Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 56-minute beginner meditation class, Ven Jamyang introduces newcomers to mindfulness with clear, practical guidance. He sets realistic expectations: meditation is mental hard work, not immediate bliss, but sustained practice builds calm, clarity, and inner space. He leads two 30-minute guided sessions—first a detailed body scan from feet to crown (observing sensations without engaging), then breath awareness at the abdomen. In the second half, he explores the spacious nature of mind itself, teaching how to recognize and rest in the quiet beneath the constant mental chatter. A key theme is non-engagement: observing pleasant and unpleasant feelings like images on a screen, neither clinging nor resisting, while understanding thoughts as mere constructs rather than reality. Pitched at complete newcomers.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2009 06 23 Jamyang Learn to Meditate 230609.mp3
UUID: 9acdb789-f618-4147-aaa3-cf6c8cc54348
Teacher: Ven Jamyang
Collection: Learn to meditate (Ven Jamyang)
Date: 2009-06-23
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 56.8 minutes
Words: ~2,046
Would you mind closing that door? Because I think cold air is coming from there. Loud enough. Welcome, everybody. For those who are new today, my name is Jamyang.
I’m originally from Holland, sometimes you might hear an accent or a word not used in the proper way. Forgive me for that. I use it to contemplate what I might mean by what I said. So we’re gonna do a learn to meditate class, and some people are here for the first time. So what we’re gonna do is two times half an hour meditation or almost half an hour.
So I’m not gonna talk to I’ll I’ll give a a very short the main thing that we’re trying to practice, and then we just try to practice it. Because meditation, you can only learn when you do it. We’re practicing mindfulness meditation, trying to focus our mind. And if we look at how our mind is behaving in a moment, it’s very used to being distracted all the time. Isn’t it?
It’s running around and we have no control. We have no idea how to bring our mind to that where we would like it to be. And even if we were concentrated on something, it can still be that part of our mind is still running around. Yeah. It’s like and bringing every energy of the mind to one focus.
If we can do that, and that is what we try to practice, the mind, all the craziness of the mind slowly starts to subside, and then we get some more space in the mind, more clarity in the mind, and we feel more calm and relaxed. So that’s the exercise itself can take energy from you, can be very tiring. So do not expect that you’re gonna be blissed out when you do the meditation here, but maybe when you keep on applying the method, when you go away you actually feel like oh wow, now I feel some space. But don’t expect it to happen right here. If it happens, great, but most of the time meditation is just hard work on a mental level.
Meditation is also about learning to know your own mind and learning to know how to deal with it in a proper way. It’s like we all know to sustain the body properly. We need to eat proper food. We have to go to the gym or we have to do some exercise. We know how to sustain the body, how to stay young, fit.
We know that. But the mind, we have no idea what to do with that. The mind is constantly full of pollution, but we don’t even think it’s pollution. You know, we think that’s just how it is. That’s just how life is.
That’s just how the mind works. But we can do exactly the same with the mind as that we can do with the body. We can clean the mind every day. We can discipline the mind. So and the more we can do that, the more happy we feel, the more comfortable we feel, the more confidence we have, the more we achieve whatever we would like to achieve.
That’s what we’re trying. So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna practice to focus either on the body, on the breath, maybe on the mind. And what will happen is that your mind is wandering off my mind too. Our mind will wander off. When you notice that, you just bring your mind gently back, refocus.
Then your mind goes off again and you bring your mind back. Then the mind goes off again and you bring the mind back. That’s all we’re doing. Right? So the exercise is very simple.
To do it, it’s quite difficult and quite hard work. It’s like we forget constantly. What what was I supposed to do? I can’t remember. Yeah.
That’s normal. When you notice that, that’s normal. Right? If you completely lose it, bring your mind just to your body and wait till I give further instruction and pick up wherever we are. Okay?
Everybody alright? Good. If you we stop after half an hour and then you have some time to stretch. If in the if in that first half an hour, you feel uncomfortable where you sit, just get up quietly and change and go somewhere where you ever feel comfortable. Alright?
It’s no need to sit in pain or to okay? So then close your eyes. And just focus for a few moments on your body. Just being aware that you have a body and that your body is sitting sitting on a chair, on a cushion. In space, this space, meditation hall, And give your mind some time to settle down.
After a day of hard work, the mind can be very agitated. By focusing on the body, we give the mind the time to slowly unwind. And then let your mind rest on your body. Instead of just naturally unwinding, you focus the mind. You don’t push too hard, but you move your mind gently in the direction of your body.
As soon as you notice that your mind is wandering off, you bring it gently back and refocus on your body. Remembering the focus of your mind to your abdomen. We observe the rising and falling every time when you breathe in and breathe out. You follow the movement of your abdomen. Try to see the whole movement without losing your focus.
