Please prepare yourself for this practice of resting,
Quiet,
Calm meditation.
Allow your body to find the most comfortable and suitable seated position,
Either in a cushion on the floor.
It's always helpful to have a tall and open spine,
And so you can just grant yourself a few moments to arrive all the way down here into that body,
Becoming aware of the contact with the base of your body on the floor,
Gently lengthening through the spine,
The crown of the head,
Softening the belly,
Making a little space for the breath to flow evenly and smoothly.
And as the shoulders relax and the eyes gently close from the world,
Could you simply acknowledge in this moment that you're ready to practice the subtle art of meditation,
And that you're no longer engaged in the affairs of the world and for the next few minutes of your life.
You can just in your own natural way grant yourself permission to explore the internal world,
Free from the obligations and demands of the world out there.
If somebody said to you in this moment that you have complete permission just to simply stop,
To simply stop all the doing of your life and all the doing of your mind's activities,
Just for the next minute or so,
Could you sit with that idea,
Complete permission just to stop now?
So what do you find as you give yourself this permission to stop?
Maybe you discover that nothing ever really stops,
Because you can notice the breath still flowing,
The heart still beating,
The sensations changing,
Thoughts moving,
And yet what you may give yourself permission to stop is that subtle chasing after experience.
So for the next few moments,
Can you give yourself permission to simply stop chasing after experience?
Notice the changing experiences in your body,
Your breath,
And your mind,
And what would it be like to not make anything more of this than what it simply is?
Permission to stop chasing any experience.
You may ask yourself now,
Well,
If I'm not the part that's chasing experiences,
Could I explore resting as the part of me that merely welcomes experience?
And what do you find in yourself as the difference between these two qualities of chasing,
Or as you are right now,
Merely welcoming the body,
The feelings,
The breath,
The thoughts,
The sounds,
The senses,
The past,
The future,
The present?
What is it like to simply be the part of you who welcomes it all?
And when you can sense that tangible shift in energy from chasing to welcoming,
I'm sure you can begin to also notice now just the simple nature of what's here in this moment as this welcoming energy,
Just a naturally occurring awareness,
Naturally settled,
Quietly attentive,
And yet somehow vast and expansive,
Naturally occurring presence,
Because you're aware of welcoming.
And this welcoming awareness may even seem boundless,
Somehow timeless,
Somehow even perhaps pure.
So for a final few moments,
All the varied perceptions arising in this moment,
Included and contained as this vast,
Open,
Welcoming awareness,
What would it be like finally to give yourself the permission that nothing need be done about any of these perceptions?
Because it's all simply here.
It's all simply you.
And in this vastness,
It's all simply free.
Meditation is the most wonderful and simple experience of a human life,
Whether eyes closed,
Eyes open,
Removed or within the world,
A simple,
Short moment,
Welcoming awareness,
Vast and inclusive.
I'm sure you can begin to experience more and more of these short moments in the days and weeks ahead.
Every short moment is freedom.
Every short moment is freedom.
Thank you.
