This independent practice,
And part of it is sort of a generation of this internal resource,
A happiness that is not dependent on the suffering of others,
So that in and of itself can be inspiring.
There's a resource,
A fountain,
We can come back to.
And if it's not particularly obvious,
It's a lot of the ancestral teachers have broken it down,
Making the body in and of itself a comfortable place to be,
Let the attention fill this body.
Is there any way we can adjust,
Let the shoulders relax,
Open out through the ribcage so the breath can come and go with ease.
As the body is becoming more still,
In the center we have this rising and falling breath.
Where do you feel the breath the most?
Where can the attention sort of rest in that sensation,
Or does it feel comfortable for the awareness to be with the breath?
You know,
For the time being,
Letting that be sort of the curl of the wave,
The place,
The pocket to come back to.
There's no requirement to let that always be the same place,
It could change.
Just finding a place for the moment,
And in that place observing each moment of the rising breath and the falling breath.
Aware of the breath being long or short,
Shallow or deep,
Just knowing,
Knowing the breath.
Remember this is from a place of comfort,
Abiding in this place.
Just like the relative stillness of the body brings the breath into focus,
And placing our attention in one place,
Making it still,
Making it inhabit one place,
Sort of brings the energy and movement of the breath,
You know,
Even into more focus.
You know,
Even into more focus,
We might now notice that
what we originally perceived as,
You know,
Kind of this obvious place of breath sensation,
It's much more dynamic,
Can really pin down where the sensations begin and end,
Their move and swirl.
So letting this idea break down the barrier of where we're perceiving the breath and open up into
widening circles of sensation.
In the same way we inhabited the small area of breath in a comfortable way,
Finding ease there,
Let those sensations spread throughout the body in that same manner.
Feel how the breath is refreshing,
Nourishing.
Feel how the breath is refreshing,
Nourishing.
You can strengthen the attention by recalling the practice of goodwill,
Purpose for being here,
The wish for well-being,
By returning again and again to breath and expanding to the whole body.
The idea of breath becomes almost more of a metaphor for this energetic aspect of this being.
With the eyes closed,
The mind still,
A swirl of sensation,
Various patterns,
Waves.
The rising and falling breath is one wave,
Waves of blood,
Lymph.
The nervous system,
Each cell,
Some being born and dying very quickly,
Some living a long time.
Something in the center,
Sort of riding through it all,
All this change,
All this fluctuation,
Energy,
Patterns.
Something consistent,
Resilient.
You might recall that one of the aspects that we can change,
We,
You know,
Are extending this
riding the wave metaphor.
While we can't control the breath completely,
We do have some ability to
adjust it.
So I sometimes will say,
Take a few deeper than usual breaths,
So you find yourselves in the midst of a meditation,
This one or another one,
And it's
quote-unquote not working.
How are you breathing?
You played with the breath,
You know,
Infinite combinations,
How to play with the breath,
How to visualize it.
Is it like a mist,
Or like light,
Or like fire,
Moving in and out of the body,
Around the body,
To each cell?
You can feel free to allow our imagination to run wild in this way,
Knowing,
You know,
From the beginning,
We are aware we've set aside this practice to
create this happiness from within,
Not taking from anything from the outside.
So feel free,
Explore,
Have fun.
We might even be building a kind of internal fountain of energy that we can
share with people on the outside,
Not only not taking,
But giving.
Think of the possibility of our encounter with the breath being
our encounter with the breath being,
You know,
Exquisite,
Being like,
You know,
Tasting gourmet food or
seeing,
You know,
The most beautiful mountain sunset.
It really can be like that.
It's just as much a part of nature as a
beautiful sunset or the ocean,
The moon and sun.
