So beginning by aligning the posture for optimum presence and stability.
So checking that the chest has a slight lift in it.
Shoulders let them hang in a relaxed way.
If the hips are lower than the knees it can be hard to maintain an upright posture.
So you may want to stick a pillow underneath your bum to raise the hips up.
It's good to check that the nose is in line with the navel.
And that you're not beginning leaning to one side or the other or forward or back.
And checking the alignment.
And now making a connection with your intention,
Your aspiration for the practice.
And this can be through the mind,
This can be through the heart,
This can be a somatic knowing.
It can be as simple as to cultivate stillness and as vast as to awaken for the sake of all beings.
And all of the places in between.
And then letting that dissolve.
And next opening to energetic influence.
That is inviting the presence,
The support of teachers,
Guides or lineage.
Perhaps you let the image rise in your heart of one of these guides.
And the gesture of asking for help.
May you help support.
May you be a guide in my practice.
The gesture itself opens us up.
The gesture of please help me.
And letting that dissolve.
And we begin with settling the body.
And I like to call this rooting.
So that you begin with the contact of the seat.
Whatever you're sitting on with your legs.
Rear end.
And really let awareness tune into that quality of contact.
And yet amplify that.
Perhaps you push down with the hips.
Perhaps you bring to mind the quality of a mountain.
Or feel as if roots of your body are extending down into the earth.
Touching into this quality of rooting.
And beginning to let that interrupt fantasy about the future.
And the beginnings from the past.
With this quality of stability.
And beginning to invite relaxation in the body.
And scanning through the body.
And just being alert to places of habitual tension.
Making unconscious tension conscious.
Letting the eyes and the face be soft.
The jaw be soft.
Perhaps more ease in the shoulders.
The diaphragm.
The belly.
And any areas that have a tension or a density,
Invite the breath into those areas.
As if you're breathing space within that tension or that knot.
And we want to open an orientation of all acceptance.
So acknowledge the various textures in the body,
In the heart,
In the mind.
As well as what's ever going on in the room.
And just acknowledge that these are the conditions that I'm practicing within.
And if you can,
Release any of the subtle argument.
The arguments we make with experience.
Sometimes through tensing the body.
Sometimes through complaining mind.
And invite what is to be what it is.
Let that experience just be in its own space.
In a sense a deeper relaxation is not fighting tension,
Not trying to get more comfortable.
Beginning to tune into the natural flow of the breath.
Taking a gentle approach,
Not imposing the will upon the breath,
But rather letting your attention join with the way it's flowing.
Letting the breath be exactly how it is.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Not modifying it.
Allowing the inhalation to be as deep or as shallow as it wants to be.
Bringing in a quality of what we call wakefulness.
A high fidelity sense of awareness.
Tuned into the details of the breath.
Feeling the flow of the inhalation all the way to the apex.
The moment before turns towards the exhalation.
Feeling the flow of the breath down to the very last particle of that experience.
And we're shifting more and more into a mode of simplicity.
Centering the breath in our experience.
Highlighting the breath in our experience as the most important thing for now.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
The part of the mind that monitors for distraction and the drifting away of attention that's awake,
Doing its job.
Noticing when attention drifts off.
And then re-establishing attention in the flow of the feeling of breath.
And rather than emphasizing quieting the mind,
Emphasize the vividness,
The intensity of presence.
The eyes partially or completely open can support this.
Feeling the pleasure in that quality of vividness.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
More and more the heart trusting in the safety of the mind.
And the safety,
The safety and the goodness of letting go.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Feeling the flow of the breath.
Allowing the flow of the breath.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
Allowing the exhalation to be as complete as it wants to be.
