Nondual Guided Meditation with Michael Taft
One hour meditation:
2:58 – Meditation begins (shamatha with an object)
17:45 – Dissolving with the Out Breath
32:11 – Dropping the Ball (i.e. shamatha without an object)
47:10 – Cut through content with emptiness
Followed by dharma talk and Q&A.
In this guided meditation, Michael teaches a special meditation technique that can be very helpful for people learning to make the switch from shamatha with an object to shamatha without an object. This technique is called “dissolving with the out breath” and can function as a sort of halfway technique between supported and unsupported shamatha. We might call it semi-supported shamatha.
To do this technique, it is best if you are using the breath as your focus object. If you were previously using a mantra or visualization as your support, then switch to focusing on the breath for this technique.
Then you simply focus on the breath sensations in the body on the in breath. On the out breath you allow the mind to flow out with the breath and dissolve into space. That’s it.
We can understand the technique as concentrating on form with the in breath and emptiness on the out breath, or on contraction on the in breath and expansion on the out breath. Or any other pair of opposites (yang and yin, etc.).
Michael also introduces the technique of using emptiness to cut through content. This will be described further in a later video.
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