Introduction To Chanting Meditation #1 Posture 1

Meditation starts with posture and being aware of our body in space.

Posture comes down to one simple idea,

Opening your chest and belly to make it easier to breathe.

So today,

Sit or lie as straight as you can with the minimum amount of effort,

With no pain or discomfort,

Making the front of your body as long as the back.

In other words,

No slumping.

The posture of meditation depends on three attributes,

Alignment,

Relaxation,

And resilience.

Each of these is equally important and supports the other.

They apply whether you're sitting cross-legged on the floor,

Kneeling on a bench,

On a cushion,

In a chair,

Even lying down.

And perhaps you remember the joy as a child playing with building blocks.

If the blocks are placed one directly on top of the other,

The pile remains standing.

If the blocks don't,

The pile gets wobbly and falls over.

These very same principles of alignment apply to our body.

And the building blocks of the human body are our feet,

Legs,

Pelvis,

Abdomen,

Back,

Chest,

Neck,

Shoulders,

And head.

If these segments are stacked one directly on top of another,

Our body will be able to sit and stand in a balanced,

Relaxed way,

A posture of ease.

And a balanced posture requires very little effort to sustain,

Allows the major muscles of the body to relax.

This relatively small expenditure of energy,

Coupled with the relaxation,

Produces a distinct feeling of softness,

Ease,

And flow.

It also generates a natural condition of alert awareness.

Alignment opens our bodies so that our breath,

Blood,

And energy can flow without restriction.

So that gravity,

Rather than being a burden and a weight,

We struggle and fight against,

Can instead flow through us,

Energizing us.

When we are aligned in our bodies,

Natural healing is at its most effective.

And alignment is the first step to developing mental posture of equanimity.

Okay,

Let's begin.

Coming now to sit.

Entering into your meditation.

Setting your intention to be here,

Present,

And alert.

Begin to sit.

By taking a few moments to find a comfortable meditation posture.

One in which your body feels supported and can relax.

Sitting or kneeling on a cushion on the floor or in a chair.

If you choose to sit on a chair,

Sit with your back away from the back of the chair so your back is self-supporting and your feet flat on the floor.

Hands resting comfortably on your thighs or in your lap.

Sitting as tall as you can with the least amount of effort.

Your posture embodies a sense of dignity and presence.

Begin with three deep,

Calming breaths.

Breathing in fully through your nose.

And breathing out slowly and completely through your mouth.

Making a soft,

Sighing sound like a gentle breeze moving through the leaves of a tree.

Gently pulling your belly button back towards your spine.

Exhaling all the air in your lungs.

With each out breath,

Softening your forehead,

Eyes,

Cheeks,

Jaw,

Mouth,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Arms,

Hands.

Loosening your chest muscles.

Relaxing your lower back.

Releasing your lower belly,

Groin,

And pelvis,

Legs,

And feet.

Bringing your awareness to your posture.

Examining the sensations in your body generated by your posture.

How comfortable and supported do you feel in this posture?

Are there regions of the body that feel as though they have to tense,

Brace,

Work hard to maintain this posture's uprightness?

See if you can locate and identify these regions if they do,

In fact,

Exist.

Over time,

We become accustomed to our body's holding and tension.

We become used to it and consider them normal feelings.

Examining these regions calmly and slowly.

Examining these regions calmly and slowly without any judgment or criticism.

If you do find any regions of holding,

Bracing,

Or tension that might be present,

In your mind's eye,

Imagine your breath flowing into these areas,

Bathing them,

And then as you breathe out,

Relaxing the tension by imagining the tension melting away into the floor,

Layer by layer,

Breath by breath.

Releasing the tension with an acknowledgment that it no longer serves you.

You can let it go.

As you do this,

Notice what happens to your posture as you begin to relax and calm your body.

Now bring your awareness to the relationship between the height of your hips and the height and the height of your knees.

Your hips should be slightly higher than your knees.

If you need,

Try putting a pillow or two under your seat to slightly raise your hips.

Taking as much time as you need to find this adjustment and if you're sitting in a chair and your feet are dangling,

Not quite touching the floor,

Try putting a cushion under your feet so they are supported and stable.

Once you have created a stable base of support for your hips,

Knees,

And feet,

Bring your attention to your torso,

Visualizing the major bodily segments of your torso,

Pelvis,

Abdomen,

Lower back,

Chest,

Upper back,

Shoulders,

Neck,

And head.

Neck and head.

Each one of these regions connects in a grouping of interdependent building blocks.

An adjustment to one of them affects all the rest.

Visualize these segments of your upper body stacked comfortably and efficiently,

One on top of the other,

Like children's building blocks.

Let the feelings and sensations of your body initiate and guide the rest.

Any subtle readjustment that you need to make,

Alignment has a distinct feeling of rightness and buoyancy to it.

Alignment is completely natural and comfortable.

An alignment is not fixed or static.

It can and will change over time and even during a single session of meditation.

Part of our awareness is always monitoring this delicate balance is always monitoring this delicate balance between effort and ease,

Making any micro adjustments that we need to.

Let's go deeper into our exploration of our body's posture.

