The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

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Hello friends, greeting Sangha.

Happy to be with you in this moment in time and practicing together.

So today we continue to explore the five aggregates, the constituents of our experience as human beings.

And today we turn our attention to the fourth aggregate, the Sankaras, often translated as mental formations or a volitional formations.

And they include both the aspect of physical behavior, physical speech, including internal speech, as well as thoughts, mental behavior.

And they include both what is intentional in the way of purpose of aspects of our mind, as well as a reactive aspect of mind, including, especially with psychological behavior or thoughts, the proliferation of thoughts, as well as cultivating thoughts of compassion, kindness,

clarity, mindfulness.

This bucket of experience is, it leads with a volition, even if the volition seems to be mild in the moment, but as a part of pattern of behavior that has built up internally.

And again, in our practices, this morning the guided meditational guide us to turn attention to noticing the movement of the mind or the movement of the body, for example, if you wanted to, if there is intention, there is intention to move, to pay attention to that volitional formation for that movement.

Or if you notice that the mind has been distracted, and there is volitional formation to cool the mind back, to bring it back, or yank it back, or hopefully not, yank it back, if that is the case to notice all these volitional formations in the mind, and in the body as well as internal speech, that pull, that pattern that pulls us into a particular patterns of,

of experience, anyway, that is the frame for today's practice.

So let us arrive, let us arrive, letting go of these words, these explanations, and just arriving in your experience in this moment.

Taking a moment to fully arrive, and settle, with the body, ensuring the body is sitting comfortably,

shoulders are rolled back, perhaps, the spine is straight of the sense of integrity, and the body is relaxed, the body is soft.

Bringing awareness to the poise of the body, what is the poise of the body?

What is the poise of the mind? Mind heart, chitta, translated as mind heart, hyphenated. What is the poise that were a heart mind in this moment?

I am aware, and is it possible to release, to soften, to calm?

These poises of the body in mind, and heart.

With gentle intention, setting our intention with the outset of this practice,

setting whole-hearted intention to be present, fully present to be kind, to be non-destracted,

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