The Book of Rest. James Reeves
we can have a motive devoid of conditions and we free ourselves of the need for rest to look a particular way, we will find ourselves stepping back further into our unconditional self – our unbiased awareness. If we lay down for half an hour and get caught up in the noise of our mind then it doesn’t matter, because we’ll likely have also uncovered or remembered (albeit fleetingly) that part of our experience is doing very well (as always) without the need for a particular outcome – the part of us that is aware of all of this, but not in it.
The essence of our being doesn’t require any conditions in order to be. If we can engage in the art of sitting quietly without trying to control the experience, or do anything, we’ll have an even greater chance of glimpsing our essential self.
ASK YOURSELF
How often do you rest without having an expectation for how that period of rest will unfold and what the results of it might be?
Enquiry 3:
What happens if you turn your attention from thought to sensation?
Very rarely can we stop and immediately experience a quiet mind, but most of the time, as long as we remain still, our thoughts will settle and the noise diminish. However, there will be times when we enter thought loops that even after allowing them to whirl about just as they wish for some time, seem to gain momentum and grow even louder. Of course, you could just allow this to be the case, but you may alternatively like to try the following enquiry in which we explore the physical sensations in our body, as a kind of ‘decoy mission’.
The enquiry involves performing a kind of ‘attention scan’ of our entire body. You might notice a tingling in the fingertips, an ache in the belly, a pain in the knee, lightness, heaviness, heat, cold or even that there is no particular sensation calling for attention. You might even become aware of a numbness. You can focus on a particular part of the body or, if you’re feeling especially restless you can allow your attention to move. The key point with both is that you do not do anything with whatever you notice. You just watch.
By this process we switch our attention from thinking to sensations. If our thoughts were making us feel tense, we might now be experiencing that tension in the body instead. The ‘issue’ is now physical, not cerebral, and we’re likely less concerned with wanting to work it out or come to a resolution. We’re just observing it as physical sensation.
Something very interesting can happen at this point. When we allow ourselves to feel our tension (instead of thinking about it) and without intending to change it in anyway, that tension may begin to dissipate all of its own accord. There are, of course, lots of other possibilities. It might get more intense or shift and move around. What we are proposing is that you don’t get too caught up in what’s happening; that you instead, allow it to happen.
With this enquiry, you might experience your body’s innate ability to bring itself back into balance (or ‘harmony’), without ‘you’ having to do anything. That loop of worry, for example, has gone from the attention of your mind to a sensation in your body to being released, merely by you having allowed it to do so.
We can take this enquiry further by asking ourselves where is all this taking place? What is it that is holding all this experience? What is the backdrop to our thinking, our sensation and our allowing? Whether we’re in a thought loop, scanning our body or glimpsing a stillness, how is the space in which this all unfolds affected? Does it ever change?
Typically, when we step back from any experience, we step into a spaciousness that knows no tension. We can remember that there’s something right here (that’s reading these words), that is aware of everything and has capacity for unconditional acceptance.
This enquiry can help us whenever we get caught up in refusing, resisting or running a commentary on our experience, so that we might glimpse at the space within which all our experience appears.
We might then find ourselves slipping effortlessly into that part of us that remains untouched and unbreakable.
- Make yourself comfortable (sitting, lying; it doesn’t matter)
- Notice your thoughts. Just watch. You might have a particularly busy mind, and that’s actually beneficial to this enquiry. Allow it all to be just as it is for a few moments
- Now, turn your attention to sensation. Observe the overall feeling of your body. Perhaps you have an obvious niggle, or there’s a familiar pain that presents itself to you. Perhaps you notice that you feel relaxed, or twitchy. However you are feeling, allow it to be
- If you’re struggling to notice any sensation at all, see if you can draw your attention to how your body rests against the surface that’s holding it
- Now, take your attention to your mouth. Notice the sensation of your tongue. Then the roof and sides of your mouth around it. Notice your jaw. Don’t try to do anything about any tension or anything else you notice, just be with the sensation
- Now notice the sensation of your hands. Give up thinking about them; feel them. Notice the sensation of the palms. The feeling of air touching the skin. The feeling of the fingers and thumbs. Notice the right hand. Then the left hand. Then both hands at the same time
- Feel your feet. Mentally scan every last element of your feet
- Once again, turn your attention to the parts of your body that are touching the surface that holds it
- Hang out here for as long as feels right – preferably minutes rather than moments
- Allow yourself to surface from this in a slow and leisurely way, noticing how you feel in body and mind
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