BELL In order to begin the practice,
We first allow our awareness to descend into the space of the body.
Whichever position we're in,
Whether sitting,
Supine,
Or in any other stationary position that feels comfortable,
We can imagine our awareness descending from the level of our head and spreading throughout the body as we begin to attend to the tactile sensations arising in this domain.
Gently noticing the sensations in our feet and toes,
And letting go of physical tension as much as we can,
With a keen,
Alert,
And curious mind,
Observing this area,
Observing our experience here,
And then equally observing our hands and fingers and relaxing them as much as we can.
Attending to our pelvic floor,
Our abdomen,
Our shoulders,
And our face.
And then expanding our awareness to encompass the entirety of the body with all of its tactile movements,
All of its sensations,
And for a moment,
Attending to these sensations.
As we attend to this entire field of experience,
We also notice the underlying stillness.
The space of stillness behind and beyond all the movements,
All the changing tactile sensations.
Attending to this stillness and allowing our awareness to merge with it,
Being still and being aware of this stillness,
Letting go of all the activities of the body with each out-breath.
And then allowing our breath to move naturally,
Without any control from our side,
As we settle our speech in an effortless state of silence.
Not only the outer speech that we are not currently using,
But also the inner speech of the mind,
The mental chit chat,
The mental commentary,
The inner dialogue.
Attending to the silence beyond that.
Being silent and being aware of the silence.
Resting in this silence for a few moments.
Letting go of all the verbal activities with each out-breath.
And then equally establishing our mind in the present moment.
Letting go of our plans for the future,
Our memories of the past,
And our incessant rumination about the present.
Instead allowing our mind to settle in spaciousness,
Where we release all mental activities with each out-breath.
Seeing the clarity and cognizance of our awareness behind all the specific mental events.
Letting go and releasing our awareness into space with each out-breath.
Instead of trying to hold on to something,
We release everything with each out-breath.
And through this letting go the qualities of warmth,
Clarity,
Cognizance,
And spaciousness naturally emerge.
Resting in this unified state of stillness,
Silence,
And cognizant presence.
Through letting go of all activity with each out-breath.
And then slowly bringing our awareness back to the tactile sensations to ground our attention,
To center ourselves.
Letting go and releasing our awareness into space with each out-breath.
And with an aspiration of loving kindness for ourselves and others,
Wishing ourselves and others to be happy and genuinely free.
We conclude the practice by thinking,
Through liberating my own mind and cultivating its qualities.
May I bring greater levels of happiness to all.
And then concluding the practice as we invite the bell.
