SILENT AWARENESS

In a meditation retreat, you must not do any action movement quickly. YOU MUST SLOW DOWN ALL ACTIONS AND MOVEMENT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE so that you can apply mindfulness to every minute movement or action of the body.

At home, you need not slow down all these actions and movements, rather, they should be normal, but generally mindful of. All actions and movements must be generally aware of as they really are without mental note or labelling.

However, in a retreat, you must slow down all actions and movements because you have nothing else to do except to be mindful of all your mental and physical activities. YOU MUST NOT TALK, except for few words should also be spoken slowly and softly so that your words do not disturb the concentration of the other meditators.

You should do everything as noiselessly as possible. You must not thump around by walking sluggishly and heavily. If you are mindful of the movements of your foot, you won't make any sound at all when walking.

YOU MUST BE MINDFUL OF WHATEVER ARISES IN YOUR BODY AND MIND. You must be aware of any activity of your mind and body as it really is. As your are eating, you must be mindful of all the actions and movements involved in eating. When you are taking a bath, dressing or drinking water, you must slow down all your actions and observe the movements. When you sit down, you should do it very slowly, being aware me the whole movement of sitting. When you stand up, this must also be done very slowly being aware of every movement involved. This is because you need to realise every movement involved. This is because you need to realise every mental or physical processes in their true nature. All mental and physical processes are ever-changing__appearing and disappearing, arising and vanishin. You need to realise this as the true nature of mental and physical processes. Therefore, it is important to slow down all actions and movements as much as possible.

Mindfulness and concentration will pave the way for insight to unfold. When mindfulness becomes continues, the concentration naturally becomes deeper. When the concentration becomes deeper, insight will unfold by itself. We should, therefore, strive to have constant and continuous mindfulness.