Taking Refuge in the Body

The theme of this meditation practice is Body as Benefactor,

Taking Refuge in the Body.

To help move the attention down from the thinking space into the body,

Let's take a few gentle,

Slow,

Deep breaths.

Inhaling,

Feeling the sensations of breath,

Fullness,

And then slowly exhaling and emptying.

Again,

Breathing in slowly,

Gently,

Deeply.

This time at the end of inhale,

Pausing a moment,

Really experiencing the sensations of fullness.

And then letting the breath slowly release,

Emptying all air from the lungs.

One more time.

And then let the breath be natural,

Relaxing in the jaw,

Softening in the belly,

Receiving the breath with ease.

We'll take a moment to reconnect to the attitude of mindfulness,

Being present in a way that we don't have to manipulate or interfere with what's happening.

Being curious,

Having a light,

Gentle,

Bare-boned attention without fixating,

Without being distracted.

No preference,

No prejudice.

Unbiased curiosity.

Let's bring the attention gently into the body.

Sensing the outer body.

Moving from head to toe,

Gently scanning the outer body.

Noticing places where there may be contact.

Pressure,

Space,

Movement,

Stillness.

Even though I'm using these words to guide you,

As the attention gently sweeps the outer body from head to toe,

It's in a way that's beyond language,

That's non-conceptual.

Balancing feeling with noticing,

Directly experiencing without drowning in the experience,

Yet without being indifferent.

So moving from the head,

Face,

Into the neck and shoulders.

Just noticing the outer body,

Experiencing what's present,

Just as it is.

And continuing down through the torso,

The front,

The sides,

The back.

Noticing space,

Contact,

Movement,

Pressure.

Feeling the arms and the hands from the outside.

How the hands are placed.

If there's a sense of cool or warmth.

What other sensations are here now?

Noticing the pelvis,

The sense of stability.

Any other sense of evenness or unevenness.

And then feeling the legs from the outside.

Other legs touching.

How are the feet placed?

Feel curiosity,

Unbiased,

Not needing to stop or control or change anything.

And now we'll experience the inner body.

Is there a sense of fullness?

Emptiness?

Heaviness?

Lightness?

Quivering?

Pulsing?

Is there inner pressure?

Constriction?

Opening?

How does the face feel in the inside?

The space between the ears?

The insides of the shoulders?

You might feel connected,

Disconnected,

Confused,

Clear.

Simply included is part of this experience,

Unbiased,

Welcome it as it is.

Experience the hands from the inside.

Any sense of vibration or tingling?

Feet?

Numbness?

Pulsing?

Letting the life live through this body,

Outer and inner,

Through these sensations,

Whatever they may be.

And now widening your attention so that you're including the entire body experience at once.

You're not focusing on any particular area,

Not scanning the body in any way,

But widening the field of attention so that you're feeling this body as a whole,

The totality of being in a body.

Some areas may have movement.

Other areas have pressure.

Some are still.

Some have space.

There may be warmth or coolness in different areas of the body.

What areas are most obvious?

And within that same space of awareness,

There are other sensations that are more subtle,

More neutral.

Simply being present to the totality of the body,

Realizing this body is a vast field of sensations.

Directly seeing,

Knowing,

The inner,

The outer,

The inner,

The totality of the body.

Seeing,

Knowing the impermanence.

The sensations arise,

They stay for a while,

They dissolve.

Some are throughout the body,

Some are pleasant,

Some are unpleasant,

Others are neutral.

Being present,

Yet stepping back and enjoying the show.

As the skillful means determine,

Is it best for you to have in the foreground a light sense of the breath or the weight of the body?

Is it helpful to periodically scan through the body,

Return back to the body scan?

Outer,

Inner.

How long can you rest in that more open attention?

Mindful of this entire body,

This breathing body,

This being embodied,

Not needing to stop or control or change anything.

Let be.

It may not be easy,

It may not be comfortable,

But that is included in the ease of letting be,

Not manipulating,

Not interfering.

The inner,

The outer,

The inner,

The totality of the body.

The preciousness of this body.

The life that's living through us in this body,

Through these various sensations,

Beyond good or bad,

Beyond pleasant or unpleasant.

Pure energy.

This body,

This precious vessel.

Without this body,

This breath,

These sensations,

We wouldn't be here now.

This body,

This precious vessel.

This body,

This precious vessel.

This body,

This precious vessel.

This body,

This precious vessel.