Good morning from Devon

Good morning from Germany.

Good morning everyone from Bournemouth, south coast England x

Love and good wishes from Sheffield x

Morning all from frosty Suffolk

morning all

Good morning from Sydenham

hi from grey stepney

morning from Glasgow

Good morning 🙏

morning, very hard to hear you :)

Morning!

good morning from Surrey

good morning from Wicklow Ireland

good morning from very wet London

Good morning from kings cross

Good morning from West London

hello from Cork

Good Morning from grey Oxford

hello from hackney wick

Good morning from Balham!

good morning sounds better but still quiet

Good morning from Stoke Newington

good morning from Newington Green

bonjour from paris

Good morning everyone from Camberwell

Morning from Chingford, East London

Mrtta from Romiley, MBC

Hi from Leyton

G’morning from Brizzle

Frozen

Lost connection?

frozen for me too

you have frozen

Frozen

yeah frozen here too

frozen

frozen screen

You’re back

your back!

yes

Back!

thought you'd transecended

haha

Morning from Homerton

Goodnmornjng

good morning beautiful peeps

morning all

what do you mean by getting tight?

yes exactly, what is tightness, do you mean rigidity of thought

I think it means rigidity, holding on, trying to control

Excessive effort

not letting go?

i sometimes only realise the tightness after i’ve let go of it and my experience feels softer

When you read the first poem I felt a deep release in my mind and heart. It made me aware of a great tightness I was holding and carrying.

if empathy and openness are like concepts, tightness seems to be the opposite ??

I feel tightness on my belly , if I tune into I find that I am holding in so I breath into it, I feel it in my hips.,,, sometimes sadness in heart... so I breath into it and softness

thank you very much! have a nice day all

many thanks :)

Thank you x

Thanks all, hope you all have a good day

Thank you:)

The Poem: Proud Songsters by Thomas Hardy

What a lovely poem - wishing all an authentic day.

Thank you!

gratitude

Thank you

Thanks

thank you, this was brilliant!

Thanks!!

thank you

thank you all

Have to go now today thanks xx

Q. Any tips for dealing with changes in temperature; too hot or cold?

Thank you

Thank you 🙏

Thank you very much

Q: how do we know the difference between what's gripping and what's allowing us to sit up straight? As I smooth out different areas I find the tension just moves to keep me sat up straight or I start to slump

Thanks Maitreyabandhu

What was the poem please

many thanks xx

thank you 🙏

Thank you all (and sorry i can’t turn my video on, my internet can’t cope with this size call)

Thank you to all. Yasmin

Really loving the poems this week. Could we possibly get a list ion them? Thanks

thank you very much

Thanks so much for providing this opportunity

thank you and blessing. I hope you all have a lovely day

Thank you!

Thank you very much!

Thank you! Have a lovely day everyone x

Q: Working with a lot of anger / rage. Any tips on meditating with this?

thank you ❤️

thank you very much

thanks!

thank you!

thank you, lovely x

Thank you so much, today was very helpful

thank you

Thank you!

thank you!

Thank you very much

Thank you!

Thank you

thanks

thank you

thanks very much !

thank you

Thank you.

thank you maitreyabandhu

thank you from holly and olmer x

Q. do you have any tips for something we can take away from sitting meditation to use throughout the day to help with tightness? I find that i'm more alarmed when I don't feel tight or anxious and scan my brain for a reason to feel that way

Q if you are doing a meditation focusing on something like the breath, and Buddhist imagery arises, is this something from the subconscious arising, or yet another distraction?

thank you.

Q - sometimes I dont know if I'm going into relaxed mindfulness or dozing off, any tips?

lovely, thanks Maitreyabandhu

Q. I find it really hard to lose grip in my belly, trying everything you suggested but still difficult. How can I work on this?

thank you : )

Thank you

thank you

thank you

Thank you for your teaching and I am so grateful

q. thankyou, I found myself loosening tightness by shaping the outbreath, I am I cheating?!

finished with smile on my face

Thomas Hardy, Proud Songsters.

Thank you Maitreyabandhu Metta and gratitude Clare

thanks, this was very helpful and what I really needed today 🙏💝

Q: I understand tension and tightness in the body but not sure about what ‘tightness’ is in the mind - or cannot identify it

thank you so much for today, that was really transformative for me. so much mental constriction i hadn’t been aware of in that way before. thank you!

Thanks Maitreyabandhu, I have a sense that I am gripping at my hip area and groin, but it's below my conscious awareness. How can I work with it?

thank you so much :)

are recoded copies avivlable of these meditations_

Many thanks Maitreyabandhu and Sam. Have a lovely day everyone.

thank you 🙏 😊

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Slumping me too!

thanks 👍

Thank you so much!

i had a strange feeling of almost like my skin was disappearing and some pale blue light. is this normal? only lasted a few seconds but it was so peaceful i tried too hard to get it back afterwards

Thank you I had such pain this morning and this wonderful meditation has moved it released it Much gratitude!

Thank you Maitreyabandhu and Sam :) x

Thank you x

Q can we get access to the meditation recordings please?

thank you x

Thank you, what was the nna

Q: If you are feeling very tired, is there a way you can bring an enlivening quality to the meditation without also bringing tightening? I kept nodding off whilst sitting today!

