Making ourselves as comfortable as possible.
It doesn't matter what position we're in,
As long as we're comfortable.
We can be sitting,
We can be lying down.
And let us take some deep breaths together.
Breathing in through the nose.
Breathing out the mouth.
Breathing in through the nose.
Breathing out the mouth.
Again into the nose.
And on this exhale,
We haven't closed our eyes,
We can do so now.
Or we can just shift our gaze gently downwards.
So,
Allowing your breathing return to normal in through the nose and out of the nose.
Just coming more and more into this moment.
Letting go into this moment.
Letting go into this practice.
Letting go of anything that happened before this practice.
Letting go of anything we think may happen after this practice.
And letting go of the practice.
Letting go of our expectations of the practice.
Here we're not trying to change anything,
We're not trying to fix anything.
We're just trying to sit with what is and observe.
Observe in non-judgmental awareness.
And let's begin to observe the feeling of our body,
Where it makes contact point with the support we're on.
Maybe it's our sit bones on the cushion,
On the floor,
On the bed.
Just noticing the sensations that are present there.
Noticing the changing nature of sensations that are present there.
Now bringing our mind's focus perhaps to our feet.
And where our feet make contact with the surface we're on.
Noticing the sensations in our left foot.
Noticing the sensations in our right foot.
Allowing that to dissolve in our minds and bring our mind's eye to our hands.
And just recognize the sensations that are present in your hands.
We focus on our hands,
Perhaps we can feel our heartbeat in our hands.
Perhaps we can even feel a slight vibration in our hands.
Perhaps we can even feel a sense of an aliveness there.
And we allow that to dissolve and we bring a focus to our breath.
Just breathing in and breathing out naturally.
There's no need to alter the breath or control the breath.
It's our point of focus.
We begin to recognize where we feel the sensations of breath most fully.
Maybe it's in the nostrils,
Maybe it's on the tip of your nose,
Maybe it's on your upper lip.
Maybe it's in the movement of your chest or belly.
Maybe just pick one spot.
Pick one spot to focus on your breath.
Try to maintain a soft focus there.
Knowing that with each breath we're able to keep our focus on,
We're sharpening that focus,
Sharpening our mind.
Sharpening our attention.
Strengthening our dedication,
Our commitment to this practice.
Realizing the mind will wander,
Much like a puppy will wander.
We try to discipline the puppy to sit,
The puppy wanders away.
It's the same with the mind.
We attempt to discipline and strengthen the untrained mind,
Stay with the breath,
But it wanders away.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's what the mind does.
We don't need to punish ourselves over it.
It's like we don't need to punish the puppy for wandering away.
We just recognize the present moment reality.
Our mind is drifted and we return it back to the breath again and again.
Let us practice in silent meditation for two minutes.
Now let us begin to observe again,
The body sitting,
The body laying down,
The contact points,
Observing those sensations that are present there.
And perhaps we can begin to move our fingers and move our toes,
Bringing energy back into our bodies and aliveness there.
Maybe take a big,
Deep breath in through the nose.
I might allow it with a sigh.
I like to put my arms up overhead and I reach towards the sky and then I bring my arms down by my side and I open my heart to the world with trust,
With faith,
With vulnerability.
And if you close your eyes,
You can flutter them open or just bring your gaze gently upwards.
