♪ Intro Music ♪
Hello there everyone ...
Today I'm going to bring back a golden oldie of Spiritual Practice.
A very, very, long time ago
when Man first became aware of his own thoughts
Man became aware
that there were two perspectives inherent within himself.
There was the Experiencer
and there was the Observer of the experience.
This came to be known as the Experiencer
- being the Body or the Ego -
and the Observation of the experiencer
- being the Soul or Consciousness -
and Voilà!
- Spiritual Practice was born ...
In most ancient religious and spiritual traditions around the globe,
one of the very first spiritual practices
is to become aware of the Observer Self.
In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find
religious or spiritual practice that does not include this idea
of becoming aware of the Observer of your current life experience.
So, why is it that I'm bringing this golden oldie back
if we've evolved so far beyond
the primary religions and spiritual traditions of this planet?
The answer is:
Frankly, it works! ...
It worked then and it still works today.
To give you a little better understanding of what I mean by the Observer Self,
consider the following scenario:
Consider that when you have an experience
say, you're in the middle of a disagreement with someone,
you can be completely 'in' the experience
where you are fully immersed in the feelings of anger
and the thoughts about the experience are very real.
Thoughts like: "It's all your fault, you idiot!" ...
But you could, conversely,
be observing the argument and your reactions to the argument ...
When you do this, instead of being fully immersed
in first-person perspective in the argument
- and
you could simply watch them as if from third-person perspective.
When you do this, you are not fully immersed in the experience.
You are watching yourself
instead.
This is a practice in Detachment ...
Detachment - which is different than Escapism
(from what is occurring) -
can allow us to remain fully conscious
so that we may choose to respond,
instead of react to situations that occur.
It also helps allow us to transcend the limited perspective
of the direct-experience,
so that we are more objective instead of subjective,
relative to our life experiences.
I will tell you that when people seek to spend
in this Objective Perspective
it may seem like they have reached a state of Enlightenment
where in fact, the opposite is the case.
They're using this Objective Perspective
to avoid experiencing the subjective reality of their life experience,
because
That being said,
the people (who are the majority of people on Earth)
who spend all their time
in the Subjective Viewpoint of their respective realities,
are cut-off from the Objective View
of their own lives.
They can't objectively view their own Consciousness
and thus, they are less aware.
So I will be the first person to tell you
that we need to develop the ability to switch between
the Subjective and Objective way of viewing our life experience.
Because the majority of the people on this planet
are already very adept at experiencing their reality
from a subjective, first-person perspective,
what they need in order to enhance their spiritual practice
is to begin to see their life experience
from Third-Person, or Observer, perspective.
For this reason,
we practice Mindfulness.
Now, one of the best ways to develop Mindfulness
is by practicing Mindfulness meditations.
For this reason, I'm going to introduce you
to one of my favorite Mindfulness meditations today.
To begin this meditation, I want you find a calm place,
~ Laughter ~
somewhere that you feel comfortable.
I want you to make yourself comfortable
seated in whatever position feels right for you,
and then I want you to close your eyes
and put your attention entirely on your breath ...
... breathing-in ... and breathing-out ...
When you're initiating your meditative practice
it's a good idea to pick something
to do
One of the main reasons why we begin meditative practices
so often by focusing on the in-breath and the out-breath,
is because, pretty soon, your brain
will form an association between the breathing
and the meditative state.
And so, all it takes - almost like a trigger -
is for you to pay attention to your breath
for the mind to switch its frequency
and start going into a state that is conducive to your meditation.
Back to this Mindfulness meditation:
We can watch the breath for as long as we feel is right to do,
and then gradually we shift our attention to observing
what we are perceiving in our external reality.
If you wish, you could leave your eyes open
and include Sight in your perception
or, you could leave them closed
and merely pay attention to the rest of your sensory faculties.
So if I was to do this meditation right now,
what I would begin doing
is just noticing the sounds in my environment ...
When I begin to notice them,
I will then start to 'label' them ...
It's almost like I've stepped out of the perspective of just experiencing
and now I'm observing,
and naming what it is that I'm perceiving ...
So in my scenario right now,
I might say:
'Birds ... '
'I hear the sound of an airplane ...'
'The sound of a truck ... '
'The bark of a dog ... '
If I placed my attention then
to what I am smelling in the environment,
I might say something like:
'Smelling soil ... '
'Feeling the crisp air
in my nostrils ...'
If I was to then switch my perspective
to the Feeling experience,
(meaning tangible, physical, feelings),
I might say:
'Pain in the arm ...'
'The feeling of the earth underneath me ...'
The point of this phase of this particular experience
is that we're observing the 'external' world
that we're participating in.
In the next phase of this particular meditation
we switch our attention
to the Thought-level of our Reality.
So we objectively observe
our own thoughts ...
All we are wanting to do is to become aware of our thoughts ...
