Hello friends,
This is David.
We can begin today's meditation by taking three slow deep breaths,
Finding a sense of expansion on the inhale,
A sense of relaxation on the exhale,
Bringing a softening to different muscles of the body,
Places like the forehead or jaw,
The shoulders,
The tummy,
The pelvis,
Letting all those parts of the body soften,
Relax,
Just rest into gravity.
And if it would help with the settling and grounding process,
You could bring your mindfulness to a gentle anchor,
Something like the feel of the body on the outside surfaces,
The breath or sounds,
Or you could practice mindfulness without an anchor,
Just more of a natural restful awareness.
In today's meditation,
We'll be practicing with a quote from Sayadaw Uthayjaniya that says,
Acknowledge and observe whatever happens,
Whether pleasant or unpleasant,
In a relaxed way.
And in the spirit of that quote,
We take on the perspective of a naturalist,
One who observes nature without judgment or opinion,
Just like watching a bird go up and down,
Flap its wings.
We see things neutrally.
Whatever is happening is just what's happening.
Seeing the whole range of sensations,
Feelings,
Thoughts,
Sounds,
Not looking at any of them as a problem,
Just nature coming and going,
Relaxed.
Acknowledge and observe whatever happens,
Whether pleasant or unpleasant,
In a relaxed way.
We relax any tension or contraction we notice in our bodies.
We relax our minds,
The need or desire for things to be other than they are,
Deeply relaxing into whatever is here,
Whether pleasant or unpleasant.
And to ingrain this perspective of the naturalist even more deeply,
We'll try out a labeling technique,
Where we can open our awareness to the whole field of this moment,
And label things that are happening.
For example,
It might go,
Sounds are happening,
Tension is happening,
Planning is happening,
Breathing is happening,
Tingling is happening,
Tiredness is happening.
And so,
Continue on in this way,
Just noticing different things that are happening,
And labeling them,
Not as good or bad,
Just what's happening.
Just continue to relax,
And see this is just what's happening right now.
No need to change it,
To make it go away,
Or to stay and last longer,
Not a problem.
Then you can drop away the labels,
And for the last couple minutes of this meditation,
Allow yourself to deeply relax your body,
Relax your mind,
Into the simple acknowledging,
Observing,
Whatever happens,
Pleasant or unpleasant,
In a relaxed way.
What's happening,
Is just what's happening,
Not a problem.
