Welcome.
My name is Mark and I'm honored to be sharing this practice with you.
This practice is suitable for everyone,
Both beginners all the way to experienced meditators.
Our human experience is characterized by change,
By movement.
It may seem as if we are always coming and going.
Our responsibilities,
Our commitments,
Our leisure push us forward in what seems like perpetual motion.
Within our body the breath begins and ends.
Thoughts come and go,
Emotions come and go.
Just as we become aware of the sensation and experience,
It changes.
There's no stopping it.
But amidst the movement of a busy life,
There's a stillness we can always access.
If we are to find stillness,
We must first be aware of the moment.
So I invite you to find a comfortable posture.
One that supports stability,
But also flexibility.
The back is upright but not rigid.
Your hands may rest on your thighs or in your lap.
And you might let your eyes close or cast them downward.
Simply breathe naturally and observe.
You might bring your awareness to movement in your body.
Gently sweeping through the body and noticing any sensations of movement.
Sensing the air as it enters and exits the nostrils.
Sensing the rise and fall of the shoulders and chest with each breath.
Bringing a gentle awareness to the abdomen or belly as it expands with each inhale and contracts with each exhale.
Feeling the movement of the breath.
Not trying to change it or make it a certain way.
Just noticing the movement and allowing it.
Sensing the inhale and the exhale.
And we use this breath as the anchor of our awareness.
As the mind becomes distracted,
Just notice that and return back to the sensation of breath,
Of movement.
No need to judge,
It's just how the mind works.
Observing this breath with the care and attention.
The beginning of the breath.
The pause between the inhale and the exhale.
The release and softening with the out breath and the stillness at the end of each breath.
This breath,
This movement goes on without any real effort on our part.
We just observe.
And now you might release this focus on the breath,
On the movement in the body.
And moving now to the area of the hands.
Feeling the sensation of the hands and fingers as they touch each other or our clothing.
Feeling the air as it flows over the hands.
Can you feel or imagine the space inside the hands?
Inside the fingers?
And can you sense a stillness in this space?
Now allowing the stillness in the hands to be the anchor of your attention.
Feeling into the hands and each finger.
Letting your attention rest here.
And when the mind wanders,
Gently guiding it back to this stillness.
This stillness brings us back to the present moment.
The only moment we truly have.
And if you like,
You might let this sensation of stillness expand.
Including your wrists or forearms.
Your legs,
Your feet.
Feeling the stillness in your body.
This stillness exists amidst the movement in the body.
And now allowing the stillness and the movement to come together.
Expanding your awareness to include your whole body,
Your whole being.
Encompassing your full experience.
There is movement.
There is stillness.
And take this time to rest in presence.
There's nowhere to go.
Nothing to do.
Just be with your experience.
And as the meditation concludes,
You might take a moment to note what may have shifted or changed.
Knowing that you can come back to the movement and stillness anytime,
Anyplace.
There's retreat.
