Guided Meditation - Addressing Discomfort or Unease
A guided meditation in the spirit and traditional format of Plum Village.
If this is your first time experiencing one of my guided meditations, consider first visiting A Guide to the Guideds, which offers brief background and a few simple suggestions.
Photo by David W. Levin; Baja California, 2025
An audio version of this guided meditation may be found below.
Deserted beach,
footsteps in the sand erased by rain—
this anguish comes from nowhere, and its feet do not yet touch the Earth.
Suddenly I hear a far-off whisper of the gentle winds of spring, and the anguish is gone.
Thich Nhat Hanh, from his 1966 poem, “Unclasp.”
Breathing in, I’m aware of an unease, perhaps an illness visiting my body
Breathing out, I’m grateful for my body’s ability to address this discomfort
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware of the first arrow nature of this unease
Breathing out, I’m grateful for the ability to not create second arrows
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware how my resistance to what is can heighten my discomfort
Breathing out, I’m grateful how allowing reality to be can reduce my suffering
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware of ways to lessen the severity of my discomfort
Breathing out, I’m grateful for other beings whose work helps reduce suffering
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware that discomfort cannot exist without comfort
Breathing out, I’m grateful for the times in which I experience ease and serenity
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware how my unease is similar to those experienced by other beings
Breathing out, I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow my compassion for others
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware this discomfort might fuel the illusion of my separateness
Breathing out, I’m grateful to know how to use it as a tool for healing
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware how unhappy I can feel due to this unease
Breathing out, I’m grateful that I still have enough conditions to be happy
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware how the mind and body inter-are
Breathing out, I’m grateful for the ability to positively influence how my body feels
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Breathing in, I’m aware of my propensity to think this discomfort will be permanent
Breathing out, I’m grateful for the teaching of impermanence
Aware…grateful (invite the bell)
Touching the earth, I let go of all ideas that I am this body and this limited life span.
I know that this body, made of the four elements (earth, water, air, fire), is not truly me, l am not limited by this body. I am a river of the life of spiritual and blood ancestors, which since beginningless time has flowed to the present and will continue to stream onward into the future without end. I am both my ancestors and my descendants.
I am life manifesting in thousands of forms. I inter-am with all people and all species, whether they are peaceful and fearless or suffering and afraid. In this moment, I am present everywhere on this planet.
I am also present in the past and in the future. The disintegration of this body does not touch me, just as the falling plum blossoms do not mean the end of the plum tree. I see myself as a wave on the surface of the ocean. My true nature is the ocean water. I see myself in all the other waves, and I see all the other waves in me. The appearance or disappearance of the form of the wave does not affect the ocean.
My Dharma body and spiritual life are not subject to birth and death. I see myself present before the manifestation of this body and after its decomposition. Even in this moment, I see how I exist elsewhere than in this body. My life span is not limited to eighty or ninety years. My life span, just like the life span of a leaf or the buddhas, is unlimited. I can go beyond the idea that I am a body separate in space and time from all other manifestations of life.