In the tradition of Tantric Buddhism,
There's an idea that we each have a subtle body,
An energetic layer of the body that's like a bridge between the body and the mind.
In meditation,
We can discover the subtle body as a felt experience.
This is an abbreviated version of that practice.
You can do this meditation in any posture,
But if you are sitting upright,
Sit with the back straight,
But not rigid.
Take a few cleansing breaths on the exhale,
Relaxing the shoulders.
Letting go of anything you're holding onto,
Any thoughts,
Ideas,
Or things that you've been ruminating on,
Just releasing those on the breath.
Letting your breath settle back to its own natural rhythm.
Turn your attention to the sense of your body's all-over-aliveness.
This subtle vibratory quality of energy pervading the body from the crown of your head to the tip of your toes.
To help encounter this feeling of aliveness,
It can help to think of the mind as a handful of salt and the body as a vase of warm water.
Letting go of that handful of salt,
Let your mind dissolve all over the body.
Just in this sense of awareness and body as inseparable.
When your mind is carried away by a thought,
You can notice the sense of this inseparability fading.
When you catch yourself noticing thought,
See it as an energy event.
Thought arising out of the subtle body.
Thought dissolving back into the subtle body.
Nothing whatsoever needs to be pushed away.
It's enough to stay with this all-over-aliveness of the body.
Within this sense of all-over-aliveness,
You'll notice there is the subtle movement of in-hatred and in-hatred.
Inhale and exhale.
And subtle variations of sensation like the feeling of the breeze on your skin,
The coming and going of sound.
These are like the waves in the ocean of the subtle body.
Natural,
Arising,
Abiding and subsiding.
See if you can stay with the felt sense of this subtle,
Vibrant aliveness of your human body.
Natural and ever-present.
To conclude the meditation,
We enter a phase of release,
Letting go of any focus or effort,
Letting awareness open out,
Panoramic,
Relaxed and free.
Without any attempt to constrain,
Confine,
Without even an effort to meditate.
Just being with our senses open,
With mind and heart open.
And finally,
Dedicating the benefit of our practice to the good of all beings and to the good of the world.
May you dwell in the sacred energy body.
Thank you for your practice.
