Yoga Meditation and Chronic Headaches from the media Open, Without Resistance, to All Experience
A woman who suffers from chronic headaches and migraines asks about yoga meditations that explore the intensity of physical sensations. Rupert suggests that there is intense focus on the headaches, but when her attention is engaged in other activities, there is no headache.
- Duration: 9 minutes and 6 seconds
- Recorded on: Jul 8, 2021
- Event: Webinar – Thursday 8th July 4:00pm, UK
Notice that awareness is always open without resistance to our current experience. It is always only a thought that rises up and resists the current experience, either resisting the experience that is present or seeking an experience that is not present. In most cases, the seeking, resisting thought arises on behalf of a self which when investigated, or when looked for, can never be found. We don't find the seeking, resisting self. We find the open empty resistance-less presence of awareness. Or more accurately, awareness recognises itself. There is no suffering in experience itself. Our suffering is always our resistance to it. The only thing we need to attend to is our own resistance. Understand and feel yourself to be simply openness without resistance to all experience. Make openness without resistance your default identity. Stand as openness without resistance in the face of all the experience.
A man asks about time, and how to reconcile evidence of past historical events if the past does not exist. Rupert responds that time is a conceptual framework and that the question comes from the presumption that time exists. A man asks about time, and how to reconcile evidence of past historical events if the past does not exist. Rupert responds that time is a conceptual framework and that the question comes from the presumption that time exists.
Rupert expands on the experience of the body as the internal activity of the finite mind, and the nature of appearances.
A woman, who has an interest in quantum physics and is a practicing Sufi, asks to whom do we pray. Rupert responds that the dreamed character prays to the dreamer.
A man asks about the radical nature of the direct path, as he feels the idea that the separate self is an Illusion is devastating. Rupert responds that there is a reality to the separate self, but it is not what it appears to be.
A man from London describes expansive experiences he's had since following the teachings, but he still seems to respond as if he were a separate self in his relationship with his mother. Rupert suggests he investigate tensions as they arise, and to look for the self that seems to be experiencing this or that emotion.
A woman who attended the Tantric retreat says she has experienced physical discomfort ever since, and describes it as an internal volcano whereby she feels she is going to explode. Rupert suggests that she is focusing intensely on her internal experience, a narrow frame of self-reference, and encourages her to engage in activities that divert her attention away from the intense focus on her discomfort.
A man from Costa Rica asks about the relationship between happiness and doing what you love, and unhappiness when having to do what you don't want to do. Rupert responds that it is most important to realise that neither happiness nor unhappiness is dependent upon the content of experience. A man from Costa Rica asks about the relationship between happiness and doing what you love, and unhappiness when having to do what you don't want to do. Rupert responds that it is most important to realise that neither happiness nor unhappiness is dependent upon the content of experience.
A woman who suffers from chronic headaches and migraines asks about yoga meditations that explore the intensity of physical sensations. Rupert suggests that there is intense focus on the headaches, but when her attention is engaged in other activities, there is no headache.
A woman from Malaysia asks what to do about her lifelong fear and anxiety. Rupert suggests that the anxiety arises because she has lost touch with herself and so feels threatened as an apparently separate entity.
A woman describes a dream she had of her mother who told her she had to leave, and she responded it's okay to leave, and after that her mother passed away. Rupert responds that her minds are connected, and that she gave her mother the permission she needed to die.
A man describes an experience during meditation where there was no distinction between the observer and the observed and he was startled to discover he couldn't find a self. He asks how to live this understanding in regards to conflict. Rupert suggests that this sense of conflict is more likely to dissolve as a result of this recognition.
Notice that awareness is always open without resistance to our current experience. It is always only a thought that rises up and resists the current experience, either resisting the experience that is present or seeking an experience that is not present. In most cases, the seeking, resisting thought arises on behalf of a self which when investigated, or when looked for, can never be found. We don't find the seeking, resisting self. We find the open empty resistance-less presence of awareness. Or more accurately, awareness recognises itself. There is no suffering in experience itself. Our suffering is always our resistance to it. The only thing we need to attend to is our own resistance. Understand and feel yourself to be simply openness without resistance to all experience. Make openness without resistance your default identity. Stand as openness without resistance in the face of all the experience.
A man asks about time, and how to reconcile evidence of past historical events if the past does not exist. Rupert responds that time is a conceptual framework and that the question comes from the presumption that time exists. A man asks about time, and how to reconcile evidence of past historical events if the past does not exist. Rupert responds that time is a conceptual framework and that the question comes from the presumption that time exists.
Rupert expands on the experience of the body as the internal activity of the finite mind, and the nature of appearances.
A woman, who has an interest in quantum physics and is a practicing Sufi, asks to whom do we pray. Rupert responds that the dreamed character prays to the dreamer.
A man asks about the radical nature of the direct path, as he feels the idea that the separate self is an Illusion is devastating. Rupert responds that there is a reality to the separate self, but it is not what it appears to be.
A man from London describes expansive experiences he's had since following the teachings, but he still seems to respond as if he were a separate self in his relationship with his mother. Rupert suggests he investigate tensions as they arise, and to look for the self that seems to be experiencing this or that emotion.
A woman who attended the Tantric retreat says she has experienced physical discomfort ever since, and describes it as an internal volcano whereby she feels she is going to explode. Rupert suggests that she is focusing intensely on her internal experience, a narrow frame of self-reference, and encourages her to engage in activities that divert her attention away from the intense focus on her discomfort.
A man from Costa Rica asks about the relationship between happiness and doing what you love, and unhappiness when having to do what you don't want to do. Rupert responds that it is most important to realise that neither happiness nor unhappiness is dependent upon the content of experience. A man from Costa Rica asks about the relationship between happiness and doing what you love, and unhappiness when having to do what you don't want to do. Rupert responds that it is most important to realise that neither happiness nor unhappiness is dependent upon the content of experience.
A woman who suffers from chronic headaches and migraines asks about yoga meditations that explore the intensity of physical sensations. Rupert suggests that there is intense focus on the headaches, but when her attention is engaged in other activities, there is no headache.
A woman from Malaysia asks what to do about her lifelong fear and anxiety. Rupert suggests that the anxiety arises because she has lost touch with herself and so feels threatened as an apparently separate entity.
A woman describes a dream she had of her mother who told her she had to leave, and she responded it's okay to leave, and after that her mother passed away. Rupert responds that her minds are connected, and that she gave her mother the permission she needed to die.
A man describes an experience during meditation where there was no distinction between the observer and the observed and he was startled to discover he couldn't find a self. He asks how to live this understanding in regards to conflict. Rupert suggests that this sense of conflict is more likely to dissolve as a result of this recognition.