The Thirteenth Point

What to expect

Most of us carry more than we notice. This one helps you set some of it down: you settle the body and the breath, rest your attention on the space around you, and put down what you are holding, one thing at a time, a singing bowl sounding after each. Then you look inside, at four places from the navel up to the crown, for what was there all along, and rest. It pairs with Devotion to Self, which offers up what you carry instead of setting it down.

How to listen:

• Sitting or lying down, with your eyes closed once it asks. Never while driving.
• Good in the daytime: the beat lifts the second half, and the return brings you back gently.
• There is nothing to find: whatever you notice, even nothing in particular, is welcome.

About

Safety and aftercare. You can stop at any point: open your eyes, feel what is holding you up, and let the room come back. The end brings you back slowly; give yourself a minute before you stand, and longer before you drive. If setting something down brings up more than you want to meet today, leave it where it is. That isn’t failing.

Credits. The way down, settling the body, resting attention on space, letting go, the looking, a long rest and a return, follows the shape of Dr Joe Dispenza’s guided meditations; resting attention on space is Les Fehmi’s practice, which Dispenza’s book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself credits. None of his words is spoken. The places in the body, rising from the navel to the crown, follow the order his meditations move through. The two questions, Are you in there? and How do you know?, are Michael Singer’s, from his talks, and letting what the senses bring move through and on is his teaching. The music is a slow chant on piano, shaped like Paramahansa Yogananda’s Cosmic Chants, over the tamboura and harmonium Swami Muktananda’s chanting is sung to: the two teachers who shaped Michael Singer. A warm, soft beat comes in as the looking begins and eases away in the return, and a singing bowl sounds after each thing set down.

Written by Lee and Lucas + Twins. Voice: Lucas.

Transcript

Opening

Most of us carry more than we notice.

A worry, a plan, a tightness we’ve stopped feeling.

Setting it down, even for a while, can change things.

So let’s set some of it down.

I’ll be right here with you.

Let me guide you down.

Settle where you are.

Feel what is holding you up.

Lengthen the spine.

Let your weight sink down.

Let the legs go heavy.

Let the hips settle.

Let the shoulders drop.

Let both hands rest.

Now let the body rest.

Part One: The Eyes

Let your eyelids fall shut.

Ease the muscles around your eyes.

Soften the brow.

Jaw.

Tongue.

Lips.

Part Two: The Breath

Notice how you are breathing.

Breathe in slow, out slower.

Once more.

Longer on the way out.

Feel the belly rise and fall.

Now leave the breath alone. Watch it come and go.

Find the gap after each breath.

Part Three: The Space

Notice the space before you.

Behind you.

On every side.

Sense how far it reaches.

Thoughts may pass through it.

Rest your attention out there.

Part Four: Setting Down

Notice what your senses are bringing.

Let it move through the space, and on.

Find one thing you carry: something unfinished, a small expectation, or the effort of holding the day together.

Notice how you hold it: tension, a repeating thought, attention that keeps returning.

Set it down in the space.

Stay, and feel what holds you up.

Look underneath, for anything you still carry.

Or a wish for something different.

Set that down too.

Or your picture of yourself.

Or the need to put things right.

Or an ache from trying so hard.

Let the space take the rest.

Part Five: Inside

From all this room, come inside the body.

Are you in there?

How do you know?

Notice what is aware of the asking.

Part Six: The Places

Now notice what is here, beneath whatever you still carry.

Behind the navel.

A feeling of letting go.

Whatever you find is welcome.

The middle of the chest.

Room to spare.

The hollow of the throat.

Simply being alive.

The crown of the head.

Gladness for no reason.

Part Seven: Rest

Feel the whole body, and let everything be, for a while.

A while more. Let it change, or go.

Longer still, with nothing asked.

Part Eight: Return

Breathe deeper now.

Come back to your own weight.

Stir the hands, the feet.

Notice the room you are in.

The sounds around you.

Later, when you find yourself carrying something, say inwardly: I can set it down.

Take one full, bright breath.

Open your eyes in your own time.