This practice got separated from the previous episode for continuity purposes. As you might expect, we return for the final time to the practice of Settling the Mind in its Natural State. Spefically, we start by attending to the spaces in between mental events, and after a while we go deeper and without breaking the continuity we observe the space from which mental events arise, in which they are present, and into which they dissolve. Alan briefly reflects on achieving Shamatha by observing the substrate, by observing space, and explains his reasons behind breaking this Shamatha practice into parts (attending to the foreground, and today to the background). As you probably expect, his reasons make a lot of sense. So enjoy this Settling the Mind practice, for the last time in this podcast series! By the way, if you want some practices with more explanation behind them, you might want to check the meditations from the first week. This is the fourth time we come to this phase in the Shamatha cycle so Alan is using very few words compared to seven weeks ago. This spectacular photo was taken by Malcolm, and this is straight from his camera! I promise I did not even modify the colors, the skies here are just stunning. Prepare for more breathtaking sky photos in these last episodes (although they get scaled down to 300 sq pixels for the podcast...)