Welcome.
Why don't we get started with a little bit of movement and tension release in our muscles.
So sitting up sort of straight,
Straight as you want,
Start by rolling your shoulders.
And just allowing them to soften and get all the cricks out,
Move them the other way.
And taking your left ear to your left shoulder,
Stretching your neck.
Coming back to center,
Going on the other side.
Coming back to center.
And now,
Maybe taking your arms and putting them straight out in front of you,
Making sure your shoulders are dropped and rotating your wrists.
Making loose fists and rotating them and then doing that in the opposite direction.
And now putting your palms facing the floor and just gently tilting your wrists up and then back down.
And just repeat this motion a bit.
Do it kind of slowly so that you can feel the stretch,
Especially in the carpal tunnel.
Just a couple more times.
Just kind of shaking your wrists,
Your hands out,
Shaking your arms out.
Doing any other little movements that you would like in order to relax a little bit more before we sit.
So tonight,
The invitation is to stay present to your experience,
To actually rest within it.
And we're going to try resting in our experience as a cradle,
Resting in a cradle of compassion.
Compassion begins when we sense the trembling of our hearts and we learn to stay present.
That's from Christina Feldman,
Buddhist teacher.
So again,
The invitation is just to sense your experience and to stay present to it and to hold it all with compassion.
So let's begin by settling into stillness and getting into your meditation posture.
Holding a good,
Stable seat.
Lengthening the spine.
Tolding the crown of the head up slightly toward the sky.
Resting your arms loosely at your sides with your hands on your thighs.
And loosely crossing your legs in front of you.
Your eyes can be open with a downward gaze in front of you,
Or they can be gently closed.
Begin softening the eyes.
Maybe even bringing a small smile to the corners of your eyes.
Tapping out the forehead.
Relaxing the jaw.
Softening all the micro muscles within the face.
Softening the space at your throat.
Dropping the shoulders.
Relaxing the hands.
Softening the belly.
Maybe giving yourself over to relaxing the body.
Now within the body,
Begin noticing where your breath is.
Just choosing a place where you can feel the sensations of breath easily.
We're not chasing after the breath,
We're just allowing it to rock us.
To cradle us.
Just allow the breath to hold you in this moment.
Begin shifting your attention back to the body.
Just sensing the body as a whole.
Just noticing what's there.
The vibration.
The tingling.
Maybe noticing the sensation of discomfort.
Or even pain.
Just really moving into the landscape of your body.
And noticing all the sensations without any judgement.
Just resting with what is in your body right now.
And if your mind wanders,
Just gently bringing the attention back to the physical sensations you're experiencing right now.
Now moving our attention to the mind.
The conceptual mind.
The mind that is sometimes busy,
Sometimes dull.
There's an energetic quality of our mind at any given time.
So just simply notice how your mind is right now in this moment.
Maybe it's energetic.
Or calm.
Or just neutral.
Flat.
Or maybe worrying.
Just seeing if you can allow the mind to be as it is.
Inclining toward it with friendliness.
With understanding.
The mind just is as it is right now.
Seeing if you can even rest in the line.
Now,
Shifting attention again.
Moving it toward your heart.
Feeling your heart space in all directions.
And if it feels comfortable,
You can bring a hand and place it over your heart.
As a way of connecting to its quality.
And as you rest your attention here,
Asking yourself,
What is your heart longing for right now?
What is your heart full of?
It might be sadness,
Or fear,
Joy,
Peace.
Feeling into the heart and naming whatever the experience is right now in the heart.
Allowing it to be as it is.
Inviting a quality of restfulness in the heart space.
Just resting with a compassionate presence in the fullness of your heart.
Now bringing attention back to the breath.
Allowing it to anchor you.
As you open up your awareness to all these parts of yourself.
Your body,
Your mind,
Your heart.
Just being present to all the sensations,
All the pleasure,
All the discomfort,
All the emotion.
Letting it all be here,
Keeping it held in a container of compassionate presence.
Turning toward the totality of our experience.
We come to a place of acceptance and of love.
Our capacity for compassion is born here.
Just continuing to use the breath as an anchor.
Just allowing thought and sensation and emotion to rise and fall,
To come and to go.
Keeping your attention on your breath,
Put it in an easy,
Restful way.
Letting it all be here,
Keeping it held in a container of kindness.
Letting it all be here,
Keeping it held in a container of kindness.
Letting it all be here,
Keeping it held in a container of kindness.
In these last few moments of practice,
See if you can open your awareness.
Open your attention.
Just receive.
Receive the body and the mind and the heart.
Just sensing the totality of your experience.
Just being.
Just resting.
Just being.
Just being.
Now bringing both hands.
A gesture of offering and prayer.
Dedicate the merit of this practice.
This courageous step on the path of turning toward our experience and staying with it.
Even when our heart trembles.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be free.
Namaste.
