As we settle into a comfortable seat,
It's that natural closing of the eyes,
A sense of familiarity but the freshness at the same time,
The familiarity of experience.
This isn't new in terms of the muscle memory,
Returning to a lengthened spine,
Softening of the shoulders,
Even the word meditation,
How it evokes a visceral felt memory and yet it's not coming from that rigidity of I am doing meditation now,
Meditation is simply this invitation to be with whatever is here,
You are here and we just start to notice what you notice,
Perhaps what captures your attention first,
Is it thought,
Perhaps it's more tension,
Sounds around you,
Perhaps you notice the breath,
Perhaps you notice the fullness of your dinner in your belly,
Perhaps there's a familiarity to sensation as well as a newness.
Wherever your attention gravitates to,
I invite you to start to rest your attention,
Rest your mind down,
It's a downward feeling,
Down into the heart and the centre of the chest.
Naturally the attention may wander or dance to something else,
Something else that sparks,
Captures your attention.
And just gently pull your attention back into the heart space,
It's not a fixed point,
You're not kind of holding on or grasping to a particular point in the body or in the chest,
It's a landing,
Somehow this space feels more you than thought.
What do you discover here?
The breath moves in and out of the heart,
Perhaps you notice that you're leaning forward a little bit,
Perhaps analysing or trying to find out what is here.
What happens if you rest back a little,
Rest back into your body and simply allow that whatever bubbles,
Whatever arises within the body,
That your awareness just gently touches it without holding onto it,
Without ignoring it,
Just like a gentle touch of your awareness to what is here.
Just notice that this allowing,
Kind of like an unmasked or an unfiltered,
Pure expression of your being,
Moment by moment.
And all we are simply doing is not changing it or fixing it or altering the present moment,
Making it something other than what is here.
But the doing is simply redirecting our awareness from that habit of fixing,
Changing,
Labelling,
Analysing,
Redirecting it to this spaciousness,
This open awareness that touches all that is arising.
Notice what changes without you actually doing anything,
Quality of your breath,
Quietening of the mind,
This naturalness,
Simply being,
Being with what is.
Just keep allowing,
Allowing your awareness to gently meet what is here.
Meditation starts to come to a close,
Just noticing this gentle shift from doing,
Doing meditation into being.
Not that cliche being,
But being with whatever,
However we are,
That this heart of our awareness touches whatever comes and goes,
Arises and falls.
Pleasure,
Pain,
Joy,
Sorrow.
What's it like to just be here and be with what is?
Just gently opening the eyes from this beingness,
Essentially just being who you already are,
Notice the freshness and yet the familiarity of this moment.
Just bringing some gentle movement to the body,
Integration of our ordinary consciousness and this depth,
This inner knowing of the heart.
And we bring our meditation to a close.
