Welcome.
We usually think of meditation as a process,
A methodology for going inward,
As a way to know ourselves better,
A way to make an intimate connection with all aspects of ourselves,
A way to create a unified being through self-knowledge and understanding.
And this is undoubtedly true.
It is exactly what we do in meditation,
But we are not meditating to get the best possible view of our navels.
One of my teachers says that self-care becomes self-indulgence when it no longer helps us prepare to better serve others.
If our increase in internal connection does not also increase the quality and degree of our connection to the external world,
Whether with rocks and trees or animals and people,
Then we are missing the point.
We desire to become a better person so we can in turn become better connectors,
Better partners,
Better friends,
Better stewards of nature.
We build a better understanding of ourselves so that we are better able to understand and connect with others.
This is our curriculum.
This is our school.
Our breath flows in and out thousands of times each day,
Every day over the course of our lives.
Everyone breathes this adoration of life.
Know this and be in great joy.
Life is dancing in you,
A dance of ever renewing delight.
Breath is our first connection.
The way of experience begins with a breath.
Our first inhale reaches out and takes in the world.
Your breath,
Perhaps trapped much of your day by tension or hidden by neglect,
Is your most intimate connection to the sublime source of all.
Through breath we connect physically,
Viscerally with the universe.
We draw the universe into our bodies,
Transform it and return it to the source.
Perhaps for a few moments you might sit with the realization of this most intimate,
Most elemental connection of your body with everything that exists around you.
Breath is the path of realization.
VOICEOVER you you Put attention into the luminous connections between the centers of the body where the mind loves to dissolve base of the spine and top of the head root and heart heart and throat throat and forehead forehead and crown of the skull enter that glowing net of light with a focus born of all and Even your bones will know enlightenment Our connections to the outer world are born of our connections to our inner world Honesty to others is created through honesty with ourselves You might now choose to reach into your body with tenderness and care Connect with yourself with dreams and fears with strengths and weaknesses with joy and with love See yourself honestly and with compassion True compassion for others can only ever surface from a compassion for yourself you you you One of the great gifts of meditation comes from the place where attention and love intersect Meditation is the practice of giving attention and with practice our attention skills grow stronger and deeper We become more capable of giving attention to relationships in the world The people in our lives seem new and surprising in every moment when we learn to give our attention wholly The gift of our attention is a stronger and deeper connection with those we love The sacred function of meditation is not to block out the world But to free you to attend to love When we connect with another person with an animal with family or friends we build connections connections between hearts We might think of these connections as strings tying our hearts with enough length and enough strength to bond us across time and space and and across the ruptures of disagreement and anger These strings stretch and return to shape but also vibrate creating music Immerse yourself in the rapture of this music tend to each note each chord rising up from silence and dissolving again Vibrating strings draw us into the spacious resonance of the heart Our relationships with others are pathways to enlightenment and knowledge You might choose now to sit for a bit listening to the music of your heartstrings Stay with the music that comes from the connections you cherish with others Vibrating strings draw us into the spacious resonance of the heartstrings you the lungs of a person sitting quietly and looking at the night sky in awe of the magic she found there.
Most of the cells in your body come and go like morning dew,
Like sunlight on the mist,
Like lightning in the summer sky.
We are constantly being remade.
We are more weather pattern than stone statue.
The light that enters your eyes traveled eight minutes and 20 seconds from its source the sun.
It sparked from the fusion of elemental hydrogen and its substance and your substance will one day find their way back to another sun to be burned again,
Again to be made into light to travel into the abyss.
Nothing is ever lost perhaps remade in unknowable forms but always present.
Your body is part of the substance of creation,
No different in any way that matters from any other part of the cosmos.
Your heart and mind are emergent properties of water and air and sunlight configured in this way that you know for a stretch of time,
For the span of a life,
But soon enough will transform into something else.
Reach out with compassion from your present configuration of matter and energy.
Reach towards yourself to learn what you need,
Then blossom through the magic of your capacity,
Always accompanied by the music of your heartstrings.
Reach out with love,
A love born of a love for yourself,
A love capable of forming the connections you most desire,
Connections you most need.
So so so For some final moments you might allow the power of your attention to draw back to yourself where you began your meditation.
Your love and compassion forming strings of connection to those you love are those you will love in times to come.
Air and water and light forming equally strong strings,
Weaving the cloth of your life.
See yourself as nexus,
As a loving heart,
A questing mind,
Sitting at the center of a vast web of connections tying you to all things.
Our breath flows in and out thousands of times each day,
Every day,
Over the course of our lives.
Everyone breathes this adoration of life.
Know this and be in great joy.
Life is dancing in you,
A dance of ever renewing delight.
So so so so Gently now let your attention move back to your space,
To the air you breathe,
To the light that gloriously falls upon you.
Know that one day you will be air and that a further day you will be the light that flies from the heart of a sun creating illumination in the darkness.
Welcome back.
