The most subtle of the four pillars of mindfulness practices, mindfulness of phenomena, encompasses all we have explored over the past few weeks. We have proceeded from the gross to the subtle, from
mindfulness of the body and
mindfulness of sensations, to
mindfulness of the mind. In each of these practices guided by Matthieu Ricard, the emphasis has been on reflecting and inspecting the specific themes, building a foundation to gradually progress to the next set of practices.
Mindfulness of Phenomena
The fourth key pillar of mindfulness is mindfulness of phenomena which allows to include everything no matter what happens within the space of our awareness.
Here it is a kind of appreciation that is much more vast and global and that includes the presence of our body in our environment, all the sounds, the visual, tactile, gustatory perceptions, etc., and also the thoughts, the presence of the world, the presence of others, and thus an extremely open presence, extremely vast, like a great sky in which finally everything can be present. This is the space that allows forests, mountains, to unfold.
—Matthieu Ricard
Throughout these gradual practices, the mindfulness remains exactly the same: we rest in pure awareness of whatever happens within the space of mindfulness. The important part of the practice is to learn to avoid discriminating things as being negative or positive, as things that we like or dislike. This is a path of discovery that shines a light on our everyday life interactions and our underlying genuine aspirations.
Start the course here.If you have specific questions regarding your practice or the app, do not hesitate to contact us!
With best wishes,
The Imagine Clarity team
Photo: Matthieu Ricard.