Imagine three hollow Russian Matryoshka dolls, smooth wooden figures with little painted faces, each small doll nested inside a larger one. I think they’re a useful metaphor for the meditator, and the effects of practice over time.
The outer doll is the surface “you,” the you of this moment: agitated, bored, distressed, whatever the current flavor of the moment. Learning how to shift how we are in the moment is why many people start a meditation practice. So maybe we breathe slowly for a few beats, or sit in relative quiet. In only a minute or two, we can feel a bit better.
This layer is important. It’s about shifting state, and can help us get through our day-to-day existence. And, the practice goes deeper.
Inside is another doll: the you of months and years. This is where our habits live. More reactive vs more open. More distractible vs more present. More antagonistic vs more friendly. Meditation also works on this layer; it makes slow but steady adjustments to a few core mind-body habits that support our mental, emotional and spiritual health.
This layer is about shifting traits. Our practices are the habits we choose.
At the center is a third and final doll. The you below everything else, the you outside of time, but also, paradoxically, the you made of everything inside of time. It gets impossible. It gets spiritual. From a contemplative perspective, we can’t “work” on this doll, because there’s nothing here that can be changed. It’s more about thinning out what prevents us from experiencing this deeper aspect of who we are, whether we call it awareness or ground, True Self or no-self, God, Brahman, or Henry “Fonzarelli” Winkler.
This is the layer of accepting and knowing ourselves as a whole.
All layers matter. Sometimes we want to shift our state. Sometimes we can’t shift our state, but we can shift how we relate to it, thus training a deeper trait of acceptance, or compassion, or clarity. And sometimes we can connect to a perspective that doesn’t want or need to train anything. That knows we are complete exactly as we are, that we’re part of life connected to all other parts of life, and that all of it – all of this – makes fulfilling sense all on its own.
In today’s practice, we crack open our Russian Dolls, and see what’s inside.
Enjoy!
Jeff
*Is making art your practice? We're looking for volunteers to create artwork (in any visual medium) to be published on Home Base alongside the meditations. Show your work and support this community at the same time! Email info@jeffwarren.org if interested and we'll share more details. Thank you!
CEC Meditation Dance Party
December 12th, 8-10:30pm
Society Clubhouse, 967 College Street Toronto
Join the Consciousness Explorers Club for a fun-raising evening of mindful moving and shaking to celebrate our community making it through another year!
This Meditation Dance Party will feature practices and tunes curated CEC teachers and DJs including Jeff Warren,
, , Erin Oke and Mark Greenspan.This event is being offered on a sliding scale “pay what you’re able” model. All funds raised will go toward expanding CEC programming and helping to extend the benefits of practice to more people. The CEC is a registered not-for-profit with the mission of making meditation and personal growth practices fun and accessible to all.
THIS WEEK ON THE MIND BOD ADVENTURE POD
This one may change your meditation practice, and – if you stay with the inquiry – your life. You’d hardly know how ambitious it is though, from our guest Kevin Schanilec’s humble delivery.
Kevin is a long-time practitioner from Seattle who has formalized a process for seeing through what Buddhists call “The Ten Fetters.” According to Buddhists, the fetters are fundamental (mis)beliefs we hold about the self and world. Most of us don’t realize they’re beliefs, because we’re unconsciously inside them, which causes us to suffer in all the usual human ways.
A Note from Jeff:
I do Kevin’s 4th and 5th fetter inquiry more than any other practice explored on the pod. It works for me, and has led to less reactivity across the board. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
Also, please subscribe to the
if you haven’t already, and consider becoming a paid subscriber. I am super proud of what Tasha and I have created: dozens of fascinating guides and practices to support different humans in different situations. AND, we do it all as a labor of love, with no advertisers or sponsors or fairy godmothers. Our modest subscriber income all goes towards paying our awesome producer, Timmy. And right now it’s not enough. If you appreciate what we do – or benefit from it yourself – consider helping us out. Thank you!
Share this post