Stillness,
Silence.
What appears for you when you hear these words?
In stillness,
Do you imagine stillness of the body?
Stillness of the mind?
Maybe you can visualize stillness in nature.
In silence,
What do you see?
Is there darkness?
How does silence feel?
In a world filled with noise,
In a culture that refuses to slow down,
How can we become comfortable with these things that are so needed for us and yet so absent from our everyday lives?
Meditation is a place where we can invite these things into our experience.
And yet oftentimes,
Even in meditation,
We struggle with stillness.
We want to adjust with every discomfort,
Scratch every itch.
And we seek out guided meditations and music because we cannot bear the silence.
In this practice,
We will work with these properties and with time,
Maybe we can get still enough,
Get quiet enough that our own voice emerges.
Beyond the noise of the outside world,
Beyond our need to constantly be busy and productive,
Visualize this beautiful space of nothingness and yet everything all at once.
Let's go there now.
Let's begin by finding stillness in the body.
Find a place that feels good for you.
This can be seated or lying down.
Just allow your breath to flow naturally and attempt to relax your body as much as possible.
Once you've consciously released the shoulders,
The muscles in your face,
The hands and the hands,
Tell yourself that whatever position you find yourself in now is okay and commit to staying here.
Even if sensations arise in the body,
Let that be okay.
You can acknowledge and experience what you're feeling without needing to change it.
Many times when we attempt to still the body,
The mind will overcompensate.
So if your mind is telling you to move,
If you're having trouble calming the mind today,
That's okay too.
Just as we did with the body,
We can acknowledge these mental sensations without needing to react.
Just notice.
Allow.
Let this just be.
For the remainder of this meditation,
We are going to work with silence.
Notice what comes up for you when I say that.
Is there resistance?
Is there fear?
See if you can experience silence in a positive way.
Can you experience it as comforting,
As warm,
As peaceful?
Let these last few moments of silence and stillness feel good.
Give yourself the gift of these moments just for you.
You'll hear my voice when it's time to return.
It's going to begin.
.
.
.
If you're ready to return,
Let awareness come back to your breath,
Your body,
Your surroundings.
.
.
If you would like to stay in this space of silence and stillness a little bit longer,
I highly encourage you to do so.
.
Thank you so much for taking the time to meditate with me.
.