Slowly,

Gently,

Begin to move your upper body to the left,

Moving from your waistline,

Keeping your pelvis,

Hips fixed.

Move as far as possible without any straining.

As you do this,

Let your shoulders,

Arms,

And feet remain in a comfortable position.

When you have moved your upper body as far to the left as possible,

Slowly begin to reverse the direction of your movement,

Coming back to center and without stopping,

Continuing moving to the right.

Breathing easily and comfortably throughout the movement.

Keep moving left and right,

Side to side in a smooth undulating manner,

Exploring the limits of your body's range of motion.

Observe the feelings and sensations this movement generates in the body.

Perhaps you detect an intensification of sensations as the body moves side to side,

And then the sensations lessening as you cross your center line.

Now begin to decrease the range of your left,

Right movements,

Right movements,

Paying ever more attention to the subtle lightening of sensations that occurs in the center of this movement.

Let the movements become smaller and smaller until they gradually come to a stop around this center-most point.

This center point is your body's unique vertical axis through which the force of gravity naturally flows,

And it possesses a distinct and quite recognizable feeling.

Now begin a slow,

Undulating,

Rocking movement of the spine,

Arching backward and then bending forward,

Again initiating this movement from the hips.

Explore the sensations as well as the quality of mind that occurs in this backwards-and-forwards position,

Being careful not to strain,

Letting your breath guide the movement and flow with the movements backward and forward.

Backward and forward,

Allowing your movements to be fluid and sinuous.

Gradually begin to decrease the range of movement backward and forward,

Your body's movement smaller and smaller,

Continuing to maintain the fluidity and coordination inherent in this undulating motion.

Gradually,

As your body's movement slows,

You will come to a place where the backward and forward movement ceases completely.

Observe the feeling in your body as you come to this place,

For once again you have brought your body into a much closer alignment with the imaginary vertical axis through which the force of gravity naturally flows.

The posture of meditation is not static,

One which we search to discover and then maintain.

It is rather a deeply organic process that will naturally involve and shift over time as your sense of balance and alignment becomes increasingly refined.

As you practice bringing your body into the condition of alignment,

Maintain your awareness on the ever-changing sensations of your body.

These feelings and sensations provide what you need to keep moving towards greater and greater alignment with the imaginary vertical axis.

Relaxation and flow.

From moment to moment,

This alignment and feeling may change.

Sometimes even spontaneous,

Involuntary adjustments occur.

They can appear in the form of a smooth or even a jerky movement.

Like a twitch.

Allow these adjustments yield to them.

This is one of the body's ways of becoming ever more balanced as you align yourself with the force of gravity.

If and when your mind wanders,

Which it will,

Because that's just what minds do,

Smile for noticing,

For it's completely natural and not a mistake or a problem.

And when you're ready,

Easing your attention back to breath and the sensations of gravity,

And the sensations of posture.

When the bell rings,

Easing your awareness from the sensations of breath to the sensations of sound and vibration.

And as you chant,

Keep observing your body and posture.

Observing the feeling of the sound resonating and vibrating throughout your whole body.

Nam-myoho-ren-ge-kyo.

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Now I am breathing out.

In.

Breathing in.

Aware of my whole body.

Breathing out.

Aware of my posture.

Body.

Posture.

Breathing in.

My body is aligned.

Breathing out.

My body is at ease.

Aligned.

Ease.

Slowly and gradually,

Beginning to emerge from your meditation.

Wiggling your toes and your fingers.

Releasing your meditation posture.

Moving your legs if you need to.

And taking a deep breath in and stretching your arms up high.

And as you breathe out,

Slowly lowering your arms.

Letting out a nice sigh.

Rubbing your legs.

And rocking side to side.

Bringing a bit of motion back into your body to wake it up slowly.

Reaching behind to your lower back.

Giving your lower back a massage.

Your lower back work really hard during the meditation.

Doing such a good job of aligning and supporting you.

Thanking your lower back.

Bringing your hands around to your belly.

And beginning to offer your verses of metta for yourself.

Beginning with repeating,

I am well.

And then hands over your heart.

Feeling the kindness,

Tenderness,

Compassion for yourself.

Repeating,

I am happy,

Loved,

And loving.

Crossing your arms and putting your hands on your opposite shoulders.

Giving yourself a hug.

And as you lightly stroke down your arm from shoulder to elbow,

Repeating to yourself,

I am safe.

At home.

In my body.

With my breath.

And then caressing your face.

Around your eyes.

Cheeks and jaw.

Over your head.

Through your hair.

Around the back of your neck.

Pausing there to give your neck and shoulders a massage.

Hands back to your heart.

And back to your belly.

Repeating,

I am peaceful and at ease.

And take a moment and take a moment to appreciate and be grateful for this gift of self-care that you gave yourself today.

With all the choices that you had,

You chose to do something good and healthy for yourself.

And coming together in community to share with each other.

And take these good feelings with you into the rest of your day,

Evening,

And week.

Now rubbing the palms of your hands together.

Warming them.

Lightly cupping them over your eyes.

With the next in-breath,

As you breathe in,

Opening your eyes into your hands.

And as you breathe out,

Slowly lowering your hands,

Returning your awareness to the room around you.

Thank you,

Everybody.