The Arriving Sequence

Deepening Your Practice with the Arriving Sequence

The Arriving Sequence is a practical and potent way to begin meditation. While it may seem like we've started when we sit down to meditate, often the mind is still scattered or preoccupied. The role of this sequence is to help us actually begin—to land in the here and now so that mindfulness can function fully. Without this, we easily remain halfway present/distracted, not fully connected to the moment.

To arrive means bringing our full attention into the immediacy of the present moment. It’s a deliberate act: we orient toward our experience of what is happening right now. We invite mindfulness front and center and all around. We meet both our internal and external conditions—not trying to change or fix them, but simply being present with them. In arriving, we begin to feel our attention gather and we know we are here.

Once we’ve arrived to some measure, we shift to becoming available. Availability is the mind and heart being ready to know the moment, just as it is. It’s a soft, receptive presence that doesn’t need to control or manipulate experience. We’re available to all conditions—pleasant, unpleasant, neutral—and to the deeper knowing that can arise in that space. Availability allows us to sense and feel the moment directly. Additionally, this availability brings with it choice: the capacity to relate to what’s happening in a wise, non-reactive way.

But availability alone isn’t enough. We also need to align. Aligning is like choosing a North Star to aid us in navigating whatever is arising in the moment. It supports us in being oriented in meeting the moment from our values, and as an opportunity for cultivating practice, rather than meeting the moment from our habitual tendencies. Without alignment, we can easily be swept away by our habits, reactivity, or unwholesome impulses. We suggest aligning with something that inspires and uplifts you. Some possibilities are: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; Wise View and Wise Intention; or kindness and clarity. We intentionally align by remembering/affirming/re-committing to what we’ve chosen to align with and receiving how this feels in our mind/heart/body. This step gives direction and depth to our presence. It protects the openness of availability and channels it toward clarity and freedom. When we’re aligned, we relate to experience from our deeper aspiration, not from old patterns.

The felt sense of being both available and aligned is grounding—the “First Ground” in the Naturally Arising Practice Method. It may show up as a softening, a deepened attention, or a feeling of coherence in the heart-mind. In this unified state, we’re no longer just watching experience—we’re in full relationship with it, from a place of presence and integrity. And when we arrive, are available, and are aligned, we become truly empowered: able to choose non-suffering over suffering, and to know experience in a way that is liberating and transformative.

Guided Meditations to Support Your Practice

These guided meditations from Phillip Moffitt and Tuere Sala guide you through the Arriving Sequence. This can be a complete practice in itself, or it can be utilized to establish the “First Ground” of practice before proceeding to the Satipatthana (Four Foundations of Mindfulness) or other practices.

• Phillip Moffitt 21-min guided meditation

• Tuere Sala 16-min guided meditation

Further Unfoldment of this Teaching

Now that you are familiar with the Arriving Sequence, which established the First Ground, you are ready to deepen your practice in our dedicated on-demand program, “The Significance of Practice Grounds & Inward Staying.” This program further elaborates the First Ground and introduces the Second Ground, in addition to exploring the practice of Inward Staying.

Deepening Your Understanding Through Reflection on The Arriving Sequence

To continue exploring the Arriving Sequence, reflect on the prompts below.

• On Arriving: in the guided meditation, Phillip said, “Oftentimes people will sit and not ever really arrive in the room. . . So arriving is giving us a chance.” Can you feel the truth of this this for yourself? What’s the felt sense of arriving for you?

• On Arriving and becoming Available: Phillip notes, “There can be a kind of joy when we start to feel present.” See if you experience hints of this. This is not the joy of conditions being as we would prefer them to be; rather this is pointing to the joy that can arise with feeling present. What’s your felt sense experience of being available?

• On Aligning: Aligning is like choosing a North Star to aid us in navigating whatever is arising in the moment. It supports us in being oriented in meeting the moment from our values, and as an opportunity for cultivating practice, rather than meeting the moment from our habitual tendencies. What are you aligning with? What’s the felt sense for you when you feel alignment? Take time to explore what inspires and uplifts you? It’s important to allow this to clarify gradually. So there is no rush to get it figured out if it’s not very clear right now. In the realm of Buddha Dharma , the practitioners are invited to align with the Dharma (the Buddha’s path of practice) or some aspect of the Dharma. These are the list of things that Dharma Ground teachers often choose to align with:

  • Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha (one, two, or all three—the Triple Gem)

  • Wise View (we sometimes call Wise Aspiration) and Wise Intention (how we wish to meet the moment)

  • Kindness and Clarity (or a variation, like Love and Wisdom)

• On what to Align with: Another way to consider what to align with is that we are reminding ourselves of what we know in our clearer moments we want to be in service of, or what our deepest values are. In the guided meditation, Phillip clarifies, in choosing what to align with, “We want something that we don't have to be doing anything. We're just inspired by. It evokes in us. It gives us a direction when we start getting knocked around by thoughts or body sensations in our daily life.“ In other words, we’re not trying to get to the North Star; we’re orienting with it. We are not judging, comparing or fixing ourselves. Our hearts feel more at ease and our bodies can relax when we are aligned.