Sink into whatever posture you're in.
Just relax into that posture.
Feel the ground holding you up and allow it to do that.
Just give yourself over to that.
Let yourself relax into this posture.
Just relax.
Right now there's nothing to do.
Just relax.
Feel the body as it sits here,
Relaxed in this posture.
Feel the mind.
How does it feel to just be here relaxed?
How does the body feel?
How does the mind feel?
Just feel it.
Investigate.
Notice.
Just be here.
Anchor your attention in this experience,
This experience of this body and this mind.
Just being here now.
Remember,
Just relax.
Just be here relaxed.
Right now there's nothing to do.
Just relax.
Then you can get a sense of the way this body feels just being here.
A sense of the way this mind feels.
Bring to mind an image,
A memory of how it feels when there's something you have to do.
Something you feel you should do.
Something you feel compelled to do.
Just bring that memory to mind.
Bring up that image.
Feel it in the body,
In the mind.
How does it feel to have to do something that you don't want to do?
Maybe it is a chore or a duty or a lifestyle.
If nothing comes to mind or if you can't think of anything,
Just fabricate a sense of feeling that there's something you have to do,
Something you should do,
But you don't want to do it.
Get a sense of it.
Hold it.
Feel it.
Then notice what is it like.
How does the body feel?
How does the body feel when it knows it must get up and go about a task?
That it doesn't want to do.
Really try and feel that.
Really try and get a sense of what that is like.
It may not be something big or monumental.
It may be a small thing,
Just a daily chore.
But how does that feel?
Or it may be a whole way of life that you feel compelled to follow for some reason.
The expectations of others,
The expectations of yourself,
Some reason that you feel you must be a certain way or do a certain thing.
Just try and feel what that is like as you sit here at rest,
But not for long.
How does it feel when there is something you feel you should do?
Something against your will?
Something against your wishes?
How does that feel?
Where does that manifest?
In the body,
In the mind,
Where does that happen?
Maybe it is the face that is held tight or tense or rigid.
There may be a tightness in your belly or your arms or your mind may be on fire with the indignation of it all.
How does it feel to know you must get up and do something that you don't want to do?
Feel it as clearly as you can,
Wherever you can feel it.
Know it as clearly as you can,
However you can know it.
What does it feel like?
What is it?
Where is it?
How is it?
Now when you have a good sense of this,
Just drop all of it.
Knowing how this feels,
How would it be to just put it all down?
How would it be to just lay it aside?
This sense of obligation,
This sense of knowing there is something we should do or must do.
How would it be to just cast that aside?
How would it be to just give it up?
Try it.
Just give up.
Whether you are working with a real or imagined obligation,
Just give up and see how that feels.
Just put it aside.
How does it feel?
Knowing there is something we should do,
But choosing to just put it down.
How does it feel to simply give up?
Maybe there is a sense of relief,
A sense of release.
To put down a burden we'd rather not be carrying.
Or maybe there is a sense of guilt,
A sense of fear of what may happen if we put down what we think we have to carry.
How does it feel when we decide to simply give up?
Experiment.
Play with this.
Explore how it feels to give up.
Knowing that we can always pick up a burden later if we need to,
But right now we can simply give up.
We can simply let ourselves be at rest.
We can let ourselves be free of that burden.
Right now.
In this moment.
Right here.
How does that feel?
Feeling from a burden that we felt we had to carry,
But actually we can simply put it down.
Touch the difference between the feeling of being under the thumb of obligation and the feeling of simply giving up and putting it down.
What is that difference?
Feel that difference.
Now bring to mind once again that sense of feeling obligated.
Bring it back into the body.
Bring it back into the mind and feel its nuances.
Feel its tensions.
Feel its edges and its shapes.
Feel all of it.
Now once again,
Just give up.
Just play with giving up.
Put down that sense of obligation.
Put down that burden.
Just cast it aside for now.
Let it go.
How does that feel?
Keep your attention on the body and the mind as you experiment with this.
Notice how it feels on one side.
Notice how it feels on the other.
And notice the difference between.
Getting to know how it feels to be beholden to something and getting to know that we can always give up and just rest can bring to our lives a new sense of freedom and choice around what and how much we do.
As we go through our lives,
We can notice when we are crushing ourselves under a sense of obligation.
And if the timing is right,
We can simply choose to let that go.
We can choose to stay and rest.
We can choose to give up.