What was the name of the poem please?

having meditated for years, when Maitreya band lead the morning meditation on the summer retreat, it was a wonderful experience. I really felt I had Arrived. It wonderful again that he is leading the meditation. thank you to all

Q: I often go from one extreme to the other - tightness in the mind or I drift off noticing the body - how can I find and maintain the point in the middle which we're after?

Q. Thank you. I struggle with not feeling angry at government. Each time I try to look at them with empathy I can and it softens but returns when I see the effects of their work. How can I approach this difficulty? Any suggestions welcome.

thanks :)

Q: sometimes when I’m anxious I feel the tightness increasing when meditating and experiencing shortness of breath and heart pounding. I tried moving my attention towards “calm” parts of my body, or staying with the tightness but it can get really overwhelming. Do you have any advice for that?

Thank you for another beautiful session. finding beach session is growing my sense of practice. could you clarify breathing technique in thru mouth is that the nest way

Thank you. The poem made me sad because of the loss of bird population due to climate and ecological changes and emergency.

Thank you

Thanks

I really value the teaching - thank you Maitreyabandhu

Thank you for the teaching and wonderful meditation. x

Q: a part of my body is suffering, physical pain, unpleasant sensations which distracted me from the practice. my instinct is to be focused on that part but not sure if feel my instinct is the best, should I make an effort and work on my whole body and breathe or just follow my instinct ?

Thank you !

lovely meditation many thanks Maitreyabandhu and Sam. 🙏💫Have a lovely day everyone.

when i start getting into djana and my posture fixes itself and gets super upright, my eyes also tend to open automatically - that's a lil bummer i'm learning to work with next to the thoughts of excitement "omg i'm going into djana!!" :D

I have a rough cough which keeps interrupting but just have to accept this.

A good night's sleep and plenty of relaxation in the rest of the life affects my posture was great today due to more rest x

Thank you, I noticed gripping arose when I experience aversion towards anxious thoughts. I have to leave now, see you tomorrow.

Thank you. At some point could you return to the subject of boredom? Many thanks.

thank you

thank you

any advice regarding exam stress and using mindfulness etc

thank u 🙏🏼 😊😊

thanks

Who is the other Mary-Jane?

Thank you very much for the beautiful teaching and meditation. thank you Maitreyabandhu and Sam !

I am 70 and only do Gentle Yoga, so the morning session is way beyond what I can do. I wonder if, for the future, a more gentle session might also be offered? Osteoarthritis and the Sun Salute do not go well together!

Q- Should we keep awareness of the external world during meditation?

This was great,deep relaxed but with empathy there,the gripping relaxed nicely, felt lovely and I feel so happy ,some thoughts but wen the tension came i realised and let go!thankyou so much.❤

kept thinking about having to properly log on to work at 8:30 🤭

Thank you Maitreyabandhu and Sam, the poem was beautiful and the session was lovely

Thanks again, good to see you all, until tomorrow

Thank you Maitreyabandhu

thank you 🙏🏼

Thank you that makes a lot of sense

Thank You everyone

I feel so lucky to be here - and to stay for the chats and the answers. thank you.

q I get pale iridescent blue lights flickering in and out,what cld that be?

should you fight sleeping during meditation? or is it just a sign that your body needs sleep.

Thank you very much! Brought awareness of different sensations and perception.

very wise words

Thank you, Colin

Thank you for the wisdom about politics and the Police, and unhooking from blame.

Thank you - wonderful session - I noted how my anxieties soared when my attention from the practice was distracted - whilst needing to work on the meditation I also need to change the things that I can change that are creating the anxieties in life. With a quieter mind I hope to be able to tackle these changes.

thanks for another day of calming meditation and lovely poem, see you all tomorrow

Q How do I really find acceptance? (of lots of things really) but mainly of myself and not constantly trying to improve myself, which feels like I am not accepting I am enough..how do I differentiate between helpful things to improve and just an endless list of things to keep changing? I guess its letting go of control?? but any tips for that? :- )

Thank you, see you tomorrow

Thank for your teachings filled with humour, humanity and subtlety

Thank you Maitreyabandhu and Sam, great advice on meditation and another beautiful , fitting poem.

Acceptance is a good quality

Truer words. Thank you for your sensible take on blaming. If there isn’t a YouTube video covering this, there should be, for posterity

anger comes from hurt and fear

Brilliant book on using anger in meditation “love and rage” by lama rod owens

thank you so much may our journey continue

Thank you do much Maitreyabandhu, Sam and Everyone. Beautiful.

thanks, Giorgia

Thank you for your responses. My anger comes from working with people without food as a direct result of government policy. I am not an angry person in my personal life. This creates difficulty for me.

Thankyou Maitreyabandhu and everyone. Really helpfully beautiful.

This was exactly what I needed today. Thank you

Absolutely amazing! Thanks so much

Thank you so much. Have a great day.

Thank you so much! absolutely amazing as always x x x

Have a joy filled day everyone

Lovely thank you! :)

thanks

Thank you so much

THANK YOU :)

Thank you again!

Metta!!!

Thank you. Have a lovely day.

Thank you x

Thank you all. Have a lovely day x

thank you

@jo thanks for dm

thanks 🙏🏻

Thank you again,

Thank you :)

Thank you!

thank u so much!!! :-)

thank you! have a lovely day