Week #3 Recap & Weekly Exploration

As we continued to focus attention on the sensation of breath at the nostrils, we noticed the many and varied distractions that pull our attention away from this focus. And we noticed the habitual tendency to engage our focus in thought if we are not noticing with equanimity.

Noticing with equanimity is the same as allowing what already is to just be. In any given moment, we have the ability to focus our attention on the sensation of one breath right now, and allow everything (i.e., all content, all phenomena: thoughts, feelings, experiences or states, and other sensations) to be exactly as it is without doing anything about it. Practicing equanimity, or allowing, during meditation is how we are stopping the habit of reacting - usually with more thinking (internal judging, story-making, commenting, etc.) - to what is. We are strengthening our capacity to focus with equanimity during meditation so that we are capable of focusing on breath and allowing what is, when we are not in meditation.

This week, continue to practice this and see if you can increase your meditation to ten minutes, twice a day. Start your meditation with a deep, 'let-go' breath, focused completely on the sensation at the nostrils for one complete inhalation and exhalation. Repeat the deep breath once or twice again if necessary. Let it pull all your attention to it like a magnet. Then, as the breath resumes its natural depth and frequency all by itself, continue to focus all (shoot for 100%!) your attention on the sensation of breath and on allowing what is to just be - one breath at a time.

And if you have time, check out one or two of the Non-dual Realization links at the right side of this page to familiarize yourself with what these concepts are pointing to.