You Are The Tree Of Life

So let's close our eyes.

And as ever,

We're going to start with the beginning and the end of it all,

Which is being aware of awareness,

Aware of the consciousness,

The background awareness that's listening to my voice.

So it's that which picks up everything.

It's the sky consciousness.

It's the background receiver.

So there's just this witnessing,

This witness,

Witness with like a capital W,

That's listening to me,

That's sensing your body,

That hears the sounds in the room,

That's receiving the frequency of sound as I speak,

And you don't have to do anything for that.

It's not even you as a separate self.

It's pure consciousness that is shared by everyone and everything.

So it's the same witness looking out through this body and that body,

The computer in front of you,

The plants in your room,

The animals,

Everyone.

One consciousness.

So it's not your consciousness.

It's not my consciousness.

It's the consciousness,

The awareness.

And that awareness is pure and relaxed.

It doesn't have an agenda.

So just being aware of that.

Now it's aware of everything.

What we want to do is make sure this awareness is aware of this body,

Especially.

That this body,

This person,

This avatar you are for the time being,

That this one is the center of your universe,

That you are most attentive as awareness to this one.

So we'll be diving into the body.

But for now,

Let's notice how this consciousness,

Pure receiving consciousness,

Already permeates the whole body,

The whole room and beyond.

So down into the earth and up into the sky and out into the street,

Look for yourself as awareness,

As that which is witnessing and feeling everything,

The receiving consciousness.

Is there anywhere it isn't?

Can you find the edge to it?

You who's looking,

You who's exploring.

Can you find an edge to yourself?

Or do you notice it's in the room,

It's in the body,

It's down into the ground,

It even goes down into the center of the earth and beyond.

It goes up into the sky and beyond.

It's above the clouds.

There's nowhere it isn't.

It's just that it's relatively centered in this body for this lifetime,

That's all.

There's kind of a magnetizing of it to this body.

But look and see and feel for yourself,

There's nowhere it isn't.

And notice that there's parts of the body that are more or less inhabited,

More or less awareness in them,

That you feel a little distanced from areas of the body.

I'm going to take us into the body and no matter what happens,

It's safe.

So if there's pain,

If you kind of get bounced out of your body,

Your mind gets really chatty and you pay attention to thoughts for a while,

It's all totally fine.

In fact,

The more chatty your mind gets,

The more you know you're onto something.

It's as if there's like a treasure trove there.

So we're in your solar plexus,

For example,

And you get distracted.

It's like,

Oh,

That solar plexus,

There's something really good there.

There's a wound there.

There's a knot there.

That's actually asking for attention.

It's just used to distracting.

It's used to bouncing us out as a safety mechanism.

But you can know for sure that it's safe to go in there.

So whatever your mind says about going into the body and whatever we find,

It's all lies.

Every sensation is safe.

There is not a sensation that is not safe.

It's just sensation.

And consciousness is A-OK with it all.

Pure awareness is fine.

No matter the sensation,

It's welcome.

And all we're going to do is take this pure,

Endless awareness,

That which is hearing my voice,

That background consciousness,

And move it through the body so that the whole body is witnessed.

The whole body is felt.

The whole body is honored.

We have been in the habit of dishonoring our body.

We were taught that very carefully,

To dishonor this natural being.

So we are naturally awakening.

We are naturally fulfilling ourselves.

We are naturally returning to our center here.

OK.

So let's just feel the chest move.

Feel the chest and the belly move with the breath.

So so simple.

You're just feeling your body.

Feel what it's doing for itself.

What this body naturally does.

And actually sense the body.

Sense fully inside the chest.

So sense the ribcage.

Sense the skin of the ribcage,

Around the ribcage.

Sense the lungs filling.

Feel the sternum and behind the sternum on your way inside the heart itself.

Let the lungs fill themselves fully.

Do not drive this car.

Let go of the wheel entirely.

The only one grabbing a wheel in life is a concept of a self who's controlling this body.

