Snowy Sanctuary

Beginning by listening to the sound of the bell until you can't hear it anymore.

And now settling into a comfortable seated posture that supports presence.

And closing your eyes to coax the tension inward.

And beginning by taking a few deep cleansing breaths.

The deepest breaths you've taken so far today.

So breathing in through your nose,

Filling the chest and the lungs with this breath.

And then exhaling through the mouth slowly,

Smoothly,

Really letting go.

Taking a couple more breaths like that in your own rhythm.

Breathing in deeply and exhaling completely.

Letting go with that exhalation.

Letting go of whatever you don't need right now,

Whatever doesn't serve presence.

Just breathing it out.

And now allowing your breath to be natural again and letting your body just breathe itself without you needing to do anything.

Don't need to change it in any way,

Just being aware of the breath in the body.

And expanding this sense of awareness throughout the body.

Noticing the energy in the body.

Noticing how the energy of the day thus far is resting in the body.

Whether the energy is revved up or calm.

And however it is,

Just allowing it to be.

And touching in with some points throughout the body where tension tends to creep in.

And becoming aware of each area and then inviting a sense of ease,

A sense of releasing.

Without making that into a goal,

Just an invitation.

Release what can easily be released.

So beginning with the forehead and the brow.

Noticing the energy there.

And inviting the forehead to smooth.

Bringing awareness to the eyes and allowing your eyes to be soft and relaxed.

Allowing the muscles around the eyes to relax.

Even with the eyelids closed,

Having the sense that the focus is soft.

Maybe even bringing a sense of a smile to the eyes.

Becoming aware of the mouth and the jaw and unclenching in that area.

Softening the shoulders.

It might be useful to lift your shoulders up towards your ears and then let them relax back and down.

Inviting ease and relaxation in the shoulders.

And any tension that may remain in the shoulders,

Just allowing it to be part of your inner landscape.

Bringing awareness now into the hands which are resting in an easy and effortless way.

Softening the hands.

And also sensing the hands from the inside out.

Sensing the aliveness in the hands.

Whatever sensations are present in the hands,

Becoming aware of that and then softening again.

Bringing awareness into the front body and allowing the chest to be open.

Becoming aware of the rhythm of the breath as it moves through the front body.

Allowing the belly to soften.

Moving awareness down through the legs and into the feet.

And just as with the hands,

Becoming aware of the sensations that are present in the feet.

Feeling into the feet and also inviting a sense of softening in the feet.

Then bringing awareness to the whole body sitting here breathing.

And now we will begin an inner journey.

And if at any time anything that I'm suggesting doesn't feel quite right to you,

Feel free to be in your own practice following your natural wisdom.

So imagining yourself in nature walking on a path.

It's winter.

There's blue sky with some clouds.

But a sense of sunshine and warmth that you can feel on your skin as you walk.

And up ahead is a bend.

And once you get around the bend,

Up in the distance you'll see a temple of some sort.

A sanctuary.

And the path leads to the door.

Allowing it to come into focus as you get closer,

Taking in the details.

And walking up to the door.

And on the door there's a sign that lets you know that you are welcome here.

You belong.

So you touch the doorknob.

You turn the handle.

Listen to the sound of the door as it opens.

And you step inside.

And it's completely quiet inside this temple.

There's a bench right inside the door.

And a mat.

And some hooks.

So you hang up your coat.

And you remove your boots and leave them by the door.

And then you walk into the main part of this sanctuary.

That's mostly windows.

And on the perimeter there are meditation cushions,

Chairs,

Backjacks,

Meditation benches.

It's here for you.

So you choose how you want to sit.

What you want to sit on.

And if it's a cushion,

Maybe noticing the color.

Or maybe there's a blanket.

Noticing the color of that.

Placing it in the middle.

So you can see a whole panorama outside the windows.

The windows might go 180 degrees around you.

Or maybe even more.

But it gives you a great view of the windtree landscape.

Taking a moment to take in the landscape.

And notice if your attention is drawn to anything in particular.

Does the landscape have any kind of a message for you?

What is it showing you?

If you think of the landscape as a mirror of yourself,

What is it reflecting to you?

Then you notice a single snowflake making its way to the ground.

And then a few more.

And more still.

All around you,

Outside the windows,

Are beautiful snow flurries.

Taking that in.

The movement of the snowflakes.

Falling or drifting or dancing to the ground.

All around you,

Wrapping around you,

Is this beautiful snowy landscape.

It's almost as if you're sitting inside a snow globe.

Except that you are in your own private sanctuary.

Totally safe.

Totally comfortable.

Taking in your surroundings.

Nature that's outside the windows.

Noticing where your mind is.

And if it has drifted off into thought,

Bringing it back to the landscape around you.

And your body is sitting here,

Breathing with it.

Watching the snow fall silently to the ground.

And you're nice and warm inside your sanctuary.

And when you find your mind has drifted into thoughts,

Allowing the snowy landscape to help you to let go of the thoughts.

To let them just settle.

Just like all the snow that's settling to the ground.

Allowing your thoughts to be like the snow.

And gently bringing attention back to the landscape.

To your body sitting here breathing.

Or perhaps if it works better,

To the sensations in your hands or your feet.

As you take in this beautiful wintry landscape from the safety of your sanctuary.

Allowing the activity of the mind to settle to the ground like the snowflakes.

Allowing the snowy landscape to help you to practice opening out of thoughts into this spacious field of presence.

Stillness that can hold it all.

All the thoughts can settle into the ground of this deep presence.

Just being with this gentle,

Peaceful,

Silent snowy landscape.

Settling into stillness the gift of winter.

Allowing thoughts to fall to the ground of awareness like snowflakes.

Maybe watching them fall.

And then directing attention back.

Maybe to the whole landscape around you.

Maybe to your body sitting here breathing.

Or to particular sensations in the body.

It's quiet in your sanctuary.

The sanctuary that you can access at any time.

It's always there.

Just waiting for you to find your way back to it.

To take the path back to the doorway.

To open the door.

Take off your shoes.

Take off your worries and concerns.

And enter the sanctuary.

Come to stillness.

And then when you feel complete,

Breathing into the heart.

Allowing the breaths to become deeper again.

Breathing in whatever will resource you best that you are most in need of and feel most supported by.

It might take the form of a word or a color or light or warmth.

Whatever form it takes.

Receiving that and allowing it to fill you.

Allowing your whole body,

All your cells to fill up with this,

Whatever it is.

Breathing out what doesn't serve.

Letting it go on a nice long complete exhale.

And then changing it a little bit.

Breathing in kindness for yourself.

Self compassion.

Whatever serves you best.

And breathing out kindness for someone else.

Maybe an individual.

Maybe a group.

Maybe the whole planet.

Allowing the exhalation to move that kind caring energy to wherever it's needed.

It might be a word.

It might be color.

It might be light or warmth.

Whatever form that caring takes.

Sensing it going where it's most needed.

Just taking a couple more breaths like this.

In for you and out for others.

And then seeing yourself standing up and walking out of the sanctuary back to the entrance where your coat is hanging and you left your shoes.

Putting them on again.

And then turning the door handle.

Opening the door and walking back out into the world.

Bringing this spaciousness and stillness and presence with you.

And in a moment I'll ring the bell again.

Listening to the sound of the bell until you can't hear it any longer.

And allowing the sound to bring you back.

The bell is ringing.