Welcome to this Deoist Zhuang meditation,
Sitting in stillness.
Find your comfy space,
Warm and cozy.
Your body is upright yet unforced,
Your shoulders soft,
Your hands resting wherever they fall with ease.
Take a slow breath in through your nose,
And a long breath out through your nose.
Feel your body soften.
Another deep breath in,
And as you exhale,
Let go of any tension or stress.
Any thoughts or worries,
Just wrap them up in a ribbon,
Place them on a passing cloud,
And watch them float away.
Bring your awareness into your heart center,
And notice a softness there.
In this meditation,
There is nowhere to go,
Nothing to accomplish,
No need to reach for anything.
This is a return,
A return to your natural state of being.
The Deo,
The way,
Is not something you must create,
It is already here,
Flowing quietly within and around you.
So simply sit and allow yourself to remember.
Begin to just gently scan your body,
Starting at the crown of your head.
Notice your scalp,
Your forehead,
The space around your eyes,
And with each breath,
Just soften this area.
Relax your jaw,
The tongue is resting easily.
Release any tension in your neck,
Allow your shoulders to melt away from your ears.
Notice your chest,
Your heart space,
Breathe softness here.
Your belly is warm,
Open,
Relaxed.
Your hips are heavy against the earth,
Legs,
Knees,
Shins and feet resting in quiet support.
Imagine your whole body becoming lighter,
As if the boundary between you and the space around you begins to soften,
As if you are becoming spacious yourself.
The Deoist sages say,
When we release tension,
We return to our natural harmony.
Let your body be as it wishes to be,
Untangled,
Free and resting.
Bring gentle awareness to your breath,
No need to change it,
Simply notice.
Feel your belly rise with each inhale,
And feel it fall with each exhale.
Your breath is like a tide,
It's a quiet rhythm of the sea,
Coming and going without effort,
Without resistance.
If your mind wanders,
Just gently return to this tide.
Inhale,
Waves rising.
Exhale,
Waves returning to the shore.
Over time,
Notice how your breath seems to breathe itself,
And you become simply the witness,
The space in which the breath appears and disappears.
The Deo flows through each inhale,
Each exhale,
Guiding you into deeper ease.
So now gently close your eyes,
And imagine you are walking along a quiet mountain path.
The air is cool,
Crisp,
Carrying the faint scent of pine and stone.
Each step you take feels slower,
More deliberate,
As though time itself is slowing to meet you here.
Ahead,
You find a wide open ledge on the mountainside.
It's a lovely place for you to sit,
A place that feels like it has been waiting for you for centuries.
You lower yourself onto the ledge.
Feel the mountain beneath you,
If solid,
Ancient,
Unshaken.
The stones beneath your seat are steady,
And in their silence they hold you.
Every rock,
Every root has weathered countless seasons,
And you too are now part of that timeless presence.
Take a slow breath in here,
Drawing strength from the mountain,
And exhale slowly,
Letting your body sink a little deeper into this vast support.
With each breath,
Your spine lengthens,
Steady as a pine tree rooted in stone.
You begin to sense the mountain's stillness becoming your own.
Now lift your gaze inward to the sky above.
Endless,
Open,
Stretching beyond what your eyes can see.
Soft clouds drift away slowly.
They are changing shape and moving with the breeze.
Notice how they do not cling to the sky,
Nor does the sky try to hold them.
They come,
They go.
Just like your thoughts,
Your feelings,
With each passing cloud,
Allow yourself to release.
A worry,
A memory,
A plan for tomorrow,
See them drift gently across the vast sky of your mind.
There is no need to chase them,
No need to hold them.
The sky is vast enough for them all,
And yet remains untouched,
Unbound.
Now feel yourself as both mountain and sky.
Your body is rooted,
Steady and moving.
Your awareness is open,
Spacious,
Infinite.
Strong as the earth,
Vast as the heavens.
Unshaken,
Unconfined.
So just stay here for a few breaths,
Sensing the union of these two worlds within you.
The mountain is offering its stillness,
The sky is offering its freedom,
And you are resting as both.
From here,
Just gently allow the images to soften now.
There is no need to hold on to the mountain or the sky.
Simply let them dissolve into the quiet space around you.
Just feel yourself merge into stillness itself as we enter the practice of Zuo Wang,
Sitting and forgetting.
Let's enter stillness.
For a moment,
Allow yourself to forget your body.
It is still here resting safely,
But you do not need to hold it in your mind.
Forget your breath,
It too continues on its own.
Forget your thoughts,
Your roles,
Your to-do lists,
Even the idea of meditating.
And what remains when all is forgotten.
Rest here in open space.
Like the vast sky holding clouds,
You are awareness itself.
Thoughts may drift in and out,
But they cannot disturb the boundless sky.
Notice this clarity,
This openness,
This spacious silence that holds everything yet clings to nothing.
There is no effort required here,
No goal,
Only sitting,
Only being,
Only the quiet unfolding of the Tao within you.
Let's pause here for a few more moments.
Beautiful.
So now slowly and gently bring awareness back to your breath.
Feel your belly rising and falling once more.
Feel your body here sitting held by the earth.
Notice the weight of your legs,
The contact of your hands,
The crown of your head reaching gently upward.
Take a few deeper breaths here,
As though drawing the stillness into every cell of your being.
Know that this stillness is never far.
Even as you move through your day,
It is always present,
Always available,
Always the Tao within you.
When you are ready,
Open your eyes softly.
Take a moment to look around your space with this new awareness.
Carry this stillness with you as a quiet flame in your heart,
A reminder that peace is your natural home.
Namaste,
My friend.
