Meditating My Way Up A Mountain
“Been a couple weeks since I did this.”
AH. rest in presence of awareness.
“Wow, hard on the thighs”
AH
“I was just sick for a week, maybe this is too much for today. Maybe better to swim today.”
AH – you pussy.
AH
“Hi! how are you? Yes it’s a perfect day for a hike”
AH – external distractions are not different from internal distractions. Return to presence of awareness
“Have a good one”.
AH-
“Man – My ankles are starting to hurt”
Ah – release from distraction…
“Nope…they really hurt, can’t just release myself from this distraction”
Focus on the pain itself as the meditation – where precisely is it?
“Back Right side of right ankle”
“Can I find the specific point or muscle? Yes, nope, its gone”
“Pain is back”
“Make the stickiness of the pain itself the focus of meditation”
“AH”
few moments of clear presence…
“Weird its gone now. Is it just that I walked it out or did focusing on the tenacity of the pain itself dissipate it?” Doesn’t matter does it?
Focus Jason “AH”
Oooh maybe I should switch to Semzin of White AH rather than just using it to cut distraction…
Visualize White floating three feet in front of me…
No switching meditations mid-way! What is this armature hour?
AH
“Getting tired”
AH
“Jesus Christ, am I there yet? Maybe I will turn around and call it a day.”
“Jason*, look up. Do you see much more above you? No, ok then you are up and almost around. You have done this climb a dozen times.”
“Look, up ahead is the pine line**. You are nearly there.”
AH.
presence of awareness
“Its mostly level from here on in. You made it.”
Grin
“OK Jason, its great to feel joy, but strip it of its cause and just find the presence of awareness”
AH
Look…. there’s the rock!
Ah
OK. Make offering to the Yul-lha and go sit on the overlook. Make offerings to four Kings and the Garndharvas, Yakshas, Nagas, and Kunbandhas.
Eat Sandwich.
Yum.
* For mental benefits of talking to yourself in third person see articles like this and this.
** Deciduous Trees don’t typically grow above a certain elevation, leaving mostly pines at the top of Vermont mountains.
