Welcome,
Welcome.
I'm so grateful you are here with me today.
So I got to thinking about how this time of year for many can start to feel really full.
You know,
Whether it's the literal season or just the season of your life.
You may be navigating stress or family dynamics or expectations or emotions,
Grief,
Or there may just be this sort of internal hum of tension.
And sometimes there's a pressure to feel good,
To be peaceful,
To be cheerful,
To be grateful.
When really what's present is perhaps heaviness,
A fullness or a tightness,
A longing.
And today's meditation isn't about fixing any of that.
It's really just about letting everything just be exactly as it is and noticing what's here beneath the season.
The you that doesn't come or go.
So a few days ago,
I was actually sitting in meditation and I noticed that sort of low hum of overwhelm.
Just this sort of quiet,
Subtle feeling of tightness or contraction.
There's just this sort of subtle reaching,
A craving for peace.
A hope for relief.
And I watched the mind try to attach meaning to it.
Oh,
It's just this chapter of my life right now.
Oh,
It's it's just this one stress stressor that I haven't handled yet.
But the season,
Whatever it brings,
Isn't me.
It's not who I am.
Thoughts arise,
Energy fluctuates,
Situations appear.
But I,
I remain.
Not Jodi,
The personality,
Not the story,
But the quiet awareness behind everything.
And so today,
We'll rest in that space together.
That space before thought,
Before overwhelm,
Before the story of me in this season.
So let us begin there.
Shall we?
Just let your eyes gently close.
And just let the body be as it is.
There's no need to control the breath.
Just let everything be exactly as it is.
Notice the breath.
Noticing the sensation of the breath.
Sensations and sensing the stillness that's already here.
Noticing how thoughts may still be present.
And that's okay.
Just let all of them be simply notice and sensations or agitations arise.
Notice those two.
What's aware of the thoughts?
What sees the story now becoming it?
There is a spaciousness here.
And it's unmoved by the weather of the mind.
Sometimes the intensity of life feels very personal.
As if it's happening to us.
But that's just merely an invitation to pause.
Who is the me that this is happening to?
Is it not just a bundle of thoughts and labels and concepts?
Memories a character who is in or is entering a season.
Who's watching that?
You may still notice how the mind is reaching and seeking.
Just notice.
Notice and rest as what you already are.
Just this open awareness.
Here.
Now.
Effortless.
Complete.
Perfect.
And the mind may rail against that.
And that's okay.
Just notice.
Then rest in what you already are.
Whether you've been feeling energized or depleted.
Grateful.
Or grief filled.
Let it all swirl.
Just notice.
And stay rooted in the stillness that holds it all.
Because that is who you are.
Let every thought be allowed.
But every emotion and sensation be allowed.
While also remembering that none of them define you.
The truth of who you are.
Cannot be located in any season.
Or sensation.
Or any state.
It just simply is.
And as our session gently comes to a close,
Just bring your awareness back to the room.
Noticing the breath moving in and out.
Perhaps we're just moving in and out.
Swiggling your fingers and toes.
And when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes.
That which you touched.
That silence.
That pure awareness.
The presence.
Never left.
It's here even right now.
As you look around the room.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for your presence.
And for joining me.
Namaste.
