The baseline of citta is openness, but it’s forgotten, mesmerized by its constrictions. Return to this primary citta, beneath the external and internal concerns. Take as support breathing out and breathing in.
Meditation offers an important reference point out of the world of circumstances. Mindfulness of body and breathing offer rest and replenishment, giving citta access to its life force energy. Ends with walking meditation instructions.
Beginning with citta’s ability to intend and attend, steer away from distractions and compulsions. Establish mindfulness (sati ) using body as a mooring post. Guidance around breathing and body follow.
Citta is our center, but it’s conditioned to allowing itself to be occupied with transient phenomena. In meditation we can shift back to citta as the center, thereby weakening the habits of running out and trying to control circumstances.
Citta is energetic, its energies habituated to going out. Settle and calm it through the body, and sustain attention with light touch and listening, vitaka-vicara. Listen for a long time to what you place your attention on. Mind becomes calm and receptive.
Referring to various Dhammapada passages, we come to understand that citta is stuck, grasped, bound up. But it can be released with wisdom. In meditation we practice calming and steadying.
Citta can bond to body or breathing rather than running out.
A guided meditation and talk exploring a way of practice developed from and inspired by Rob Burbea's Counting Within the Breath (see Practicing the Jhanas retreat) to steady the mind & heart, develop a whole body sensitivity, brighten awareness, and overcome the common hindrances to feeling free.