But there isn't a controller in here.

We want to let the body to leave it to its own devices.

Let them be.

Let the body be.

And simply enjoy the body.

Savor the body.

Feel the body.

So feeling all through your spine.

Feel energy running through your spine.

Feel inside the vertebrae themselves.

Feel the cartilage.

Feel your shoulder blades.

Feel into every single corner of the chest and down into the solar plexus,

Right under the ribcage,

That diaphragm area.

Let it all be so relaxed that it's out of control now.

Let your whole chest be out of control.

And feel into those pockets that are a little painful,

That are a little knotted.

Is it your shoulder blades?

Is it the heart?

Are your lungs kind of achy?

Every little bit of pain or nodding is an invitation to come closer.

That's all pain is.

It's an invitation for you,

Pure awareness,

To come closer.

So go closer.

When you start attending to your body,

The body will invite you closer and closer.

Like a little child who's finally getting attention,

They'll keep talking.

They want to have a cuddle.

They want you to come close,

Close.

So come closer.

Let's feel into the belly.

Everywhere there's a little knot,

Everywhere there's a tightness,

Everywhere there's an ache,

There's so many organs,

Chock a block full of organs here in our bellies,

Up into our diaphragm.

Each one has a signature.

Each one has been through it.

So feel into your belly with this sweet,

Loving,

Yet also firm and insistent awareness.

Your awareness,

Pure consciousness,

Doesn't back away.

It doesn't back away.

It's just going to be your mind that would back away from any sensation in this body.

But awareness itself goes right in.

I've been saying lately,

Like it's a burning building,

The whole belly,

Wherever you feel something and coming down into the lower belly as well,

Near the belly button,

The intestines.

No matter what you find in the whole belly,

In the mid-back,

In the spine,

Awareness,

You,

You want to go right in and touch into every little sensation there.

Let the belly be so soft and relaxed.

The whole chest and the whole belly,

The whole back and front and sides,

Softening like a baby in the arms of the most loving parent,

You.

You would never,

Ever harm this one,

Ever.

Awareness doesn't do any harm.

Pure consciousness doesn't do any harm.

Every sensation you feel,

To you,

You want to come closer.

All of it's an invitation.

None of it is a stop sign.

So let's feel your whole chest and your whole belly.

Feel like you're deeply,

Deeply inhabiting both.

All the way up to the tops of your shoulders,

Inside your shoulder blades,

Inside the shoulder joints and under the collarbone and the whole top of the chest and throughout the whole lungs,

The top of the spine,

And then down,

Down,

Down the spine,

All through the chest,

All through the diaphragm,

The whole belly,

And starting to come down to the lower back and into the pelvis.

Let the whole torso soften in your arms.

And interestingly,

The more relaxed,

The stronger you are,

The more resilient the body becomes.

Soft equals strong.

Relaxed equals resilient.

And remember,

If your body wants to breathe out deep,

Deep,

Releasing breaths,

Or you feel like moving your torso around,

Just let that happen.

No problem.

No problem.

And let's really feel like we're taking our seat inside the pelvis.

So really feel that pelvic girdle,

The hip joints and the hip bones,

The sit bones.

Feel like you're really inside your pelvis,

The bones themselves.

You can feel your bones.

Just feel in your bones.

They're also made of consciousness.

They're also just made of light.

There's nothing here that's actually solid.

In consciousness,

You can just go right in.

You're already in there.

We're just being more aware of it.

It's like a room in the house you don't visit much.

Still in the house.

So just go into the pelvis.

Go right into this room in the house and soften it.

Let everything relax.

Feel that your sit bones themselves are so relaxed.

Feel your tailbone be totally open and relaxed.

Feel your sexual organs be totally open and relaxed.

Feel the pubic bone,

Totally open and relaxed.

The whole bowl of the pelvis,

Open and relaxed.

And wherever there is sharp pain,

Dull pain,

Knottedness,

Fogginess,

Or kind of a dead zone,

Let each of those sensations be an invitation to come closer.

