Don Bank Museum: 'Opening to the Imaginal Body' - Meditation and dharma talk with Kynan Tan

What is the body in meditation? When we pay close attention, the body we feel often doesn’t match the body we picture. The sense of the body can become patchy, light, or spacious in ways that surprise us. Rather than treating these shifts as distractions, what happens when we turn towards them with curiosity? The body is showing us something important about perception — that the way of looking shapes what appears. Different practices produce different bodies: a body scan grounds and solidifies, open awareness softens and expands. Neither is the final truth of the body. This insight opens up real freedom.

In this session we’ll explore this directly. Beginning with the felt sense of the body, we’ll bring in different images — the body as a mountain, filled with light, sitting as a Buddha — and discover what shifts. You’re invited to come with openness and curiosity, and to share your experience in group discussion. No prior experience with these practices is needed, just a willingness to experiment and see what happens. Through guided meditation, discussion, and shared exploration, we’ll discover how images can open, enliven, and transform our relationship with the body in meditation.

The Bluegum Sangha's dharma talk series provides a secular environment to hear Buddhist teachings. At their core, these teachings aim to help guide our lives towards liberation from dukkha (unsatisfactoriness).