Hello and welcome.
Let's begin our meditation practice together by closing our eyes and taking a few long and slow breaths into the belly.
And as you do this,
I invite you to place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly to center yourself in the body and really allow yourself to land here.
You've made this time for practice today,
So really commit to bringing your whole self into the practice,
Giving yourself fully to this practice.
And I'm going to bring a little sacred sound as you continue to breathe to help harmonize and bring coherence into the body.
What would it mean to let everything go,
Everything that you know that came before this moment,
And allow yourself to rest fully in the practice,
Trusting deeply that your heart and your being knows the way.
And now you can rest your hands gently in your lap and inviting you to place them in Zazen posture,
Which is to have one hand cupped gently in the other with the tips of your thumbs touching lightly.
Taking your meditation posture means being in a way that you can be awake and alert.
So inviting you to bring your spine gently upright so it feels like there's a gentle string pulling you upright with your feet resting gently on the floor or tucked underneath you,
Whichever is more comfortable.
And then we'll do what's called setting the retinue in Tibetan Buddhism,
Which is to invite all of our guides,
Guardians,
Benevolent ancestors,
Angels,
Saints around us.
So feel them to your left and to your right,
Above and below,
In front and behind,
Cheering you on and wishing you well for this practice.
That you are not doing this practice alone,
But you have a whole team of beings that is working with you.
And setting the intention now to awaken,
And to awaken means to come into contact with your deepest knowing,
Where there is no separation between you and the universe,
Where you know that you are fully held and supported and loved,
And your being shines with the radiance of this truth as a gift to life,
To the universe,
To all beings,
Which is at the heart of what meditation is truly about,
That coming into contact with your deepest knowing,
That when everything falls away,
The light of your being stands radiant.
So meditation practice really becomes the allowance of the falling away.
And in today's practice,
We're going to focus on this one simple instruction to invite the falling away.
And that instruction is that there's nothing to fix,
That however life is appearing in this moment,
It's okay.
Nothing to fix and nothing to change means we're not waiting for the next moment,
That there will be some better moment,
An hour from now,
Or ten minutes from now,
Or next year,
That is better,
Or more aligned,
Or more perfect than what's here now.
Remembering Krishnamurti,
Who said,
To be free comes not from changing or fixing this world,
But from seeing this world as it is and opening the heart in the midst of it.
Noticing where in yourself you might wish something could be fixed or changed.
Could be a broken heart,
A loss,
A confusion,
An anger or hurt,
And for just this practice,
Can you let go of needing to change that?
That whatever it is,
It has some great teaching.
That the pain or the thing you wish would change is in fact pointing the way towards your freedom.
That the universe,
The way,
Knows the way,
Even if our minds and hearts don't understand.
And if your mind protests,
It's okay.
That's what the mind does.
Just come back to the instruction that there's nothing to fix or change.
Like an invitation to your heart,
What if this were true?
Not a directive,
But a question that you hold in your heart.
Feeling the soft lotus petals of compassion surrounding this question.
Holding it gently and lovingly,
And then just letting yourself rest in the question.
Nothing to fix means that what's here,
What's arising now,
Is absolutely perfect.
That who you are right now in this moment is absolutely perfect.
That there isn't some better version of you that you need to become at some future date.
After more books have been read,
More podcasts have been listened to.
Nothing to fix or change means that who you are right now in this moment is enough.
That this moment itself contains everything that is needed.
There's nothing missing,
Nothing more that needs to be added to be okay.
This is how we open our hearts in the midst of whatever is here.
With the soft sweetness and tenderness of acceptance.
Nothing to fix is a permission slip to feel what's actually here.
And open our hearts to the reality of what's right on our own doorstep.
Not gazing past to somebody else's house or to some far horizon,
But to meet the fear or the discomfort or the wishing,
The longing that's right here.
In the sanctity of our own heart.
Where the real work is done.
Resting back now and just letting the instruction unfold itself and unwind within you.
Trusting deeply in the process and your own inner knowing.
And allowing this one phrase to be like a lighthouse that brings you back if you astray.
Nothing to fix or change allows the fundamental well-being,
The okayness,
To rise up amidst the uncertainty,
The mind's questions,
The not knowing.
That underneath all of that,
All is well.
You are okay just as you are.
You are perfect just as you are.
That's something much greater and bigger and more intelligent and wise than the mind.
The mind is guiding life,
Is holding life,
Is holding us all.
And true life mastery is finding and knowing that for yourself and letting yourself rest there.
That's true meditation.
Open your heart,
My friend,
And drink deeply from this well.
And here we'll let go of the meditation practice.
Keeping your eyes closed,
We'll end with three beautiful.
.
.
