Hello,
Sweet friend,
And welcome to week one's meditation on presence.
We'll do this meditation in an easy seat,
Which could be in a chair with your feet flat on the floor,
Or seated on the floor with a blanket or a bolster or a pillow under your hips.
Allow the hands to rest on your thighs,
Palms up or down,
Hands together or not.
You choose.
And with open eyes,
See one thing.
Set a drishti point,
A gaze.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and open your mouth.
Exhale.
Breathe in through the nose.
Exhale out of the mouth.
Once again,
Breathe in.
On your exhale,
Close your eyes.
Notice the breath.
Natural breath.
The practice of meditation is to become aware of the world around you.
Your goal is not to fix or change or make anything more desirable.
Instead,
You're simply noticing.
Notice your seat,
What is grounded,
Touching.
Notice the clothes on your skin,
The temperature in the room.
Without needing to move,
Bring your inner mind,
Your inner awareness to your hands.
Feel physical sensation in the hands.
Notice the mouth,
Insides of the cheeks,
Gums,
Teeth.
Notice the mouth alive with physical sensation.
Notice the right nostril.
Notice the left nostril.
Become aware now of the sounds within the room.
Without needing to become attached or preoccupied with one sound in particular,
Let your awareness wander from one sound to the next.
Allow your awareness to pick up even the farthest sounds,
Sounds beyond the room you are seated in.
Have presence with this room.
Notice the breath,
Natural,
Relaxed breath.
Notice where the breath lives in your physical body.
Perhaps it's mostly in your chest,
Or the belly,
The back of your body,
Or your throat.
Simply notice where the breath lives.
Watch the breath.
Begin to deepen your breath.
Let the belly expand,
The chest,
The ribs,
The back of your body,
And your throat.
And exhale it out through the mouth.
Deep breath in,
Fill,
Use everything that you can to breathe.
Fill up,
And empty out.
On your next inhale,
Reach the arms up to the sky,
Reach up.
Stay for your breath out.
Breathe in,
Move from side to side.
Slowly lower your arms down,
Exhale.
Begin to open your eyes,
And notice the world around you.
Thank you for sharing this meditation with me.
Namaste,
Friend.
