Practicing with spring energy.
Welcome everybody to this meditation practice.
In order to begin,
Let's get the body oriented safely to the space.
Use your eyes to look around you,
Allowing your eyes to look over edges and surfaces.
Looking downward,
Looking upward,
Noticing the feeling in this space in which you're occupying right now.
Allow the body to move in any way that might be helpful as we begin this practice.
You might find that it helps bring ease to your body to relax certain areas.
For example,
Allowing your spine to curve gently.
Or it might be helpful to you to roll your shoulders back to elongate and straighten up your body.
If you're lying down,
You might try moving your hands further away from your shoulders,
Finding a resting place that feels neutral,
Comfortable,
And accessible to you right now.
I invite you to close your eyes if that feels comfortable to you.
You may also use your eyes gently to gaze at something that is not distracting,
Softening the eyes,
Softening the eyelids.
Now coming more fully into this practice.
I invite you to notice what draws you into this practice right now.
You might have a word or an intention of being here,
Or something you would like to guide your practice.
Getting used to being in this practice right now,
Getting used to what it's like to feel here.
And at the very beginning of this practice,
I invite you to begin to cultivate a loving and accepting attitude,
To soften any harsh edges or judgmental thoughts,
Feelings.
You might notice even how you're carrying yourself into this meditation with assumptions or ideas about what makes a good meditation practice.
I invite you to remember that this is already practice enough,
You have arrived.
Allow the mind to rest with the body,
Just like resting on the thawed and fertile soil outside.
The ground of spring that is no longer frozen,
But also is just beginning to spring into life.
A ground that is between,
That holds potential.
I invite us now to let the mind rest right here with the ground of spring.
Notice how this ground of spring could be felt in the body as well.
Or can the body feel as well as the mind that it too is resting in the ground of spring?
Having a gentleness and an ease in this practice.
Just as the spring is already happening in the world around us,
We do not need to create a sense or force a certain kind of practice.
Can we simply allow ourselves to rest into the springtime?
May your thoughts be received kindly like a gentle rain.
These thoughts are neither good nor bad.
They are part of this world and part of your mind.
Starting here now with the ground of spring and the gentle rain.
Just as in our minds,
All is not one way or another,
Good or bad.
Spring too has its difficulties.
As you deepen into this practice,
You might notice difficulties in your own body,
Mind and heart.
This could be felt as tension or heaviness,
Sorrow.
I invite you to see if you can name any difficulties that you notice.
In just naming these things,
We can notice that they too are a part of this experience.
They might feel like the intensity of the thawing of the earth or the intensity of the swelling of rivers from the snow melt,
Something that feels too full or even scary.
They might feel uncomfortable like the awakening from hibernation.
And the practice now is just to simply notice and include the difficulties along with the ground of spring,
The gentle rain and your body,
Your presence right here in this meditation practice.
And the mind might get caught up in one element such as a thunderstorm feeling,
Something that distracts your mind like the birds chirping.
And these things can be included too knowing they are part of life.
Bringing attention back to the body now,
Allowing the springtime practice to be into the body as well,
To include this body as part of this earth and part of this earth practice.
Remembering this sense of loving,
Gentle awareness that can help facilitate ease and peace in your meditation practice.
Noticing that your awareness can hold everything inside of you just like the spring holds the moving clouds,
The growing grasses,
The spring holds rabbits appearing and disappearing into bushes,
The spring holds migrating birds,
Transforming landscapes.
The spring is always moving and changing.
And just like the spring,
We might be able to notice something that is holding the entirety of our moving and changing experience inside.
This is the trust of the mind.
This is the trust of springtime.
That no matter how much things change,
Something is patterned,
It's worthy and on track in its place.
As we begin now to get ready to close this practice,
I invite you to become more aware of the environment around you,
Possibly noticing anything that does feel like spring right now,
Whether that's the temperature of the air or a feeling in the body or even a certain look of the light.
Going forth today,
Remembering that our bodies and minds and hearts are working together with the energy of the springtime.
That's what spirit is about.
