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This meditation #102 is devoted to the theme of mystery. It’s an interesting theme in the sense that in the practice of meditation we come across sensations, feelings and experiences that are quite mysterious and in the sense that the inner movement can be an answer to the mystery of Life. Extracts I invite you to have a naked gaze on the mystery, the mystery that we encounter in the practice of meditation. Can we meditate without having somewhere within us a quest for the mystery? It is always a mystery to feel that we are moving from a state of motionlessness to a state of motion within us. It’s always a mystery to feel the push of life in our flesh.  We are not close to this mystery just in meditation. It is everywhere. It surrounds us permanently. Every moment, we are close to the mystery.  Firstly, life is a mystery, an extraordinary mystery. Your life is a mystery. We are alive, we are here and for this to have happened is a real mystery. Why us? Why you?  The time that we live is a mystery.  We behave as though life is something we are owed and we …

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Since the beginning of the term, the meditations have centred around exploring the main supports of  meditation. As a reminder, for Danis Bois, a support is this something on which we apply our attention, our presence, our awareness and in a more dynamic perspective, these supports provide the grounding on which perceptual, cognitive, relational and behavioural potentialities can be developed. Having, in the preceeding weeks, explored silence, the present moment in all its aspects, it is not time to explore two fundamental supports of Full-Presence Meditation: motionlessness and what we call an active motionlessness, meaning the inner movement.  In this meditation, Danis Bois explores through the inner movement what the poet T.S. Elliot calls ‘the dance’, alluding to the co-existence of stillness and movement – a lively stillness.   Having reaching the state of motionlessness in the meditation, it is then seen as the revealer of the inner movement inside the body.  Extracts : I invite you to imagine that you are a statue, draped in silence, and as all statues, you feel unmovable, unshakable by external events. When you feel the support of your back on the chair or another area of support, it is the sign that you are being …

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Danis Bois’ meditations have been listened to 200 000 times since we began and today we celebrate the 100th meditation So today was the 100th meditation guided online by Danis Bois since he agreed to facilitate weekly gatherings.  To celebrate this event, the chosen theme explores the notion of change  of change under the title: “Starting fresh”, as indeed the movement creates a particular state of presence that engages, stimulates and motivates our capacity to make decisions and to go towards change, to ultimately to start afresh.  Extraits : When we have the good fortune to experience the inner movement, we can then experience that living is what is rarest in the world. Then, when we are in this way, faced with ourself, in silence, rooted in the present, we get a better sense of ourselves. And we know that what prevents us from changing is as much our doubts as our certainties. Of course you have free will over your life. Your choice has to be yours. The movement in your life is just a help.  We make decisions that vary depending on our states, on our moods and the movement, when it is a lived experience, changes our mood. It …

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This meditation is taking place at the same time as Danis Bois is giving a Movement Masterclass, so it seemed appropriate for this meditation to explore the theme of the the inner movement that becomes in our gestural movement an inner drive motivating us into action. The inner movement is the signature of Full-Presence Meditation. We we are consciously animated by the inner movement, we are at the heart of Full-Pesence which, in this particular context, is seen as the presence that arises from our relationship with the inner movement. Those who connect with the inner movement report that they feel totally present to themselves and experience, as an undertone, a strong sense of existing.  Gaining access to this experience requires training and perceptual skills. It is possible to experience the presence of the inner movement in different ways depending on practice and sensitivity:  It is of course a meditation that requires a particular kind of training to grasp the inner movement, which is the jewel of Full-Presence Meditation.  Extracts: Silence: The more we pay attention to the silence, the more present we are to the silence, the more the silence becomes animated within itself, become animated by a warm …

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Generally speaking, the relationship to temporality is complex. On one hand, time evokes the threat of our finitude : “With time, everything goes”, sang Léo Ferré. And on the other, time brings the promise of our growth. It is this dimention “With time, everything comes” that Danis Bois offers us this latest meditation.  In this perspective, Gustave Flaubert also questions us with these words: “The future torments us, the past holds us back, that is why the present escapes us.” Indeed the future torments us as we do not know what it will be made of, and the past holds us back as we are attached to what we have lived, to our memories. Through our past, we have constructed our personality. And so meditation enables us to connect to the present so that we can ensure that the present does not escape us. Having established the conditions for silence that lead to experiencing plenitude, this meditation is an invitation to explore the time that is coming with two questions : What is the future for ? or in other words: What would our life be without our future? Extraits : As nets that do not hold back water, the present moment does not …

