, oh, I sit every day. And then when you pay close attention, you know, oh, Actually, I don't. Or sometimes, often we have a negative in. Oh, I'm this kind of person, and you pay attention. Well, sometimes I'm like that, but sometimes I'm kind of great. I'm a compassionate, thoughtful person. So the more we can establish direct experience, the truer reference we have.

[23:50]

And then the second trimester is to use that direct experience and the intermittent provides to explore the nature of self. And then the third trimester is to take it on the road and see how it applies. Now you've got some valuable direct experience about who you are and how you think and feel. How does that engage your relationships, your sense of purpose for your life? how the values of your life, the ethics of your life that you live by. So that's the time of the practice. So what we would like to do, then today is a review. Hopefully consolidating the practice, giving you some clear information, like, okay, this is where I'm at, this is how to be skillful with my life, with who I am, in giving the practice a foundation. And then they give us feedback.

[24:54]

The process of this program is, you do it, we set it up, you do it, and then you tell us, this book works really well, and here's who does it. And it would be good to do some more of this and some less of that, or whatever. You're living the life you're living, right? We have our abstract notions as to what will be the venture. So then you try it on and then something happens. And then collectively and together we explore that and learn from it. So this is also our intent. What could use more support or what wasn't too helpful.

[25:56]

Maybe it was too demanding or maybe it was too rudimentary. And recognizing there'll be a whole range of experiences. For some people who have a daily yoga practice for the last five years, maybe they find the stuff we do in class a little too easy. And for other people who have never done any yoga, maybe they find it too difficult. Or maybe, and we'll talk a little bit about this meeting kind of, what's the point? You know, I just want to sit, what's the point of those kinds of questions? Okay. So that's the first element that we'll do today. Would you like to add anything to that? Yes. Please do. You know, when I was listening to Paul, what also came to my mind is that, you know, sometimes you all had ideas why you signed up and what you wanted to have happen with coming to this program.

[27:03]

So now we're asking the same questions again. And I invite you, I'd like to invite you to also look, you know, when we have an idea of what wants to change, we look to that and then we see, well, it didn't or didn't change. but very often we have an idea and where we actually think something should change. Nothing is changing, but kind of in the sidelines, in the sideways, things have changed that we don't particularly pay attention to because we're looking at this typical thing that's going to change that I want to change. So I would like you to, when you answer that question, also, you know, answer it the way it comes to you, and then look, did something else change in my life that I think may not even be related to what I've been doing? Did suddenly my relationship become more difficult, more easy, or I love having these same feelings of thought, or not wanting to be the same, or I'm

[28:11]

Feeling differently overall, just to see if there's anything else that you may not in long ways have a relationship to what you've been doing in this program has changed. I would like to alternate to that. Yeah, there was something else that changed. Next, we're going to do a writing exercise. We have writing implements, for those of you who didn't bring any. And we have actually, is it to write on? You can use both pages, the first and the fourth page of it. Yes, right. I got that. The questions you were asked at the beginning of this program are to be asked again, as were you.

[29:16]

Answer these questions again, and hopefully everyone brought with them what they wrote in the beginning. So, answer from where you are now. Look at what you wrote. Compare the two. See what's different. Try to be as accurate as possible about what's happening now. What are your answers now? See what's different. Know what changed. So basically write on those three themes. And as a person who's somewhat averse to this kind of exercise myself, I've always found that when I make myself do it, it's been very helpful to me. So that's my personal experience. To share with those of you who might also be averse to this kind of exercise, put your pencil or pen down to the paper and just start writing. My advice. So can we pass these out? Yes?

[30:19]

Bunch of pens if you need them. Help me pass these out. So for those of you who didn't bring in a pen, there's a bunch of writing implements up here. And let us know if you need more people. We'll just put it out. Okay. You can move it right at the table if you prefer. It's a little easier to sit at the table than write sleeves, too. Put a name on it?

[31:22]

Well, you're going to hold on to it, so I guess it doesn't matter too much. You're going to hold on to it.

[31:27]

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