The focused breath.
Wherever you are,
Sit up as straight as possible.
There's this fine balance between sitting up so straight that you're on the verge of statuesque and rigid.
Your body becomes like concrete and this other place of total suppleness,
Like you become sludge.
So when I say sit up straight,
I want you to find that perfect space somewhere in the middle of concrete and sludge.
This is more like arranging your bones in such a way that they act as though they are scaffolding for the soft tissue of your body.
Just as the scaffolding for a high-rise building would support all of the texturous material around it.
So you find this space,
This upright posture of yours,
And then you come to stillness.
It may feel difficult,
But for the remainder of our time together,
I want you to practice complete stillness.
There will be tendencies to move or fidget.
Maybe you'll have an itch that you just can't resist scratching.
This happens to everyone.
So the effort is in trying and repeating that effort again and again and again.
And one day you'll get it and the next day you won't.
It's okay.
Just remember that for the next few minutes that we're together,
Your effort is towards motionlessness.
If you're paying close attention to yourself,
What you may have already noticed is that there is no such thing as motionlessness.
Everything is in constant motion,
And you're not in constant motion.
You're in constant motion.
Everything is in constant motion.
The beat of your heart,
The rhythm of your breath,
The very subtle cellular energy pulsating on and under the surface of your skin.
Remain as motionless as possible,
But allow yourself to be fully noticing all of these other motions that exist.
When you observe in this very close,
Attentive way,
Watching the motions of your physical body while you remain motionless,
What happens?
What happens to your breath?
If you didn't notice,
Try again and notice now.
Feel all of the motions that exist inside of your body,
The things like the beat of your heart,
The movement of your lungs,
The vibration of energy on and below the surface of the skin.
Tune into those motions as closely as possible right now.
And then observe what happens to your breath.
Stay with this motionless observation of motion.
And now begin to really clarify what you're observing.
Point your attention towards the beating of your heart.
Feel the beat of your heart inside your chest.
Really tune your mind into it and towards it.
Notice not just the beat.
Notice things about the beat.
Is it a noise?
A sensation?
Is there a temperature?
Is there a vibration?
What about the beat is happening inside of your chest where the heart lives?
As you were tuning into your heart,
What happened to your breath?
If you're not sure you can do it again,
You can try it again right now.
Turn all your attention towards the beat of your heart.
Observe all of the various elements around the beat of your heart.
Temperature,
If you can hear it or not,
What do the sensations feel like?
And as you're very tuned in,
Notice now what happened to your breath.
And now begin to really clarify what you're observing.
Point your attention towards the beat of your heart.
And now begin to really clarify what you're observing.
Let's move the mind around a little bit.
Jump the attention of your mind over to your right big toe.
Can you feel the beat of your heart here?
What about in the back of your left knee?
What about in the root of your pelvis?
Can you feel your heart beat just below your belly button?
Can you feel your heart beat at the base of your rib cage?
Can you feel your heart beat in your throat?
Can you feel your heart beat in your forehead?
Can you feel your heart beat in the crown of your head?
Bring your attention back to the space where your heart lives.
And feel the beat of your heart inside of your chest.
What happened to your breath as you looked for your heartbeat?
If you don't know,
You can look again now.
Just jump your mind to various areas of your body.
Look for the beat of your heart.
And when you find it,
Observe what happened to your breath.
What happened to your breath?
What happened to your breath?
Presence,
Pure presence is relaxation.
The very calm and focused mind hardly needs to breathe.
Challenge what you believe about the world.
Take this practice into your waking life.
Be awake.
Find peace of mind inside of that awakeness.
Take as much time as you need here.
And when you feel ready,
Open your eyes and go about your day.
