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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, welcome back to
your Daily Mindfulness.
In today's session, we're going to
talk about awareness as your refuge.
This is a line that I've heard from the
teacher, Ajahn Sumedho, and it's part of
a longer passage in one of his writings.
He says, "Awareness is your refuge."
awareness is your refuge.
Now, since you've been with us on
Mindfulness.com for some time, you're
aware of this idea of awareness that we're
touching into in our meditation practice.
It's the part of us that is able
to know what is happening without
being consumed by what is happening.
It's the part of you that is
aware that you're thinking without
being caught in your thoughts.
It's a part of you that sees, oh yeah, I'm
feeling this right now, but you can create
some distance from it where you're not
absorbed and sucked into that experience.
Awareness is in the backdrop
of every single moment.
And the beauty of awareness
is that it's, it's unchanging.
It's not subject to the same laws
of transience, as thoughts are, as
emotions are, as sensations are.
And when we try to take refuge in
a certain emotion, like a positive
emotion such as joy, we'll always
get stuck and we'll always feel
like we're failing because the
nature of emotions is to change.
The nature of thoughts is to change.
The nature of the felt experience
in your body is to change.
And so it's a really
deep inquiry to look at.
What does a more sustainable form of
happiness and wellbeing look like in life?
If I were to take refuge in something
in my experience, what could that
be when everything is changing?
And that's where awareness comes in.
Of course, you don't have to
take any of this at face value.
I mean, the whole beauty of meditation is
that you get to explore this for yourself
and discern, does this feel true for you?
At least in my experience and the many
deep meditators who have come before me,
there's something about awareness that is
unique to any aspect of our experience.
It's steady, it's there and it can
hold all of you without becoming it.
And for that reason, as we spend more time
dwelling in awareness of our experience,
rather than the experience itself, we
start to re identify our sense of self.
And that that sense of self then
becomes bigger and more expansive
and more spacious than the momentary
experience moving through it.
So take this into your meditation
today and see if you can take
it with you throughout your day.
Thank you for your practice and
let's settle into today's meditation.
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