ECOLOGY OF THE HEART PART 9

Now we’re going to do something that requires a bit of relaxation. With the practice we did last time, we have come from the the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and we’ve dropped down into the body, so we have some groundedness.

What we’re going to do next is an awareness practice, and here, Instead of excluding distractions, this is an inclusion meditation, so we’re going to include the sense of body and weight, the sense of feeling our body. Then we’re going to add, layer or stack, we’re not going to leave the body behind, we’re going to add in the tongue, and what is so neat about the tongue is it has a quality of feeling, it’s still in the body, it has that quality of being a tongue, it can feel the mouth and itself, but it also has this element of taste. So it’s tasting the little particles in our mouth and it’s connecting us to that part of the world. 

So now we’re feeling both body and touch, and taste and tongue. Great! Sometimes we think about this as inviting the family to come together, in a circle maybe, around a fire, and the fire is our awareness.

Now we’re going to add in the nose and smell. Smell is just a little lighter than taste, there is no physical tongue but there are particles in the air. It’s connected to taste, but it’s even lighter. So we’ve got smells, tastes, and touch together. Together again, smell, taste and touch.

Let’s add in the ears, sound, even lighter than smells. It’s not particles, it’s waves of energy bouncing around and they enter our ears. Sound, smell, taste, touch, all together.

What is even subtler than sound? Light! Colors and shapes that come into our eyes. They don’t even make a sound, it’s so light. Light/eyes, sound/ears, smell/nose, taste/tongue, sensation/body. Now, let them all be together like one big family. 

What you’ll notice is you can’t do it, you can’t focus on them, you have to allow them. They’re all already shining in the present moment.

So we’re relaxing and just acknowledging their presence together. We’re opening our heart and mind to do that. Letting awareness shine and letting ourselves feel the senses together through relaxing, through opening, through not focusing on one point, but by opening up our awareness.

Now you may feel a sense of spaciousness as you do this, something bigger than just being focused in a narrow way.

You may also notice that the sixth family member, the thinking mind, is kind of jumping around, saying “Hey! “Hey! What about me?! What about me?! What are you doing?! Are you doing it right?!” 

So just notice that the thinking mind can be like a cloud in the sky, or like a bird or a butterfly in the sky. We don’t have to stop our thoughts or focus on them at all. As long as we’re aware of the five senses and opening up to them, thoughts are like this family member that has been getting too much attention, and now we’re not going to ignore them, we’re just including them in the larger experience, and giving every part of us as much equal attention as we can.

This post is part of an ongoing series:

Ecology of the Heart Part 1
Ecology of the Heart Part 2
Ecology of the Heart Part 3
Ecology of the Heart Part 4
Ecology of the Heart Part 5
Ecology of the Heart Part 6
Ecology of the Heart Part 7
Ecology of the Heart Part 8
Ecology of the Heart Part 9
Ecology of the Heart Part 10
Ecology of the Heart Part 11
Ecology of the Heart Part 12