Unfettered Mind

Learning to be nobody; allowing a space for problems to resolve; answers to questions regarding compassion and taking and sending; being present in difficulty; developing capacity to be present and open to pain, negativity, even criminality; discussion of different kinds of offerings.

World of actual experience vs world of shared experience; shared continuum; to live fully is to live and function fully in both worlds;  role of meditation in correcting an imbalance caused by living in a world of shared experience;  creating ideals in the world of shared experience.

Nothing to push against; notion of "enemy" arises in us when we resist; key terms of retreat: relationship, conflict, enemy; retreat progression.  

The effect of eye gaze in meditation; four ways of working: power (based on coercion, demands), ecstasy (connection through opening), insight (seeing into things) and compassion (being present with another’s pain or when another is in pain); which operate in our close relationships?; three bases of relationship: mutual benefit, shared aim and emotional connection.

Increasing our relationship to emotional material through practices of loving-kindness, compassion and devotion; awareness of body is key; Mahamudra pith instructions; “body like a mountain, breath like the wind, mind like the sky; heart and mind not distinct; difference between method and result; developing capacity by stopping before attention dissipates; relationship of Mahamudra to primary practice.

Three types of practices: practices of presence, of purification, and of energy transformation; relationship between primary practice and the rest of life; how to live in a way that supports spiritual practice; guidance from others is not absolute; train to recognize imbalance and move in the direction of balance; patterns create imbalance; bodhisattva vow -- an aspect is never to indulge our own confusion; open to everything all of the time.

Skipping steps in the primary practice suggests ignoring or suppressing; ascent and descent; three types of shame: shame from acting inconsistently, shame from violating social norms, shame from compromising personal ideals; how do we come to terms with shame and all experiences?; four powers: regret, reliance, remedy and resolve; the impact of practice on relationships.

Instructions for primary practice; primary practice: how to come into experience as it arises right now; being in the experience, as opposed to observing experience; relationship to shamatha and vipassana.

Explore “Why am I here?”; become quiet enough to listen to your own heart, the “stammering voice;” initial answers usually conceptual; go deeper into your body; go beyond words and rest there; what arises brings us in touch with natural knowing present in experience.

Participants' questions are: What strategies exist for experiencing emotions?, What do I do with my anger?, What role do negative emotions play?, How do I deal with the feeling of hardening arising from anger?

Participants' questions are: Is it helpful to have many different practices?, How do I not resist dying?, How do I stop doing?, How do I deal with frustration in my practice?, Is there a difference between observing the breath and resting in the breath?.

Participants' questions are: How do I respond rather than react?; How do I take my life into my practice?; How do I deal with anxiety in my sitting practice?; How do I deal with distractions in my practice?.

Antidotes to mind killing; middle way vs compromise; summary of warrior’s solution: perceive imbalance, intention, sacrifice, dying, rest; participant’s questions.

Definition of mind killing and examples; six methods of mind killing; dying as remedy to mind killing.

Power comes at the moment of dying; death as your friend; guided meditation : dying to expectation; participants questions.