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In the preceeding weeks, the meditations focusesd on experiencing the eternal moment – a notion that brings a new perspective on the now moment in the context of meditation. A central question remained : how to combine this particular temporality with an objective temporality, the one we experience every day, the time of the clock?  To illustrate this quest, Danis Bois refers to Proust for whom it was possible to wander at our will in the past, the present and the future. And indeed, when we meditate, it is possible to navigate through the past through our memories and to project ourselves into the future through our intention. This meditation offers the opportunity to understand how this is possible without leaving the present moment. The title  The Glow of Time expresses a desire to brighten up the dark areas of temporality through the use of poetry, as the only way to bring some light on the subtleties of time.  In practice, before going deeper into this theme, it is necessary to settle within ourself, in our own silence, and to be present to ourself and to the second that passes; to be present to the eternal moment.  Then comes the time to …

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The theme of this meditation was around ‘the eternal present’. Danis Bois does address the notion of present moment in a mathematical way, neither in a dimension where temporalities follow each other (past, present, future), but rather he proposes a vision and experience of the present moment as a moment of eternity. By guiding us on a stroll into the movement of the present, Danis Bois offers us the poetry of the life that reveals itself in this way.  It all begins by establishing within a deep silence to listen to, through which we can experience ourself.   It is pointless  looking for the present moment as it is here already, as it has always been ever since you were born. Then comes the immersion phase during which we stroll in the present and become aware of the present moment as a moment of eternity that we can reach consciously in our experiencing.  Extracts : The real gift of life is the present moment. And our gift to ourself, for life, is to be present to the present moment. The present moment is the only temporality that lasts over time. There is nothing that is more eternal than the present moment.  Louis …

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With this meditation, Danis Bois explores an attitude that underlies meditation: “Inhabiting the present moment”. Being in the present is at the heart of meditation, and all meditative practices aim to enter into a relationship with the now. With the help of a step-by-step process, participants explore how to sit in the moment and anchor themselves in the present as neutral observers. How to let things happen, to welcome them, to accept them as they are, without expectation, impatience or dissatisfaction. It’s about honouring everything that arises to perception, however minute. Later on, from the present moment, they will visit past and future. The notion of temporality is very broad when we talk about things that are essential. In terms of temporality, we could have a temporality that is connected with the time of the clock, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. And we can also see temporality in terms of eternity and a space dimension where we talk about ‘infinite’ and with temporality of moments of ‘eternity’. There is the time that is passing, the time of the clock, and then there is the time that we feel; and it is the feeling of this time that …

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This week Danis Bois touches on silence from a different perspective: in how it contributes to our everyday life In the previous meditations of this series, Danis Bois talked of the importance of silence in meditation. Silence is fundamental to meditation as we cannot meditate without it. But confronting silence is sometimes difficult for beginners as some of them struggle with the experience of silence. Silence is also the place that we have within us from which we can replenish, and finally silence is synonymous with the absolute as Danis Bois expresses with these words: “I know nothing that is as close to the absolute as silence’. As always, the meditation begins by devoting time to settling into an attitude conducive to appropriating silence: meaning to internalize it, to connect with ourself, to unite with the silent life within, to connect with others and become more present. And even those who are most resistant to silence end up surrendering to its charm. We need a bit of time before silence appears in its essence, before silence changes how you relate to yourself, before silence embodies within you, before silence internalizes. Through silence we can commune with ourself; through silence, we …

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Silence is at the heart of meditation.  Sometimes however, it brings us to face boredom through inactivity or anxiety through thoughts that are overwhelming, and prevents us from reaching inner calm.  Using a step-by-step process, Danis Bois enables participants to experience the beneficial effects of silence and to make it a place full of discoveries. Silence is not just an absence of noise, but it is a place where you connect with your depth, with yourself, and it allows you an introspection and to contemplate. It is also a way of being, a way of stepping back. It is a channel, a channel of transmission between us all. And through silence we discover phenomena that are invisible, not just inaudible Each meditation begins by establishing conditions conducive to silence as: “Before we learn from the silence, we are going to learn to settle into silence.” It is then time to explore the various aspects of silence and discover its secrets.  Chosen extracts: Two minutes of silence are enough to slow the heart, to lower our heartbeat, to lower stress and to refresh, as we bathe in this silence that we need so much, to regain our strength and a calm …

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