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>> This is a great way to get[br]into the second practice set --

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we're going to do which is[br]mindfulness, the practice of mindfulness

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which is really the practice of being more[br]aware of what's going on in our experience.

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Mindfulness is the kind of fashionable word[br]for it right now but call it awareness,

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call it objectivity, call it -- it's[br]there in every tradition and every --

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lots of human beings and cultures[br]talk about it in their own ways.

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It's just being aware of what's[br]going on in your experience.

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And it turns out that there's[br]layers and layers of stuff going on

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and that we're often ping-ponging[br]around automatically with stuff.

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So patterns are being activated,[br]and we don't really realize it.

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We're kind of walking around in a bad[br]mood, or we're walking around [inaudible]

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on something, going around and around.

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And when we're inside these loops,[br]these loops of behaving and acting

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and responding, what does it feel like?

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It can feel like fate.

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It feels like we're always going to be here.

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We've always been here.

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It feels -- it's so sticky, it's[br]hard to kind of get out of it.

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And there is truth -- the reason it's[br]sticky is because you're deepening a pattern

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or a groove that you go in a lot.

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You're like training your body and mind[br]to continue on in that kind of a pattern.

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So that's the sobering part.

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Mindfulness practice is really a beautiful[br]practice for kind of working with that,

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understanding, and noticing how that works.

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That is the work of a practice so that's it.

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The work of a practice is you have an idea that[br]you want us [inaudible] and meditate and focus

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on your breath but you have a life[br]and your being triggered in your life

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and you have shit that's going on[br]and stuff that's happening at work

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and in your relationship and in your family[br]and you're thinking and worrying about it

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because you're trying to sort[br]it out and that's totally fine.

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So the first thing is to say this is[br]completely natural that I have this pattern

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that I'm inside, that this is just how it goes.

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So you first except that[br]you're having that experience

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so that the concentration we have working[br]with that is just to go back to the breath

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and let it -- and do your best[br]to let it be in the background.

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Eventually you get pulled up with[br]it again but you notice it happens.

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You go back to the breath.

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Eventually the breath starts[br]to become richer and fuller.

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The real estate of the breath gets larger[br]than the real estate of that sticky pattern.

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And you can sort of shift ratios that way.

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But the mindfulness way of[br]working about it is to say okay.

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Well, actually I'm going[br]to look at this pattern.

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I'm going to actually go into it.

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Instead of just being automatically inside[br]it, I'm going to start to explore it.

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So I'm going to -- when I'm in this thing[br]-- and you can explore it different ways.

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You can -- one of the most constructive ways[br]is just to kind of see what it's made of.

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Like generally you'll find it's made of body[br]sensation, so emotional feelings and tugs

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like anger in the jaw or like[br]heartache through the chest

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or vibrating agitation or whatever it is.

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Like the body sensations are[br]really providing the juice of a lot

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of our emotion and thinking patterns.

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So you can just stay with[br]the feelings in the body.

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And we'll kind of do one like that[br]in a moment, a practice like that.

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You can also work with the head[br]part of it, the thinking part.

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You can go in and go okay.

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Can I actually just notice what[br]images are coming up right now?

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Instead of just being in the images, can I[br]kind of have this objective witnessing thing?

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Can I disembed from this trance[br]and just notice the images,

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the face of your disappointed[br]mother or whatever it is?

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Or can you notice the talk?

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So that's another component.

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The voice in your head, the narrative you're[br]telling yourself, the criticism, the --

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you know the voice of the other person, whatever[br]it is just -- and you kind of tried to --

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it's this weird move of just like the act of[br]noticing it means you're no longer inside it.

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So this is the single most[br]important thing a human being needs

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to know in their life, I think.

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You know, probably there[br]will be a few so it's not

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that the single most important[br]but it's an important one.

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That is that you -- you're not[br]fated to repeat these patterns.

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If you can notice the thing is happening, the[br]active noticing it means you're not inside it.

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You're now outside it because the crazy[br]punch line in the contemplative world,

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in the Buddhist world, in the Hindu[br]world, in the Taoist world, and even in --

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talked about in different ways in the[br]Abrahamic traditions, the crazy punch line is

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that you aren't -- like that's part of you.

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That's the process of your personality[br]but the act of being aware it self,

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the knower is the same knower in everybody else.

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It's empty.

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It has no material.

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The act of knowing is this act --[br]it's this expression of your freedom.

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So it's different than -- knowing[br]is different than thinking.

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This is what people don't really realize.

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It's like you're thinking about something.

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Thinking is tractable.

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It's images.

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It's talk.

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It's a little bit of tension in the face.

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It's all this stuff.

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The knowing is just the knowing but we think[br]knowing and thinking are the same things.

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But a mindfulness practice basically lets you[br]disembed from the thinking so you can know it.

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So the knower is here and then[br]that thinking is happening here.

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Does that make sense?

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Okay. Because it's kind of a weird thing[br]to get around but that is the experience.

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The experience is that you can pop out and[br]start to observe the thing from outside.

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And then guess what?

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It turns out that process[br]just keeps going on and on

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and on because the place you're noticing[br]from, which at first seems like oh, yeah,

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I'm noticing it as this empty[br]knower then gets slowly coagulated

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into being another thinking process.

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And then you've got to pop out of that.

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So you've got to -- and then[br]you've got to pop out of that.

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And there's always another layer to pop out of.

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It just is like turtles all[br]the way down basically.

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But that's okay because it's like it's about[br]getting free incrementally or continually moving

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into a more spacious perspective[br]and then getting caught up again

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and then more spacious perspective but over time

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that perspective becomes the[br]place you take a stand in.

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So I'm going to make that[br]more tangible for you guys.

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Let's actually try that as a practice now.

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In a very uncomplicated way, it's just being[br]aware of what's going on in your experience.

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And as we start to look, it starts out kind[br]of crude like we can't really detect it.

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It's sort of murky but the longer and more[br]patiently we are -- that we spend investigating,

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the more subtler qualities[br]begin to get teased out.

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So there is this detection and this quality[br]that emerges, this quality of clarity,

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and it's like we start to become more[br]and more transparent to ourselves.

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And you can think of it as -- it's like[br]the conscious mind is starting to seep

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down into the unconscious or the subconscious,

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these sort of subterranean levels were all[br]the turbines are and all the machinery.

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It's like it can start to get down in there[br]and like, you know, walk around on the floor

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of the factory and, you know,[br]take a look around.

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So hopefully that metaphor won't be -- it will[br]be helpful and not disturbing so let's try it.