12-Minute Meditation to Approach the World with an “I Don’t Know” Mind

We can find strength and resilience in familiarity, and use those feelings to explore the unfamiliar.

At the beginning of each contemplation The practice I teach, I provide little instruction for the pose, so you can experience the practice as as supportive as possible for your body.

Meditation on approaching the world with a “I don’t know” mind.

1. I would invite you to come to a place that is truly comfortable and supportive of your practice. For some of you, this might mean sitting in a chair, on a couch, or even on some pillows on the floor. This may mean standing, if that is more supportive of your back and posture. For some of you, this may mean lying on the floor. Please take a moment to come to wherever you feel most comfortable merciful To your body.
2. Some of you may want to close your eyes completely for this meditation practice. Others may want to use what I like to call the “soft gaze,” which is looking at the floor about two inches in front of the knees or feet.
3. As you settle into a comfortable position, I would invite you to take three deep breaths with me. As you take these three deep breaths, you may notice that your body may begin to naturally relax. You may begin to feel a little deeper connection to whatever place connects to the Earth. For some of you, this will be your feet, for others this may be your back. Notice where it is in contact with the ground at this moment.
4. Begin bringing your attention and awareness to the relationship between your body and the Earth. It may be helpful at this point to take another deep inhale and exhale here. When you are done, return your breathing to its natural rhythm and rhythm.
5. You may notice the sound quality in the room you are in. There is probably some ambient noise coming from inside wherever you are, whatever building you are in. Or maybe there are sounds coming from outside. Feel free to make these part of your practice.
6. Start by drawing your awareness down to your feet, wherever you land on the ground. What do you notice? Do you feel like your right foot or left foot is a little heavier than the other? When you notice the difference between your right and left foot, you may also become aware of other subtle adjustments within your body.
7. You may notice that the mind continues to produce thoughts, and this is normal. The goal of practicing meditation is not necessarily to stop thinking about the thoughts you are thinking, but merely to become aware of the thoughts as they flow through the body and mind. As you bring your awareness into your thoughts, you can also bring your awareness into the rhythm of your breath as it flows in and out of your body.
8. I would like to invite you to draw your attention to your abdominal muscles And notice if it is drawn strongly towards the spine. Is it possible to bring a feeling of relaxation, even weakness, to the abdominal muscles by allowing them to be soft? Don’t worry, no one is watching. How do you feel when you invite a feeling of softness and relaxation into your abdomen? How does the rest of the body respond?
9. While you are paying attention here, you may begin to imagine a person, place, animal, or thing that is very familiar to you. Maybe this animal, person, place or thing reminds you of what it feels like to be at home. Can you bring them into the room with you now?
10. Notice whether this invitation has an effect on your breath, as it rises and falls from your chest. You may also feel safer in the space of this practice when you are summoned by an image that reminds you of coming home or being detained.
11. What is it about this person, animal, place, or thing that is so familiar, so familiar, that makes you feel as if you really know it? What is the feeling of knowing? What is the feeling of familiarity and how does it settle within the body? The invitation is to bring your attention back to the breath any time you notice yourself engaged in the story.
12. Now, remember the image of something that reminds you of what it means to be strong and resilient. Maybe there’s someone you really look up to, or a place you went that made you feel really strong and resilient while you were there. Can you bring into your mind’s awareness the embodied sensations of being strong and resilient? Does your body make subtle changes and shifts when you remember how it feels?
13. Now we will do some experiments. We hope this was fun. There is a term called “I don’t know mind” that is sometimes used in meditation to stimulate a feeling of curiosity.
14. What does it look like to approach the world with the idea of ​​“I don’t know the mind”? You may find that this is a bit at odds with the feeling of familiarity that we began to explore at the beginning of this practice. The feeling of familiarity is the feeling of, “Oh yeah, me He knows. I know this person. I know this place. I know this animal or this thing. They’re so familiar to me.” Maybe the way we look at things, which seems so familiar to us, can begin to shift and change ever so slightly when we apply the pure curiosity of the “I don’t know mind.” How does that land in the body? This exploration of not knowing, or not being quite sure?
15. At this point in your practice, you may notice if there are places in the body that begin to tighten as we explore the feeling of “I don’t know the mind,” and that’s okay. This is the intelligence of the body. Can we unite this exploration of the “I don’t know mind” with the same feelings of strength and resilience, so that we know that no matter what, when we face moments of uncertainty and not knowing that we have all the power and Resilience Inside our bodies to meet that moment? How does it feel to meet strength and resilience with lack of knowledge? Can we really be curious about what emerges in our consciousness through this practice? Let’s take a few moments of silence together now and explore how we feel about this.
16. When you are ready, please bring your entire body into your mind’s eye And notice the difference between the way the body feels now and the way the body feels when you first entered this field of practice. Take the time to notice how the feet feel a little different in the way they connect to the ground.
17. Let’s all take another deep breath here.
    
18. When you are ready, at your own pace and rhythm, please begin, very slowly and gently, by opening your eyes, Without staring at anything in particular. Allow color and texture to return to your mind’s awareness.
19. From here we can begin the redirection process to the room we are in. Start by gently moving and rotating your head and neck, taking in the colors and textures of the space you are in. Notice if there is anything new, different, or lively about the space. What has changed since you started this practice?