“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free,” said Michelangelo, about chipping away at the stone until the figure of David revealed itself.
Take a seat. Let’s chip away a bit. We’re going to do some planting and grounding so you can find out what is in your nature—intelligence, compassion, good-naturedness? With gentle precision, this meditation will help you let go of the narratives that fill your mind, and there you will be. Sit in the half lotus pose on the floor or a blanket. Use a block or props to create a stable platform. Rest your hands on your lap or in the resting mind Mudra (gently touch the tips of your index fingers and thumbs together while extending the other three fingers). Strong back, softer front, get into posture. Chin draws back, open and close your mouth. Move your jaw around, ease up on any tension you’re holding. Keep your eyes open with a soft-jowled gaze. Bring your attention to the present moment without judgment. Take a deep breath. Feel the rise and fall of your chest. Let your snow-globe mind wander and then let it settle. Focus on the breath, but with an open awareness of where you place your attention. Softly label your thoughts, then come back to the breath. Contemplate impermanence. Celebrate impermanence. Rinse, repeat. Sit in gentleness for 20 minutes.
This is mindful meditation.
In the Tibet House and Dharma Moon mindful meditation teacher training I took, led by senior Tibetan Buddhist teacher and author David Nichtern—Tibet House was co-founded by actor Richard Gere and scholar Robert Thurman, father of our cover star, Uma Thurman—we learned all forms of meditation: compassion, contemplation, visualization, mantra/chanting and others. But it was love at first sight when I practiced the meditation on loving-kindness, or Metta. Our essential nature is an awakened heart-mind and by utilizing the tools of clarity, resilience and stability achieved through meditation, we can achieve this core Buddhist ideal of Bodhicitta.
The heart-mind is not only awake; it’s sensitive, caring, intelligent and native to your being. When you meditate on Metta, you can look into the eyes of your own discomfort and work on your lack of ease or patience. You become aware that you have agency over your psychological landscape. There is fundamental freedom in that idea of cultivating that which you want to cultivate and releasing that which is unproductive. You have the ability to see between one thing and another.
Nichtern explains how in mindful meditation you experience the idiom of our culture—boredom—which is a path of this practice. Hot boredom (“I’m so bored, let’s do something”) is irritated and frustrated boredom. He suggests leaning into that and recognizing that hot boredom is the speed of your mind coming to a full stop. You will then experience cool boredom—which means you settle into it, and realize not that much is happening, and abide by the slowing down and rest (and resist the temptation to crank that up).
Once you get to that vivid, clear space, you’ve arrived at the mother of insight, your intuition. There, you can simply appreciate the other elements—earth, water, air, fire. In a way, your five sense perceptions are pure and are identical to the five elements—we all share them, we are all made up of them.
Be here now—but where is that? It’s enriching presence, it lies in a field of energy where the sense perceptions are not obstacles but vehicles to access the awakened mind more directly. You become aware that the obscurations in life are transitory.
Your core nature is permanent. It’s the seed in us that can always arise, like a perennial plant. It’s luminosity, quality of life, energy. When you practice mindfulness, think about what you want to be, what virtuous qualities do you want to cultivate in your inner garden. You could set goals like finding empathy and humility, or freedom from worry, freedom from judgment.
Much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (a tale that reflects many Buddhist stories), you can click your heels at any time and go home (to your natural state). Coming home is the exercise. As Nichtern said at the end of one of our sessions: “Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.”
