The mind may darken from clouds of a storm,
But you are not the storm.
You are the sky it dances through.
You are that vast silence that remains unaffected.
Come home to the breath to rest,
To the slow passage of timelessly breathing.
Come home to the soft ground beneath your feet,
And let all tightness go.
For you are the spacious and effortless flow of joy,
Ease and confidence.
Introduction This is a space to soften.
Here you are not asked to fix anything,
To be anything,
No.
Only to be here fully,
Free of thought and present,
And willing to gently return to the truth of oneself.
Sit comfortably either on a cushion on the floor or in a chair.
Sit with your hands resting on your lap,
Keep your spine and neck straight.
Now breathe in softly through the nose,
A long deep breath.
Then pause for a moment,
Then exhale slowly through the nose with the mouth closed.
Let your breathing become settled into a natural,
Relaxed rhythm.
Be here fully during the breath.
Be here as the boundless sky above.
Keep the focus of your thoughts on the relaxed flow of your breathing and the vastness of the sky above.
Now bring that focus into the region of your chest,
To the heart centre.
Be fully here in this moment.
Now as you rest in your breath,
Imagine that you are,
With each inhalation,
Drawing in a quiet strength,
A deepening confidence.
And as you exhale,
Release something that is no longer needed or required.
Any limitations,
Any stresses,
As you breathe out,
Let all pass away freely,
Never to return.
Breathe in calmness.
Breathe out tension,
Fear or uncertainty.
Breathe in spaciousness.
Breathe out any tightness in your chest.
There is nothing to fight,
Nothing to resist.
Let all move through you like clouds passing across the sky.
Now gently place your awareness on your shoulders.
Allow them to relax and soften.
Now to the jaw.
Let any tension relax.
Relax all of the muscles in your face.
Now to the stomach.
Allow your breath,
The breath of calmness,
To move ever so freely deeper and deeper into the stomach region.
Now there is an unmoving stillness underneath all activities,
All thoughts.
This stillness is always here,
Always present in the spaciousness of the heart.
This presence of stillness is the unchanging background to all awarenesses.
It is there patiently waiting for your recognition.
Let this softening that you are feeling stay with you.
Remember you are not your thoughts.
The real you is well before any thought.
You are not your fear.
This is simply a reaction,
A grouping of words that you have a belief in,
But they are only words and have no independent authority.
You are much more than any thought,
Any reaction.
You are the open stillness and presence in which everything appears,
Everything comes and everything goes.
And after whatever it is that has left,
What remains?
Stillness.
You are the spacious presence of the sky.
