Basics of 9 sec Practice

1.   From the log "Lab Journal Notes", 2008, May 17,

Pema Pera: Steve and Jack, I’m happy to talk more about this 9-sec practice, very briefly
Pema Pera: after learning to meditate, the most difficult thing is then to integrate what you learned into daily life
Pema Pera: we put things here in the other order
Pema Pera: we start by integrating (almost nothing) and then take it from there.
Pema Pera: Integration is by paying a 1 % time tax:
Pema Pera: every fifteen minutes (900 seconds) we spend 9 seconds dropping what we have in order to see what we are.
Pema Pera: That’s all.
Pema Pera: basically, I want to let everybody free to do what they want
Pema Pera: the frequency is more important than the actual content of the practice
Pema Pera: but if people ask me for advice, for suggestions
Pema Pera: I can come up with many ideas
Pema Pera: like taking a breath
Pema Pera: looking around
Pema Pera: dropping what you were preoccupied with
Pema Pera: and seeing whether you can open up in a natural way
Pema Pera: or you can chant a brief mantra, if that is your practice, or anything else.
Jack Milgrom: So its mainly shifting your perception away from what occupies most of our time?
Pema Pera: yes, Jack, sort of like shooting holes in the cover we have all put over reality
Pema Pera: letting the light of a wider perspective shine in

2. Maxine's excerpt from "Simplity", April 14, Monday

Pema Pera: While 9 seconds is very short, seemingly laughably short compared to usual contemplation techniques, it does have the advantage of already being integrated with daily life
... the very fact that you come back to it every fifteen minutes does not give you a chance to drift away and forget about it altogether
... and when you keep doing it, you will find that the practice colors the remaining 891 seconds of the quarter of an hour as well

3.  From the log "Space", April 9

Pema Pera: to let reality speak for itself
Pema Pera: the Universe, Being
Pema Pera: whatever term you like to use as a pointer

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Caledonia Heron: acceptance and observance of that allows for an open space to operate from
Caledonia Heron: perhaps where space is alive :)
Pema Pera: yes indeed!
Pema Pera: to let go of our own intentions and goals and plans is so important  

4.  From the log "Why Write?", April 12

Pema Pera: here goes: we are poking holes in our habitually limited view of the world
Pema Pera: with those 9-sec tricks 

5.  From the log "Simplicity, April 15

Pema Pera: seeing is simple, integration in daily life can take infinite shades and colors
Pema Pera: Here is a suggestion, for the time in between the 9 seconds windows: how about simply trying to stay more with what is, rather than with what you have — do you think that idea is compact and portable enough to carry along with you during the remaining almost-15 min-interval?
Maxine Walden: please say a bit more,
Pema Pera: the first step in the 9-sec practice is simply to remember to do it — to stop and do anything at all
Maxine Walden: yes, that is clear
Pema Pera: the second step is to become comfortable with it, with taking a breath, relaxing, dropping the momentum of what you were doing, and taking a short note
Maxine Walden: dropping the momentum…that seems important and I will try to look to it
Pema Pera: but then third step, which we haven’t really talked about yet, is the question of how to let these source of inspiration inundate the plains of the remaining 891 seconds ^^