A student writes:

Why am I resisting meditation? I want to do it but something is stopping me fully engaging. The interest and intention is there but it feels like I keep hitting a wall…

Lama Shenpen responds:

When the thought comes up that you should meditate, instead of trying to make yourself go and meditate, just relax right where you are and notice how you feel in your heart. Just be there with yourself, right at that moment and really try to relax into your heart.

Gently ask your heart what it wants, how it wants to be? And just stay there noticing what is going on as you ask that. After a while, if you find your mind has gone quieter, start to notice the rhythm of the breath and how that relates to the feeling in your heart.

Don’t think it should be any other way than how it is. But notice, as if you were listening for something coming from deep inside you, so be awake, attentive and relaxed. Just notice what is going on.

 

Lama Shenpen’s students are all engaging in The Living the Awakened Heart Training – a structured, comprehensive, supported, distance learning programme in Buddhist meditation, reflection and insight. The training, which is open to all, brings the profound Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachings to a Western audience in an experiential, accessible way, through spiral learning. Find out more and how to join at www.ahs.org.uk/training