Because that's what they are.

Feel your breath go all the way into your pelvis.

Feel like your pelvis itself is breathing.

The breath is initiated in the pelvis.

Because it's actually true.

The whole body is breathing.

It's in cycles.

Everything's moving in and out of the cells.

Everything's getting replenished.

The whole body moves in waves like it's breathing.

It is breathing.

So let your pelvis breathe.

Again,

We're just letting the body be the body.

Just do itself.

You don't have to drive it.

Hold any part of your pelvis.

Release it entirely.

Surrender it.

And when we're in the pelvis,

You're surrendering it to the earth.

You can surrender the whole body to the earth.

You're just opening out the bottom of the pelvis,

Out the tailbone,

Out the pubic bone,

Opening down into the ground.

There is an enormous energetic cord going all the way out down through the pelvis and the tailbone and spreading out down into the earth like mycelia.

Notice here,

From pure witness,

No separation.

There are your sit bones.

There is your tailbone.

You can feel it inside the pelvis.

Now go through the skin,

Through the chair,

Down into the floor,

Down into the ground and beyond.

There's no line there.

There's no separation there.

You've never been separate.

You'll never be separated.

You'll never be separate.

You're being operated by life with a capital L.

And you're handing the wheel over now.

And it's so much nicer to get out of the driver's seat,

To let go of the wheel.

Life steers us much better.

Letting your pelvis dissolve and relax and surrender down into the ground and then let yourself feel from inside the pelvis into the legs,

Upper thighs.

Let those thighs be super soft.

The bones of the thighs,

Those big bones.

Let them turn to air.

Feel down into your knees.

Feel the bottoms of the thighs.

Again,

Touching whatever they're touching.

Maybe there's warmth there.

There's sensation.

But there isn't a hard line.

You'd have to go up to your head and manufacture one.

But from direct awareness,

All there is is a sensation of relative warmth.

Don't know anything.

Be unaware of anything other than this direct sensation.

You don't know anything else.

Knowing,

Gnosis,

Is a direct knowing.

It's not mental.

That comes later.

Feel yourself.

Feel into the thighs.

Feel into the knees.

Feel into the lower legs.

And feel how connected they are with the air in the room.

Feel how the muscles have these tissues that wrap around the bones and it's all one.

That's connected to the skin.

Connected to the blood.

Connected to the nervous system.

Feel all of that in your calf muscles and shin bones.

As you're in the lower body,

You might feel releases in the top of the body,

Through your head or all throughout because everything's connected.

You open up a meridian in your shin bone.

And it opens out your top of your head.

This quote-unquote meditation is not unlike house cleaning.

Not unlike cleaning a river bed and then the rest of the river is better for it.

Because,

Of course,

The river is connected to the ocean,

Is connected to everything.

So,

Feeling into your ankles now and into your feet.

Feel your arches and your bones of your feet and the skin of the feet and the toenails.

And in between your toes and the pads of your feet.

And let your feet be so,

So relaxed.

They've never been more relaxed.

Open,

Open,

Open,

Open,

Open.

Let your feet open.

Like roots of a tree.

That's how they can pull those nutrients up.

With no effort.

The nutrients just start to come up through the feet.

But you have to let them be open.

Not curled up.

Like atrophied roots.

So,

Let them open and let that energetic stream go downward.

Down through your feet.

Down,

Down,

Down into the earth.

And out,

Out,

Out.

Very good.

Keep those feet and that tailbone nice and open and spread all the way out.

Down into the earth.

Mother Earth herself is supporting you entirely.

She is nurturing you.

She is nourishing you.

She is flooding you.

With earth energy.

You've got to just open your feet.

Open your tailbone.

Open your legs enough to receive a little more.

Good.

Let's go to the top of the shoulders.

And into the arms.

Feel into the upper arms.

Same thing here.

These are the branches.

These are the branches.

And you don't have to hold them out.

They're already full of earth energy.

