Meditation on impermanence.
Find a comfortable seat,
Either sitting in a chair with your feet flat on the floor or on a cushion,
Or you can do this practice lying down.
If it feels okay to close your eyes,
Go ahead and close your eyes,
Or if you need to,
You can keep the eyes open with the eyes turned down slightly to allow your attention to move inward.
Begin by taking a few slow,
Deep,
Diaphragmatic breaths.
Find yourself in this ordinary moment in time,
Breath rising and falling,
And let yourself move into this present moment.
And now start by bringing your attention and awareness to the belly.
Notice the belly receive breath and offer breath back,
Reminding yourself that the body is in an ordinary place at an ordinary time,
Simply receiving and giving back breath.
You may notice the slight expansion of the belly as you inhale and contraction as you exhale.
Notice the rising and falling of each breath,
The impermanence,
And then become aware of any physical sensations in the body.
Notice where there are places of resistance,
Holding,
Or gripping,
Sometimes around the jaw or the neck,
The shoulders or the solar plexus,
Sometimes around the hips or knees.
Notice where there are places of sensation,
Of gripping,
Holding,
Or resistance.
And then notice the places in the body where there's spaciousness,
Where there's a sense of ease,
Openness.
Sometimes these are spaces like around the forehead,
The collarbones.
Sometimes the space around the heart feels open and spacious.
The upper arms or lower arms,
The palms of the hands or the top of the hands.
Maybe there's openness around the waist,
The thighs,
Calves,
Soles of the feet,
Top of the feet.
Become aware of the impermanence of sensation.
We can often feel pinching or holding,
Gripping,
And then that sensation goes away,
Dissolves.
And then moving your awareness to the heart center,
Become aware of any feelings.
Maybe even conjuring a feeling of frustration or sadness.
Notice what that feels like in the body.
And perhaps then opening to the feeling of joy,
Happiness,
Gratitude.
Notice how feelings can rise and fall like the breath,
Like sensation in the body.
Sometimes one feeling will make way towards something else.
Sometimes fear opens to anger,
Which then opens to sadness.
Sometimes happiness opens to joy,
Opens to elation.
We simply observe.
We watch from a place of loving kindness and compassion.
The rising and falling,
The impermanence of feeling,
The impermanence of sensation.
And then move your attention to the third eye,
The space between the eyebrows.
And become aware of any thoughts.
Maybe something about the future,
And you can simply label it planning.
Or maybe you're remembering something from the past,
And you can label it remembering.
Just name it.
Allow the thoughts to come and go,
To move through the sky of the mind like clouds,
Like weather.
And you are as spacious as the sky,
Watching the thoughts come and go.
You are the loving awareness that can see it all.
And now come back to your awareness of the breath.
This ordinary moment in time.
When you first sat down,
That was the present moment.
It's now past,
And you're in this moment here and now.
Let yourself simply be watching the breath come and go.
Sensation come and go.
Feelings rising and falling.
Thoughts like weather moving through the sky of the mind.
And you are the compassionate being,
Watching,
Observing,
Witnessing the impermanence of all things.
And finally,
A sense of gratitude.
The miracle of what it means to be alive.
To experience all of these things,
Including the impermanence of all things.
Making this moment even more profound in its ordinariness.
Taking that gratitude with you throughout your day.
Om Shanti.
Om Peace.
