AWAKE JOY Meditations 1.

Presence Meditation The length of this meditation does not matter and is designed to remove the idea of the practitioner. You will begin noticing gaps in the mind stream and you begin noticing more spaciousness both within and without. Focus on the gaps between your thoughts, rather than on the content of thought. Your earnestness and sincere wish to realize wakefulness here and now are essential. Please sit with your eyes closed and your spine erect. Without forcing breath, please be present with breathing to notice how gently breath is breathing the body. Simply observe your inner world and be the uninvolved observer of your thoughts, emotions and body. Thoughts come and go. What lies between? Feelings and sensations within your body come and go. What is connecting them? Images come and go. What is not moving? Do you notice that the observer is still, while all else passes through the inner space? Who is this observer? In the beginning, you will find that you identify and attach regularity to thoughts. When you notice, just bring attention back to itself. Be more intensely alert and fully inhabit the body. 2. Silent Space Meditation With your eyes open, I would like to draw your attention to the silent space around an object in your room or in nature. Please be still and simply listen to this space for a while. Now close your eyes with your spine erect and the body relaxed. Do you hear anything externally? If

so, notice that the sound emerges from silence. Follow the sound back into silence. Notice that as you begin listening, you have more awareness of silence. Instead of clutching the emerging sound, relax into being the listener. Be purely the listening, without an object to hear. How does it impact your inner world? 3. Inner Silence Meditation Shift your attention to listen to your inner silence for a while. In this meditation, you are shifting attention away from the inner objects of thought, emotion and body toward the silence within the inner body. This requires keen attention, which is instinctive. It is relaxation and not an effort of tense grasping. The more concentrated the attention, the more inner silence you will notice. If a thought arises and you identify, take a deep breath, relax and be more intensely alert. We are not resisting thought. In a resting manner, we are simply being the silence. How silent is being? 8. I am Meditation Initially, the Heart space is experienced in your chest. Sit in a comfortable chair with your spine erect, your feet on the floor, your eyes closed and your hands resting in your lap. Take a moment to attend the comfort of the body and let go of any tension to relax more deeply. With each breath, gently inhale the air through your nose and follow it into your lower abdomen. Let the abdomen expand. Continue following the inhaled air as it fills your chest and let your chest expand. On the exhale, keep your attention in the center of your chest as you just let the air go in a relaxed manner, as it leaves your mouth. With attention still in your chest, notice the inner silence at the end of each exhale. Breathing is relaxed and normal.
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a. With your head straight forward, inhale and exhale ten times in the manner explained above. b. Turn your head to the right over your shoulder to inhale. Then, turn your head to your left shoulder to exhale through your mouth. Still looking over your left shoulder, inhale through your nose and then turn your head over your right shoulder again to exhale. Each time, be aware of the silence at the end of each exhale. Repeat this series ten times. c. With normal, relaxed breathing and your head straight forward, let the silent word I fill your chest as you inhale. As you exhale, sense the silent word AM in your Heart as you exhale. In the silence at the end of the exhale, sense the silent being in your chest. Repeat ten times. d. Without the words I am, repeat the same exercise ten times. At the end, take five minutes to appreciate the aliveness that has flooded your form. 9. Breath Control Reducing the number of breaths that you take each minute is effective in controlling the thought process. Take longer and slower breaths as you concentrate on each inhale and exhale. Practice each morning and before beginning meditation and you find that the number of thoughts is reduced. Soon, slower breathing will be normal. 10. Breath Retention You will find that when you are holding your breath, the mind cannot think. Inhale fully in four seconds, hold your breath for eight seconds, exhale in four seconds and then listen to the silence and stillness at the end of the exhale for four seconds. Over time, the normal breathing process will become slower.
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