Maybe you feel some achiness in your arms or in your shoulders.

Pour awareness through there.

Pour your own attentiveness through there.

Wherever there's a little bit of an ache,

That's right where to go.

Go right in.

Go right in.

Don't hesitate.

Don't believe one thought about it.

Anywhere in your body there's an ache or a dullness or a cloudiness,

Go right in.

Go right in.

You wouldn't hesitate if it was somebody you loved.

Your pet,

Your child,

Your loved one.

Just go right in.

And this one is your beloved.

This body,

This being is your number one priority.

Number one,

Always.

Go right in.

Let's feel down into your elbows and into your lower arms.

Into your wrists and your hands and your fingers and your fingertips.

Let those hands be nice and soft and open.

Let them be more relaxed than they've ever been.

And in that relaxation,

Notice the resilience.

Notice the strength.

Notice the vibrancy of your hands and of your arms.

The more released you are,

The more strength you have.

Good.

Let's come up to the neck.

Feel from inside the upper chest up into the neck.

Feel into the spine.

Wrap around the spine all that attention coming into the throat.

Let your neck stretch and move if it would want to,

If it wants to.

Let the throat open right up.

Open right up.

Like you're a songbird.

Just open it up.

All the channel through the throat,

Through the top of the chest,

Down into the lungs.

Completely open.

Voice,

Completely open.

Out the back of the spine,

Completely open.

And if there's a pocket of ache,

Pain,

Go right in.

Open it up.

Don't hesitate.

Don't think about it.

Just inhabit your neck.

Inhabit the back of the neck.

Inhabit in between the vertebrae.

Inhabit the cartilage.

Feel that your neck is completely merged with the skin around it and the room itself,

The air in the room.

And then from there,

Feel up into the base of the head where the neck meets the back of the brain,

The spine,

That brainstem area.

Go right in.

And open it up like a door flying open.

No need to hesitate.

No need to be cautious.

There's nothing harmful here.

Pure awareness is only medicine.

It's just medicine,

So just go right in.

You don't need to be cautious anymore.

It's just a story.

You're going to find something scary inside yourself.

So feel the back of the head really open.

Come into the back of the brain,

Inside this brainstem there.

It often holds a lot of tension,

So feel free to stretch your neck.

And just open it right up.

And then from the back of the head,

Come in a little bit so that you're following the line from the spine up,

Up,

Up through the top of the head.

There's a line of energy,

A cord of energy going up,

Up,

Up,

Up,

Up.

Feel that and feel it way above your head as well.

These are those top branches of the tree.

And the tree is very tall.

It's enormous.

So feel that branch going way up,

Like a mile up into the sky.

So feel that branch going way,

Way,

Way up through the crown chakra,

Through the top of the head.

And at the same time,

Let's feel through the tailbone and the feet those roots that go a mile down into the ground.

And then like a fountain out the top of the head and a fountain out the bottom,

That fountain spreads out,

Right?

It goes up and then out.

So it goes vertical and then it goes horizontal.

It makes an arc outward.

So feel that.

Feel that through the top of the head,

Branches of the tree,

And then through the tailbone,

The roots of the tree.

And the heart,

The heart,

The center of the body is that trunk of the tree.

So you're feeling through the skull,

Feel all the way through the brain,

Feel out the front of the brain,

Front of the skull.

That's also a fountain out that way.

That's also tree branches going out that way,

Out the back of the head.

And whatever you like,

Tree branches and roots,

Antenna.

We are energetic,

Vibrant,

Amazing,

Rich creatures after all.

Completely connected to everything around us.

Feeling through the forehead,

Through the eyes,

Through the eye sockets and eyebrows.

And that third eye between the brows that goes right into the center of the head and all the way out the back of the head.

The third eye as an object is the pineal gland in the middle of the head.

So just feel deep,

Deep behind the eyes.

Feel the center of your head there.

No need to do anything other than feel it.

And then feel again through the front of the face.

