Allowing yourself to take a moment to find your seat.
Allowing your body to settle into that position that for you feels supportive of both being easeful,
Relaxed and at the same time allowing you to remain alert and attentive to the unfolding of this experience.
And of course our posture for meditation is really a metaphor for the attitude with which we approach meeting our experience as it is.
Open,
Steady but also curious and receptive.
Feeling a sense of dignity in the way we hold our postures helps us to meet the moment as it is.
Or in the words of Sylvia Borstein,
May I meet this moment fully,
May I meet it as a friend.
Just sensing into the body,
Sensing into sensation,
Sensing into the contact between the body and the chair and where the ground meets the feet,
Supporting you.
And as you're aware of the body,
Just beginning to become aware that the body is also breathing.
And allowing attention to rest gently on the sensations and movement of the breath coming in and the breath going out.
Just letting the body breathe however it wants to breathe.
Just knowing that when we take this time to settle into this meditative experience,
Really allowing all of the Dharma to reveal itself to us and the very ordinary experiences of being with this body exactly as it is and this heart and this mind,
It's all here.
Nothing special to be looking for.
Just being open to all the comings and goings of experience rising moving,
Passing away.
We can experience the Dharma in the comings and goings of sensations in the body,
The coming and going of the breath,
All the comings and goings in the mind,
The thoughts,
Images,
And sounds,
Sights and tastes and smells.
We just meet each coming and going as attentively as we can and as best as we can,
Whether pleasant,
Unpleasant or neutral,
Meeting it as a friend.
We might often hear that meditation is quite an effortless experience,
But that's not strictly true.
We could say that in meditation we effort less,
Just enough effort to notice experiences coming and going,
Just enough effort to remain attentive and just to be aware and as different elements of experience rise up in awareness,
Whether that's a sensation,
A sound,
A sight,
A thought,
We can be attentive to the movement of that thing and also be aware that that object is being known in awareness,
This vast,
Expansive,
Spacious awareness that simply knows experience as it happens and yet isn't embroiled in it.
So maybe as best you can,
Seeing if it's possible just to acknowledge that quality of simply knowing what's being known.
Sensation arises and moves in the body,
Energy,
Sensation being known,
Held in awareness,
Present,
Clear,
Awake,
Hearing sounds,
Sounds being known,
Heard,
Just received by awareness,
Not needing to do anything or undo anything,
Just sounds being known and even with eyes closed we can know that the visual field is still very much working for us,
Movements of shadow,
Subtle shifts in light being known and if the mind becomes active,
Carrying you away into thoughts,
Daydreams,
Stories,
It's all okay,
Even thoughts about awareness or simply thoughts being known in awareness this vast,
Boundless,
Clear,
Awake,
Ever-present awareness and as we reflect on our experience in this way we may see that whatever's arising in awareness,
The object of awareness,
There is the thing that's being known,
There's the knowing of the thing and somehow there's a knower and all of it is contained within awareness itself,
Awareness not separate from what's being known but also not caught up in what's being known so just beginning to allow yourself to reconnect with the whole of your posture,
Feeling the sensations and aliveness of the body sitting here,
Feeling the breath,
Feeling the feet on the floor,
Contact of the body in the seat and as we prepare to bring the meditation to an end with the sound of three bells reminding ourselves of the good intentions that we have for ourselves and others,
May the merit of our practice be for the benefit of all beings,
May we all be happy,
May we all be peaceful in body and mind,
May we all live with ease.
