When full ground is not properly established, thinking creates the thinker. With proper ground, it’s possible to hover over the thought process and listen deeply to the underlying emotional stream. Establish ground using a simple meditation object that the mind can easily access and stabilize on.
This meditation begins by guiding us through a scan: opening to inner space and aliveness, then to outer space, and then continuous space, filled with the light of awareness. We explore how every experience belongs to this infinite awake space of our Being, and can be held with tenderness and love.
To relax the activity of the mind, awareness – citta – needs something else to stand on. We set up internal and external foundations that generate the sense of steadiness and stability. This enables us to get perspective and step back from the stream of energies and mind-states that we call ‘myself.’
Contemplating the mind, not trying to change or explain it, knowing it as just a mental state, a result of causes and conditions. If feeling pressed upon by the mind, pause and widen. Bring attention to the body. Determine the appropriate attitude for settling.
