Welcome to your practice.
Find a comfortable seated position,
Having your hips a little bit higher than your knees,
And sitting either on a pillow or a blanket.
Sitting at the tip of it so that your spine can remain lifted.
As you find your comfortable seat,
Close your eyes.
Bring your awareness to the tip of your nose and begin to deepen your breath.
Allow the breath to move down into your belly and soften all the muscles around your belly,
Your lower back,
Receiving the breath down there into your pelvis.
As you exhale,
You can see the breath moving up your spine and out through the nostrils.
Big breaths.
See if you can stretch the inhale a little bit without forcing,
Always with ease.
Just taking a little bit more breath in,
Allowing your lungs to fill fully.
And as you exhale,
Allowing your lungs to empty completely.
As you breathe in,
Bring the breath down the spine,
Into the tailbone,
Into the pelvis,
Receiving the breath in your body and allow your belly to expand.
And as you exhale,
The breath moves up your spine.
Just take a couple more deep breaths like that,
Settling your system.
As we breathe in this way,
We're also toning the vagus nerve so that we have a healthy vagus nerve to help us regulate our nervous system as we need throughout our day.
And now allow your body to breathe naturally.
Bring your attention to the belly and just observe the belly moving naturally with breath.
No need to sip in extra air,
Just the natural breath,
Just what the body does naturally.
And give the body some time to find its rhythm.
We're bringing our mind,
Our attention,
One pointed to the area of the belly,
Observing the natural movement that happens as we breathe in and out.
Begin to feel like this breath is anchoring you down into the body.
So you can even feel like this breath has weight or some heaviness here in the belly,
Like you're being anchored,
Pulled down into this area of your body.
We tend to spend a lot of our time or most of the time in our thoughts,
Thinking.
So the best way to enter meditation is to become embodied first and present in the body.
Now I invite you to notice the sounds in your environment.
Notice what sounds are close by,
Which ones are further away.
But without giving them a label,
Good sound,
Bad sound,
Pretty,
Beautiful,
Relaxing,
No labels at all.
As we know,
The labels are from our ego and we are letting our ego rest in this moment for this practice.
And notice how you're feeling,
The environment in your mind,
The lens that you are looking out from today.
Sometimes we feel hopeful,
Sometimes we feel depressed,
So there's a lens that we bring with us.
Just notice where you're at today and welcome yourself as you are.
Make space for every aspect and every part of you today.
Accept this moment exactly as it is right now.
Allow the part of you that would try to change anything from this moment to relax,
To relax the need to be in control.
Turn your attention towards the pervading silence,
The silence where everything sprouts from,
Where this whole manifest reality sprouts from.
Turn your attention to the silence.
So we're moving towards it.
And be kind with yourself as you drift back into thought.
Just come back to the present moment.
You can come back to the awareness of your breath or the sounds around you or moving towards the silence again.
The state of meditation is always happening,
So you don't have to create it.
You just have to move towards it,
Shifting your attention from the thoughts into a wider awareness,
A more open awareness.
Allow the activity of the mind to be,
But continue to shift your awareness to the silence.
We don't have to create the state of meditation.
It's already happening.
We just move towards it.
Maybe you notice the mind trying to find an activity,
Something to do,
Or it's going down your to-do list,
Or trying to figure something out.
Just notice those are all aspects of ego.
And continue to give your ego permission to rest.
You can even thank your mind for all it does for you.
And we can remind the mind that it can rest in this moment,
That analytical part of you can rest in this moment.
Allowing everything to be as it is.
No need to label this moment or label yourself,
Your performance.
Allow all the labels to drop.
Allow yourself to become vast,
Expansive,
Taking this moment,
Taking it all in.
It's a gentle alertness.
You are alert but relaxed at the same time.
And your heart opens,
Making space for it all.
Allowing it all.
Without trying to control any outcomes.
Being okay with not knowing.
Letting the need to know.
To relax.
Letting the need to do.
To let go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
