That settle we'll just begin by connecting with the earth again through the points of contact with the cushions,
Chair,
Floor so resourcing ourselves resourcing our heart,
Our being with the earth,
The stillness of the earth the foundation upon which we sit and then beginning to open to the sounds all around us sounds arising in space giving us a sense of space having a sense of the body here in this posture alert yet at ease and then just taking a moment to drop the awareness down into the heart center seeing if there's any parts of ourselves that want to be brought in brought alongside us in the practice giving those parts of ourselves what they need just now sense of softness,
Warmth,
Non-judgmental kindness,
Reassurance confidence,
Courage A sense of softness,
Warmth,
Non-judgmental kindness,
Reassurance,
Confidence,
Courage.
Maybe remembering your intention for the retreat.
Maybe remembering your intention for the retreat.
And just spending a bit of time absorbing the mind around the breath.
Becoming aware of the sensations of breathing.
Grounding in any pleasant sensations that come from breathing.
Any sense of calm or peace just now,
Just letting that in fully.
Just knowing that clear mind,
Seeing it for what it is.
The space in which we can do this critical work.
We can begin to turn towards ourselves,
Our experience more fully with love.
AWKWARD So now we're going to begin to turn our attention to the mind itself in the same way that we earlier on the retreat were looking into the different sense doors,
Aware of,
Curious about the sensations there.
So doing that with the mind,
Particularly interested in thoughts and any related emotions,
Mental states that are present just now.
So first just noticing what's there,
What's hanging around.
And then just noticing what's there,
And then just noticing what's there.
And then without getting lost in the thought or the emotion,
Without getting caught up in it,
Just seeing if you can't get curious about the root cause of that thought or emotion.
It might help to look for a place in the body where there's contraction or resistance or tension.
Just reflect on where does this thought or emotion come from.
So I'll give you an example.
I'm planning a wedding.
I'm planning a wedding.
Whenever there's resistance in my meditation I can kick into the body and planning very,
Very detailed quite concentrated planning which I find deeply pleasurable.
So there's both resistance and craving present.
There's some part of me that doesn't want to be in the practice and there's a part of me that finds deep pleasure in planning.
And when I drop into the body and feel into where that is there's a contraction in the stomach so I go into that part of the body.
Let go of the story,
Let go of the planning,
Let go of any ideas about what it's about and just stay with the sensations there.
Listen deeply to that part of myself.
Stay with it.
Stay with it.
Stay with it.
Stay with it.
Maybe you're struggling with an irritation or thinking about someone you don't like.
So finding the aversion in the body,
Finding the resonance.
Where's the tension?
So I'm going to go into the body.
So any thought that comes in no matter how trivial you just look to see is it rooted in one of the poisons?
Does it have a flavor of contraction clinging tension somewhere in the body?
Can you drop into that space?
Feel into the sensations there.
Stay with it and see what happens.
So I'm going to go into the body.
I'm going to go into the body.
If at any time you get lost or confused you can just return to the breath as an anchor to a bit of grounding,
A bit of metta if that feels so right.
And just like it's getting a bit rigid.
And then opening again to the mind,
To the thoughts arising,
The flavor of those thoughts.
And then you can go into the mind.
You can go into the mind.
What's happening now?
Okay.
So the last few minutes of the practice you can just let go of all effort.
If it helps,
You can turn the hands upward on the laps.
Maybe lean back a bit in the posture.
You can open the eyes gently,
Softly.
Opening out the awareness to include all the senses.
Just resting in the totality of now.
Okay.
Okay.
