As we begin,
Let us take a moment to set our motivation,
To clarify our intention for engaging in this practice.
We engage in this meditation to recognize the fundamental nature of our own consciousness.
And we do so not only for our own clarity and well-being,
But also so that we may bring greater presence,
Understanding,
And compassion into the lives of others and into the world.
We take a moment and connect with that intention.
Now,
As we begin this meditation,
We pay attention to our posture.
Maybe we're sitting on the floor,
Or in a chair,
Or we're lying down.
Our eyes can be open or closed to begin with.
And we bring our attention to the felt sense of our body.
We start with the outermost layer of our body,
The skin.
We start in the center of the body,
Around the chest and diaphragm,
Feeling the skin on our clothing,
Feeling the cool or the warm air.
Just noticing what that feels like.
From there,
We move upwards to the arms,
The neck and shoulders,
Feeling the sensations of the skin on those areas.
Then we go further up to the neck,
The front of the neck,
Back of the neck,
The skin on our face,
And our head,
On our scalp,
Our ears.
We can even touch our forehead if we are so inclined.
Feeling of the skin,
We can rub our hands together.
We now bring our awareness back down towards the center of the body,
And we're aware now of our stomach and our lower back.
Aware of our backsides,
Sitting on the chair or lying down,
Of our legs,
Our knees and ankles,
Calves.
And we can feel our feet and our toes.
And now we widen our attention slightly to encompass the feeling of the entire body,
Still on the outside of the body.
Just appreciating what it feels like.
We could have positive or neutral sensation,
Or due to health reasons or temporary injury,
We could even have some discomfort or pain.
Regardless of what we're feeling and noticing on the outside of our body,
We meet it with a gentle attention,
With a gentle attention and acceptance of whatever is taking place.
We now bring our attention to the interior of our body,
Starting in the center of our body,
At the interior of our diaphragm.
Bring our awareness gently and with clarity,
And notice the feeling of the inside of the body.
We might notice just a diffuse,
Blurry feeling.
We can't quite pinpoint what it is that we're feeling,
But our attention is there.
Or we might feel something.
Either are fine.
Now we bring our attention further up into the chest,
Feeling the expansion of the diaphragm and chest as we breathe.
We now go even higher into the shoulders and into the neck,
The upper back,
Into the face,
Into the head,
Into the very center of our head.
Then we bring our attention back down towards the inner part of the diaphragm where we began,
And we move lower down into the belly and the lower back,
Down into the lower areas and into the upper legs,
Into the thighs and knees,
Into the shins and calves,
Into our ankle,
And into our feet and toes.
We can wiggle our toes and wiggle our fingers,
And we now expand our attention,
Expand our mindful presence to encompass our entire body,
The outside,
The inside,
The entire felt sense,
Of our physical body.
And we now turn our attention to that knowing quality that is aware of our body.
Here it might be helpful to open our eyes.
And we look gently inward at the one who is experiencing the felt sense of the body.
And we simply look at what might be there.
And we notice an openness,
A spaciousness.
There's not something there that we can grasp with ideas.
Similar to looking into the deep blue cloudless sky.
Yet,
It's not a nothingness,
It's not an empty void.
There is a knowing quality that is present.
There is an awareness that is present.
And we now simply allow that spacious awareness to just be as it is.
We don't need to look inward,
We don't need to focus outward.
We don't need to rest somewhere in between.
We just allow our open awareness to just be natural,
Unmodified.
Notice that this open awareness is not something that you can create.
It's also not something that you can turn off.
It's not something that you can make it go away.
It's simply there.
Whether you look up,
Whether you look down,
To the sides,
That open awareness remains the same.
And here we do the meditation that is without any effort.
Just allowing that open awareness to just continue as it is.
We just rest here naturally with our eyes open.
Gently open,
Looking straight ahead.
Without any specific focus.
And now,
Stretch our body a bit.
Move our shoulders.
Try to keep that awareness present.
Refresh ourself a little bit.
Stretch our face.
And now,
Simply acknowledge again that open awareness at the very core of our experience right now.
The experience of our body,
Of our breath,
And of our consciousness,
Our thoughts,
And our feelings.
Memories,
Intentions,
Are all unfolding within an expressions of this vast open awareness.
We're not trying to make it vast.
It just is vast in and of itself.
We're not trying to meditate or to cultivate any state or special experience.
We're just being in a state of naturalness.
And now,
We again return to the felt sense of our body.
We feel the in and out of our breath.
The movement of our mind,
Of our consciousness.
Thoughts about the past,
The future,
Or the present.
All of that is fine.
It's all arising within and as an expression of that natural open awareness that is always present at the center of our experience.
And we conclude this meditation practice with the intention to recall that open awareness throughout our everyday life.
When things are going fine.
When things are difficult.
When we're interacting with other people.
When we're with others,
Or when we're alone.
We recall that natural open spacious awareness in which all of our experiences unfold.
We integrate that into our life.
We integrate that into the felt sense of our emotions.
And we integrate that into our interactions with the people in our life.
And we support that practice with a sense of presence and mindfulness,
With effort.
Come back to the present moment.
And acknowledge again that open awareness.
