Welcome to your practice for today.
It is my sincere wish that you can begin with an attitude of appreciation for yourself,
Showing up,
Appreciation for this opportunity to show up,
Grow,
To untangle.
I invite you to begin by laying down if you like,
Supine posture flat on your back,
Something supporting the knees,
Your feet flat on the floor if you like,
Hands at low belly,
Elbows in contact with your,
Something thin supporting the head.
While you settle into that posture,
Finding the right alignment until you are perfectly imperfect in it.
I want you to know I'm making this for you today out here in a rainforest with the Hoh River bumbling along right next to me.
Endless ferns,
Some of the world's tallest and the oldest spruce trees surrounding me.
The sun is just so in the sky and is shimmering off the water.
There's no one around or rather this place is very crowded,
Just not with humans.
As you lay on your back I invite you to think of the Earth's energy.
How the Earth is in a constant state of prolific giving and generosity.
Unbelievable life force literally bursting out of it.
That is the essence of this practice.
To become like the Earth and it's not that the Earth is never wrathful or fierce or assertive.
The Earth can also be the ultimate disciplinarian quite honestly.
But for this practice we are communing with the generosity that is the core of the Earth's essence.
The same Earth that I sit on is the Earth that you're lying on even if it's your apartment floor.
It's all the Earth's energy.
So see if you can begin breathing that into the body just a little.
Start in your feet and your toes.
Breathing resources and energy up from the Earth.
Breathing out to let the feet and toes relax.
Letting that spread to the calves and the shins.
Into the knees.
Into the thighs.
Into the pelvis and hips.
Paraneum.
Breathe in the Earth's energy.
Breathe out to let that energy resonate.
Let the body come undone really.
In the belly and the low back we do this.
You come into the solar plexus and mid-back.
We come into the heart space,
Shoulder blades,
Shoulder tops,
Every breath a communion.
And then into the arms,
Hands and fingers,
Inviting the Earth's energy up and in.
And exhaling to see what that's like.
It's a communion,
It's a surrendering,
It's an opening,
It's a resourcing.
And then into the head and the brow and the eyes,
The nose and the cheeks,
The mouth,
The chin,
The ears.
And then some moments to practice doing this with the whole body at once.
Feel the inhale in the whole body,
You feel the exhale in the whole body.
And then you feel the inhale in the whole body.
And then homing in,
Homing in the heart,
Narrowing in from the whole body and just being in the heart space,
Back of the heart.
Beginning to think of somebody that you love.
Love,
Admire,
Like,
Care about,
Identify with,
Something in this neighborhood doesn't have to be the perfect person.
Take a moment to find them.
When you land on your person,
See them as clearly as you can,
Every part of their face and body and being.
And you'll breathe in the words,
The loving kindness phrases and you'll breathe out the energy to them.
You can,
If it's not too much,
Think of breathing this up from the earth as you repeat the loving kindness phrase in your mind's eye and then breathing it out to them,
Breathing the earth's energy to them with the phrase,
With the breath,
Your being.
Let it be simple.
I wish for you to be happy.
I wish for you to be healthy.
I wish for you to feel safe.
And I want you to be free.
May you be free.
You can even picture them feeling free,
Seeing them receive this and feeling this from your face lighting up,
Your troubles falling away.
Take a few breaths,
Let them go.
And now we turn to you.
Can you picture yourself sitting inside of yourself or just reflect this internally,
Whichever works best for you.
Make it vivid,
Make it bright,
Make it real.
In breath,
The phrase,
Out breath,
The vibe,
The expression.
May I be happy.
I wish for myself to be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe.
Oh how I long to be free.
I deserve to be free.
Let go of practicing for yourself here.
And then you can turn your mind to somebody that is just sort of neutral in your life.
Usually called the stranger,
Could be a neighbor or a co-worker,
Family member you don't think of.
You're in your life but you don't really think about them.
Settle on your person,
See them as clearly as you can.
With the breath,
With the earth.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you feel safe.
And may you be free.
Okay,
Letting them go.
And now somebody you are having a complex time with.
Maybe it's somebody you scuffled with online recently.
Somebody that you really need to have a difficult conversation with.
You don't have to go to an enemy.
You don't have to look that far out.
Relationships and people are inherently complex.
Let's go to the energetic scuffle in your life.
For someone who's irritating you.
Then see them in high definition.
Take a seat right across from them and let yourself feel the true feelings.
And see if you can get into the self energy of this practice without pushing away those true feelings.
That's the idea.
So may you be happy.
May you feel healthy.
May you be safe.
And I wish for you to be free.
You're out of the hot seat so you can let go of this person.
Open up your mind to the world and places and the people where the suffering is so immense.
And as we repeat these phrases together,
Just let your mind shuffle around where the struggles are so real right now.
Let it go to different lands and to different people in your life and never met before.
Different creatures as we breathe with and resonate with.
May all beings everywhere be happy.
May all beings everywhere be healthy.
May all beings feel safe.
May all beings be free.
Keep the phrases going on your own now.
Thank you.
You The phrases fade out and linger into any feelings that have arisen here.
Feel them in the body.
Thank you for expressing your Buddha nature today.
And thank you for taking these steps towards Buddhahood.
It is a gift to us all.
May you carry this into whatever comes next today.
