Meditation on receptive listening and intention.
So finding a good seat,
Sitting up on a cushion or a chair,
And assuming a posture that supports an energy of being alert and awake.
And anything you can do to make yourself even just slightly more comfortable and at ease.
Please do so now.
Now bringing the hands together at the heart center,
We will start by chanting three om.
And you will only be hearing my voice,
But sense that the others in the Sangha,
That we're all here and live together as we chant.
Allowing the vibrations to assist in bringing us together,
Present and alive with sensation.
Let's inhale to om.
Om.
Om.
Om.
The sound current of connectedness.
The hands can now rest comfortably in your lap.
The palms facing up.
Taking some moments to feel the vibration of the sacred sound om.
Taking some moments to listen.
To listen with the whole body.
Opening the ears.
Listen to the soft sounds that are right here in the room.
And listening not just with your ears,
But with your whole awareness.
Letting the sounds wash through.
There's nothing to do.
Now listening to the more distant sounds.
The ones that can be detected further and further away.
Ears open and receptive.
Body open and listening.
It's with this same receptive listening that we can begin to hear messages from our body.
You may even scan the body with an interested and curious listening.
Feeling the scalp and the skull.
Open to whatever tingling or vibrating may be here.
Aware of the face and the eyes.
Perhaps relaxing the face.
Softening the jaw and the tongue.
A listening and receptive attention.
The sensations in the face and the head.
Awareness inside of the shoulders.
Feeling the shoulders from the inside out.
Feeling life and this body exactly as it is.
Feeling into the arms.
Bone into the hands.
Sensing deep into the hands.
Softening.
Listening to what's right here.
Becoming intimate with our bodies in this way.
The life in our hands.
Awareness and sensation inside of the chest.
The heart.
The lungs.
The ribs.
This play of sensation within the chest.
The waves of our breathing.
Relaxing the belly.
The breath being received in a softening belly.
This breath.
And then this one.
Receptive and open.
Deep within the torso.
The gliiveness.
As though each of our trillions of cells have little ears of their own.
Open and listening.
Just as it is.
The pelvis filled with awareness.
Open to the dance of sensation here.
Where of the parts of you touching the surface beneath you.
Pressure.
Warmth.
Sensing into the legs.
Any vibrating or tingling or signs of life.
Awakeness in the feet.
Sensing the feet from the inside out.
Vibrantness in the feet.
The whole body now as a field of sensation.
The whole body breathing.
The whole body receptive.
Awake.
Alert.
Breathing.
Inhaling.
Inflating.
Opening.
Receiving.
Exhaling.
Releasing.
Settling.
Exhaling outward.
Now placing this mindfulness course and our sangha in your heart.
Tune into the state of your heart right now physically,
Emotionally.
Tuning into your heart state.
And to ask,
What is important to me?
Why am I here taking this mindfulness course?
What is my intention over the next weeks?
Why is this important?
Allow your body to respond.
Keep listening.
Receptive.
For the most true or sincere intention.
For the most true or sincere intention.
Notice if you are in some way judging or evaluating yourself for this practice.
Be aware of it and gently reopen to the experience.
Soften.
This is our practice.
Attention.
Mindfulness of what's happening in the present moment.
And intention.
Hands soft.
Shoulders relaxed.
Notice of the body breathing.
And this is the way out,
This is the way of health care and authority.