We do not want to change them ...
We're not judging them as Good or Bad ...
We're simply noticing them and labeling them ...
For example, if I notice myself thinking:
'This is stupid',
I might say:
'Thinking a negative thought ...'
If I notice myself thinking:
'This feels so good',
I might say:
'Thinking a positive thought ...'
Or, I can label what kind of Thinking it is that I'm observing.
For example, if I notice myself think:
'That guy is such an idiot!',
I might say:
'Judgment' or 'Blaming'
If I notice myself think:
"Oh my gosh, I think I've just left the gas on",
I might think:
"Worry"
I want to remain disidentified with the thoughts themselves
and simply watch them pop up
and naming them for what they are.
Even though you are observing me
verbally
it's not necessary for
But it's just important that even on a mental level,
internally to yourself,
you are naming/recognizing
those things that you are perceiving.
Then, after a time,
when I feel ready,
I'm going to switch my attention
squarely to the level of feeling experience.
To do this,
I'm going to pay attention first
to the sensations that are occurring
in my 'internal' world.
When you're observing thoughts
it can feel like the thoughts are "out here",
yet again, an aspect of your
At this particular point
the most important thing is that we shift that focus,
that Observer,
to the
So now, I am focusing on sensations such as:
- burning in the solar plexus ...
- tingling in the foot ...
Perhaps at this point you will notice emotions.
You can label those as well.
Things like:
- frustration ...
- tension ...
- despair ...
- or even, joy ...
The
is that if your mind begins to wander
(as it so often does during meditative practice)
you don't need to judge or condemn yourself
because you can observe
Simply say to yourself mentally:
'Mind, wandering ...'
and when you bring it back:
'Mind, coming back ...'.
You can spend as much time as you would like to
in this Observer-state,
in this meditation,
but it's my suggestion
that if you're just beginning this practice,
you begin with no more than 10 minutes.
It's very difficult for the mind
that is not acclimatized to a state of Mindfulness
to stay focused on something like this
for longer than 10 minutes.
You wanna work it just like a muscle,
not over-work it.
And then you can start extending the period of time
that you stay in this Observer Consciousness
- beyond 10 minutes.
You can extend it for as long as you wish ...
When you are ready,
you can simply bring your attention
back to the Subjective Reality.
And you can put your attention back on the breath.
Watching the in-breath ...
and watching the out-breath ...
When you're ready,
you can open your eyes once again.
The aim of this particular meditative practice
is to remain disidentified
(or to not-identify)
with the things you're experiencing,
with the thoughts that you're thinking,
and the feelings that you are feeling.
You're just wanting to spend time
in this Observer-state
where you are simply allowing
everything in your Subjective Reality
to be there ...
One of the main reasons
that this particular Mindfulness practice is one of my very favorites
is that it's particularly good for the beginner.
What we will find as our Mindfulness Practice develops
is that, pretty soon,
it will be able to take place in a state of Silence.
State-of-Silence means,
there is no 'external' commentary
- meaning talking,
and there is no 'internal' commentary
- meaning thinking.
The Mind will literally just release itself
to a state of observation, instead of commentary.
But, in the very beginning,
when your Mind is used to having a job to do,
this is a very tall-order ...
This particular Mindfulness practice
gives the mind
(being that It is going to notice,
observe,
and label the things that It is observing)
that the Mind can get out if its own way
(get out of the way of Being)
and allow you to exist in the state of observation.
Gradually, as you feel the muscles of your Mindfulness developing
you can start to add Silence to your experience of Observing.
So, you are literally simply observing
without labeling what you are observing
- it's a state of complete non-judgment.
I will leave it up to you and trust you to discern
exactly when you are ready for
What you will notice,
is that just like working a muscle,
you will begin to become more objective in your everyday perspective.
Your ability to observe will be honed
like a skill that you can use anytime you wish.
It will start to be easy
not just in meditation,
but even in your day-to-day life.
This is particularly helpful
when you are in the midst of a conflict.
To be able to become mindful enough
to be objective about whatever you are experiencing
allows you to be conscious about the choices you are making
and the ways you are responding to your life,
to yourself, and to others ...
Developing a state of Mindfulness
ensures that you are not just sleep-walking through your life.
You are, instead, completely awake to life.
So I'm going to put forth the perspective
that it is a very good idea for us to develop
the ability to surrender to this objective experience
and to completely
immersed in the experience that we call Life.
It is also very important for us
to develop the ability to be objective
and to observe ourself, experiencing life
so that we may at once, experience
our Temporal Self,
and, our Eternal Self.
Have a good week ...
♪ Outtro Music ♪
It is very difficult for a Mind that is not acclimatized
or used to, this Mindfulness-state ...
that ... wait, uh ... (Shit!) ...
"We're starting over,
I got distracted by a squirrel!"
~ Laughter ~