When establishing the foundations of your meditation practice,
It is a good idea to have some routines of arrival.
This short practice will give you some experience arriving in time and in space and in your senses before you then undertake your meditation practice.
Have an awareness of your arrival here and now,
Your arrival in time.
You are no longer planning to get here to your meditation.
You are no longer getting here to your meditation.
You are here.
You have arrived.
For the next little while,
You can step out of time and I will hold time for you.
Have a sense also of arrival in your space.
Open your eyes and look around.
Look around you and take on everything that you see.
Notice it.
Look up into each corner of the room if you are indoors and look down into each corner.
Look around at all the furniture around you.
Perhaps there are people also and all the objects in the space that you are in.
If you are outdoors,
Likewise,
Look around you and have a sense of noticing the space you are in and then gently close your eyes or soft focus them and cast your awareness around into the space.
In the same way you did with your sense perception of sight,
Cast your awareness up into each corner of the room,
Down into each corner,
Around the furniture,
Every object or if you are outdoors,
Cast your awareness into all the objects and features and elements of the space and then bring that sense of awareness back to yourself and have a real sense that you have arrived in this space.
Cast also your hearing sense,
Your sense perception of hearing and cast your listening around the space.
Stretch your listening into every corner,
Around every object,
Other people or animals or creatures in the space and notice what you hear.
There is no need to name what you hear with your mind.
Simply notice that your sense perception of hearing is stretching around the space that you are in and then bring that sense perception right back to yourself,
To your body and notice any sounds that you can hear in your body.
Perhaps you can hear breath,
Perhaps you can hear clothing or skin moving against cloth.
Imagine too that you can hear inside your own body.
Having this sense of arrival in your senses.
Notice to the sense perception of smell and extend that sense perception around you in the space.
What can you smell in the space?
If you bring your full attention to this sense perception,
What can you smell?
Notice too your sense perception of taste.
What can you taste at this moment as you sit here preparing to meditate?
Now you have arrived in time and in space and in your sense perceptions as you prepare to meditate.
