Finding something that's going to support you,
A shape,
A posture that's going to support you just now could be laying down.
It's always welcome in this space.
Feel free to take a few deep breaths here.
These deep breaths are such a rich opportunity to just immediately start to notice what's here and allow the body to settle.
Softening into gravity,
Dropping down into stillness,
The stillness of the earth,
The support there.
Filling out into space as you breathe in,
Taking your place here.
Spending a little bit of time dwelling in the places where the body's in contact with the ground.
Noticing all the different sensations here and really allowing yourself to dwell with them.
Allowing these sensations to be doorways to a direct connection with the ground.
Where we can contact qualities like stillness,
Steadiness,
Safety,
Holding,
Body,
Earth.
And then from this connection and this held place,
The rest of the body can rise into space.
Or if you're laying down,
Open to space,
Soften into space.
So feeling into the natural integrity of the whole length of the body here,
Whatever posture you're in.
And then when you're ready,
Beginning to just very gently gather the awareness around the breath,
Sensations of breathing.
Allowing the breath to support a deeper and deeper sense of your direct experience in the body just now.
And if you need to bring in a little bit more of an effort here,
You could just intentionally notice a few things about the breath.
So one is the location where you can feel the breath in the body.
Aware of the depth to which it can be felt as well as the breath.
How widely the body fills with the breath.
Maybe noticing the changing temperature as air comes and goes.
And the changing quality or texture of each breath.
Silky smooth or sandy course or anything in between or something different.
And here we can bring a particular interest to the impermanence of what's here.
And that doesn't just mean what's dissolving,
It's also the arising.
So change is always happening and can be observed directly through the arising and passing of ever-changing sensations moment by moment.
Our whole embodied experience,
Just this ever-changing,
Diaphanous cloud of sensations.
How is it to tune in this way?
There's an invitation now to begin to notice any places in the body where there are sensations that have the taste of freedom.
Where there's some movement of energy,
Release,
Ease,
Opening,
Expansion.
So dropping down below the physicality of the body and into more of an energetic sense of what's here.
Tingling,
Warmth,
Vibration.
Softening,
Opening.
And here we can bring the first two awakening factors,
Mindfulness and curiosity to these sensations.
Allowing the energy to move and change in whatever way.
For however long it lasts.
And as we begin to tune in this way,
It might feel unfamiliar to our nervous system.
And it may be that we begin to get distracted by familiar thought patterns.
Or it might be that we go into vagueness or even a bit of shutdown,
Dissociation,
Freeze,
Even falling asleep.
So the invitation is just to notice if that's happening for you.
And then just see if you can unhook from any stories about it or any battle you might be in with it.
Just come back to what's happening in the body right now.
You might even ask yourself,
What can't I be with just now?
Or what am I distracted from?
Just see if anything responds to those questions.
And then,
Of course,
Feel free to do anything else that you know helps you and supports you to come back to presence and availability.
So we've been opening to the energy body and particularly pleasant sensations that have the taste of freedom.
So the invitation at this stage is just to begin to notice if there's any deeper sense of joy,
Bliss,
Ease,
Okayness,
Wholeness appearing.
Could be quite subtle.
Be just a little bit more contentment in the system.
A sense of ease,
Relief.
Joy,
Even.
If there's anything,
Even a hint of it,
The invitation is to attend there.
Seeing what it's like to open to those sensations.
Even allow yourself to enjoy them.
Maybe as simple as a sense of the body dropping down just a little bit further into gravity.
Or opening just a bit more into space.
Or maybe there's a sense of something welling up from the depths that wants to flow more freely.
Or just a warmth in the heart.
A sense of things being all right just now.
And then just see if you can relax into that a little bit more.
Maybe you don't have to try so hard to make it happen.
Maybe if we just rest here,
It can just be allowed to happen on its own.
Adjusting it.
I'm just going to invite you now to tune into the quality of your heart-mind.
It may be that there's just a little bit more stillness here.
Peace.
Steadiness.
Maybe the same thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations are here,
But we're not as easily hooked into them or blown about by them.
So if there's any sense of tranquility in the mind just now,
The invitation is to familiarize yourself with that.
How is that?
Is there anything satisfying about that?
Tuning into the mind's natural openness.
Boundarylessness.
Deep sensitivity.
Where everything can come and go and be clearly known as it is.
Without us needing to interfere,
Get caught up in anything or push anything away.
Or maybe we notice those habits,
But they don't have enough energy behind them to take over.
So the habits themselves also just dissolve back into this open space of awareness.
Breathing with all of what's coming and going just now in the six senses.
Dwelling in a heart-mind that can be present and available for all of it as it is.
Like a clear blue sky.
Full of light.
So for the last eight minutes or so,
I'm just going to stop guiding and just give you a chance to hang out here for a while and familiarize yourself with this open,
Clear,
Sensitive mind.
I'll ring a bell in a little while.
Just allowing yourself to become more and more absorbed here.
And open to everything.
In a minute,
I will be ringing a bell to mark the end of this practice.
And we'll have a little bit of time to reflect in our own way on anything we noticed during the practice.
So just fresh,
Right out of the practice,
A few minutes to reflect on anything that you noticed.
Anything at all during this practice.