So from behind the cheeks and behind the nose,

Through the nose,

Through the skin,

Through the cheekbones.

Feel the jaw relax,

Feel the teeth relax,

The roof of the mouth relax,

The sinuses relax.

The whole face.

More relaxed and soft than it's ever been.

The hinge of the jaw relax,

The teeth,

The tongue,

The chin.

Stop forming your face.

Let it all collapse.

Let the mask just slip completely off.

Hold not one muscle of your face.

See what happens.

Let the ears soften.

Don't have to brace your ears.

Let the ear canals open.

We've been bracing our face,

Our ears,

Our sensations,

Our bodies for so long.

Afraid of impact.

There's no need.

There's no need.

There will be impact,

But the more open the body is,

That energy from anything just moves right through you.

The more we brace,

The more it sticks.

So to unravel ourselves is to be much more strong,

Resilient,

Safe,

Open,

Loving,

At ease,

And healthy,

Frankly.

So the whole face relax,

The whole top of the head open,

The whole back of the head open.

Feeling like this enormous tree,

Blooming on every level.

Trunk of the tree,

Rich with so many layers,

Healthy.

The top,

The branches,

Flourishing in all directions,

360 degrees around.

The roots through the pelvis and legs and beyond.

Very healthy,

Widely distributed,

As open as the top of the body.

So feel the whole body,

The whole tree,

All at once.

And feel how these leaves at the ends of the branches pick up the sunshine.

They pick up everything.

They're little receivers.

The whole body,

Everything's just a receiver.

It's just receiving,

And you,

Pure awareness,

Are receiving it all.

Just chilling,

Reclined,

Relaxed,

As this body receives an enormous amount of beautiful sensation,

Information,

Knowingness,

Insight.

Let the whole back body be open,

The spine open,

The back of the head open,

The tailbone open.

The back body often isn't as open as the front,

But it's just the other side of the tree.

So it's as open,

Let it be as open as the front.

The tailbone open,

The backs of the legs open.

Feel how the branches blend with the air,

Blend with the sun.

That your energetic branches are made of sunshine,

Made of air.

Again,

Let awareness float through your whole body,

And notice there is no separation here.

Feel the whole trunk of yourself.

Feel how it is completely merged with the chair.

Like a tree,

Even if there's knots,

Those knots are part of the tree.

They're not separate.

So there's a knot in your belly,

Think of it like,

Feel it,

Like a knot in the tree.

There's just a swirl of energy there,

But it's not any separate part,

It's not a problem.

A knot in a tree is not a problem.

In fact,

It's just where a branch either grew or would grow.

That's all.

Feel how the roots blend with the soil of the earth.

Feel how the whole earth,

This enormous rock,

This enormous swirling gas,

This enormous field,

This enormous rich soil.

The whole earth,

The whole earth is the soil you are planted in.

And she's holding you up,

Vaulting you,

Raising you.

She's your mother and she raised you.

You come out of her soil.

Feel it all,

Feel the whole earth through your feet,

Through your bottom half.

Feel the whole sky,

All of space,

All of the air,

All of the sunshine through your upper half.

Feel how they meet in the middle and swirl.

And you don't have to do anything.

You don't have to make yourself into a tree.

You don't even have to reach for the soil or reach for the sky.

You don't have to effort.

Feel it 360 degrees around,

Blooming out every side of yourself.

And feel how you are the sky.

This awareness just goes totally in the body and then beyond.

All those branches just merge with the sky.

The trunk of the tree merges with the air,

With the wind.

The lower part of the tree,

Your pelvis and legs just merge with the soil.

Merge with the core of the earth.

Let's take our time,

Slowly opening your eyes.

But as you open your eyes,

Notice you're still a tree.

Everything's still connected.

It may optically look like there's a screen in front of you.

And that that's a separate thing.

But feel it.

Feel how consciousness goes right into the screen too.

Or through the walls or out into the street.

And it's still behind you and through your back body.

Nothing's separated.

It's all just optics.