<a href="http://podcasts.sbinstitute.com/Spring2010/Phuket_Spring_2010_Archive/Media/Ep-103.m4a"><img src="http://podcasts.sbinstitute.com/Spring2010/Phuket_Spring_2010_Archive/Main/Media/Ep-102_1.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px; padding-bottom:10px; width:157px; height:157px;"/></a>I know, I am quite the dramatic with my titles :)<br/>With a bittersweet feeling we have come to the last group practice of Shamatha for this retreat. To end majestically, we practiced the fourth method of Shamatha without a sign as taught by Padmasambhava. Preceding the practice, Alan shared some tips of what we can do to practice and ground ourselves in the midst of a flurry of activity around us. He first returned to his analogy of Schooner (Boat)/ Submarine/Jet Plane in relationship with the Shamatha practices, and then he shared one more drop of wisdom in the form of a brand new practice for us, combining Breath Awareness with Awareness of Awareness to create a deeply soothing yet vivid and engaged practice.<br/><br/>After the meditation, Alan suggests keeping the attention engaged with something real in between thoughts and everyday, and finished by sharing a brilliant Tibetan aphorism to keep us out of trouble:<br/>&quot;When you are alone, watch your mind. When you are with others, watch your mouth.&quot;<br/><br/>This beautiful starry picture is a still from David.