Breathe naturally. Don’t change the breathing. And if you follow the whole inhalation and exhalation, You keep your mind very alert. It’s like you don’t wanna miss one second. And then bring your awareness from your stomach, from your abdomen, to your thighs.
And in your thighs, you observe whatever feelings arise from there. It can be pleasant feelings or unpleasant feelings. You just let these feelings feelings arise and then dissolve back into the mind. You don’t engage with the feelings. You don’t follow them.
You don’t push them away. You are the observer looking from a distance. And if it’s helpful, you can imagine that the feelings arise on a kind of screen. You can see them coming up on the screen. These feelings are not you.
You don’t have to do anything with them. If your mind gets distracted doing this, then you notice it, then bring your mind gently back and refocus. And then bring your focus to your knees and your lower legs. Into your ankles and your feet. Feelings arise in every moment of mind.
Sometimes the feelings are neutral, and that might feel as if there are no feelings. Go all the way up to your toes. And then go back to your lower leg, especially your calf muscle. It can be that you feel tension arising. And if that’s the case, just allow that to happen.
The more you can allow it to happen, the easier it can come to its peak, and then it will dissolve again. The hamstrings. The sacrum, pelvic area. The lower back.
And check if you’re still the observer of your feeling. And then slowly move your awareness upwards, along the spine, At the same time, being aware of your whole back, middle of your back, your shoulder blades. Your shoulder and upper arms. To your elbows and on the arms. Your hands.
Closing the tips of your fingers. And then go slowly back to your shoulders. Being aware of the feelings that arise from your under arms, the upper arms. And then moving on to the neck The back of your neck. Crown of your head.
Then we’re gonna move down along the face. And imagine that you completely relax the face while you do that. Let go of all the tension that you might hold onto there. First of all, your forehead, your eyebrows, Your eyes. Cheeks.
And the more you let your attention go, the softer the face becomes. Your nose. Yeah. Upper lip. Lower lip.
And your chin. Make sure that your face is completely relaxed. Not holding onto anything. And then go to your throat. Your chest.
Your stomach. And back to your abdomen Stay focused on your whole body. When you feel comfortable doing another twenty five minutes of meditation, stay focused. If you need a stretch, you can slowly open your eyes and stretch your body, being aware of your neighbor who might keep on meditating. Meditating.
Yeah. And then if you feel ready, you go back. Back to the posture. Back to focusing on the movements of the abdomen. And back to that silent place in your mind.
And if you find some quietness in your mind, try to focus on that by that that is a place in your mind that can benefit you, that can help you. The quieter the mind, the more wisdom can arise. So connect with that quiet space and allow it to be there. It is as if you listen to the silence. The more we can go into that silent space, the deeper we can go, the more meditation will rejuvenate us, bring us peace.
Give us space from that In meditation, we do not have to achieve anything. We let go of a habit of constantly wanting to do something, needing a purpose, having a goal. And while you meditate, you might be aware that these tendencies come up in your mind. And if that is so, just see them for what they are. Out of habit, the tendencies arise again and again.
But you do not have to follow them or live them. You can just stay focused on the silence in your mind. Some feelings still arise. But what we do is that we stop following these feelings. When pleasant feelings feelings come, we do not try to suppress them.
We cannot stop our feelings from arising, but we can stop our habit of engaging with them. The more we stop engaging, the more quiet the mind becomes. Feelings arise in every moment of mind. When pleasant feelings arise, it is perfectly okay to enjoy them completely. But as soon as we try to hold on to them, we create suffering for ourselves.
So enjoying the meditation, pleasant feelings arise. Just fully enjoy that experience. And at the same time, have an attitude of letting go, allowing that feeling to subside and then dissolve back into the mind. When unpleasant feelings arise, it is perfectly okay that you do not like that, but you do not follow the mind that wants to suppress or deny the unpleasant feeling. Instead, you just observe these feelings.
You allow them to arise fully without any resistance, and then they will subside and dissolve back into the mind. Try to observe that process of rising and falling or feeling rising and dissolving. And then contemplate on the nature of the mind. The nature of the mind is like space. There’s no shape, no color.
Can’t see it. Can’t touch it or hold it. And try to connect with that spacious aspect of the mind. Stepping back from whatever arises. And then the mind, the constant stream, feelings and thoughts arise.
We identify strongly with our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, beliefs, which means that we hold on to certain thoughts, beliefs, and reject others. But any thought or belief that we have cannot cover reality, cannot even touch reality. Thoughts can appear as being reality, but in fact they are a mental construct. Which can be replaced by any other mental construct. Find this large space.
If you can try to open up the mind and let go of a holding onto our thoughts, our beliefs, our feelings, emotions. That feels as if we create space in the mind. And there is more peace, More quietness. And if you have an open mind, it helps to open the heart. Try to focus on that.
And then come slowly back to your body. Reconnect with your body. When you feel ready, you can slowly open your eyes. Thank you very much for coming despite the weather outside. Hope to see you next time.