My name is Larissa and we're going to practice together for about 15 minutes.
Just take a couple of moments here just to settle into your body.
You might just give your torso a little wiggle so you make sure you're settled in.
Is finding for yourself the right amount of support.
This wise balance of effort and ease.
We have,
Naturally with our breath,
This wise balance of effort and ease.
There's a little effort on the inhale,
Quite naturally.
This contraction of our breathing muscles,
A gentle and wise effort in order to breathe in.
And then there's that natural relax of quality of the exhale.
So we already have this balance of effort and ease.
It's not something we need to try hard for.
It just exists.
We remember it.
We can settle into it.
You're welcome,
Of course,
To close your eyes or set your gaze downward.
Just letting your external vision slow down a little bit.
Starting to turn your eyes inward.
To the best of your ability,
Witnessing yourself,
Seeing yourself through the eyes of compassion,
Of kindness.
Almost invariably,
Judgment will arise at times.
And we just witness it.
We don't have to get caught up in it.
That's part of the practice.
Take a moment here to notice the foundation beneath you.
To your feet touching the floor,
Perhaps a cushion.
And it's such a simple thing,
We often miss it,
But.
Gravity.
Quite literally,
Gravity is here for you all the time.
Sometimes when I'm taking my meditation a little bit too seriously,
I remember gravity is here.
Which is the only thing that literally keeps me from flying off into space.
I get to meditate right now because gravity exists.
What a simple thing,
But what a delight.
I don't have to try hard for that,
It's just here for me.
Just that little silly moment,
Grateful that I'm not flying off into space.
And I just get to feel the stability in my body.
What do you notice with that?
That firm foundation beneath you.
Where do you feel it in your body?
Notice too the freedom of movement that you have,
Your breath moving in and out.
Your heart beating.
And where do you feel that subtle movement happening in your body?
Noticing these things is not only a foundation to come back to.
It's this reminder for our meditation itself.
We already have this balance of effort and ease in our breath.
We have this balance of stability and stillness beneath us.
On this little movement of our breath.
It reminds us that everything is both and,
Not either or.
So often our mind wants to categorize things into black and white containers in order to keep us safe.
But very often we're experiencing many things at once.
Notice again that steadiness beneath you,
The stillness that allows you to feel the movement of your breath.
It is this foundation of beingness.
That eventually allows us to work with our minds.
Very often our mind is moving.
It's the quickest moving part.
Stillness beneath you.
Subtle movement of breath.
Our mind can be quite rapid.
Or our mind can go the opposite direction,
Get quite sleepy.
And we have those little jerking moments in our body as we start to kind of tip to one side when we get sleepy.
All of these things are normal.
And expected in meditation.
It's a good reminder that your practice is your practice.
There's no right or wrong.
Just noticing what you notice.
Some days the mind is buzzing with energy,
Jumping a million different directions.
Some days were a little sleepy,
A little quiet.
And very often we're experiencing lots of things in between those two spaces.
That's why we return to the steadiness of breath.
Or this foundation,
Noticing your feet touching the floor.
That's present.
That's something that's happening in the present moment.
Whereas our brilliant minds are often in the future or the past.
You just return here.
Where do I feel my breath right now?
Can I receive the fullness of this inhale,
Letting my ribs expand?
And then the gentle softening that occurs as I exhale.
And I allow that softening to happen.
Breath by breath.
Moment-by-moment present awareness.
These foundations.
Experience of being in your body.
The ability to return your mind back to your breath again and again and again.
This becomes the foundation to start to work with our minds.
And this week we're working with Tonglen.
We'll spend a little extra time on Friday,
But today just a brief touch-in.
Tonglen is a Buddhist practice of sending and taking.
That's what that word literally means.
So giving and receiving,
Sending and taking.
And it's a practice of working with deep compassion.
Especially in the midst of difficulty or suffering.
And when we breathe in,
We quite literally create space in our body.
When we breathe out,
We create a softening,
A relaxive quality.
And we work with our breath in this Tonglen practice.
I'll invite you just for a moment.
To take.
Note for yourself somewhere in your life that you're experiencing any small difficulty.
Could be in the present moment,
Just the irritation of your foot starting to fall asleep.
It could be that you had a moment yesterday where you said something you wish you wouldn't have said.
You don't have to think too hard about it.
Is there any small thing that comes up?
Any small difficulty.
You might notice what your mind is doing,
Searching for a story or starting to tell you the details of the story.
Just notice how your body feels as you bring up this idea of remembering difficulty.
And then the tonglen practice.
Is to let go of the story.
And just to work with sensation,
When you breathe in,
Quite literally creating spaciousness in your body.
You might say to yourself on this next breath in.
I breathe in this difficulty,
Holding space for it.
As you breathe out.
I release my compassion back to the world.
I breathe in this difficulty,
Holding space for it.
I breathe out my gentleness back to myself.
I breathe this difficulty into my spacious heart.
I release back my gentleness,
My compassion.
I breathe in space to hold everything.
I breathe back out my gentleness.
I notice my shoulders soften.
And if your mind goes to the story,
Just come back again to this quality of spaciousness.
I'm inviting in the capacity to hold.
And I'm breathing back out,
Offering back my gentleness,
My softening.
Spaciousness on the inhale.
Softness on the exhale.
I invite you to take a breath in together.
Everybody breathe full.
Allow your shoulders to soften as you exhale.
Do that again together,
Big deep breath in.
You might even open your mouth and sigh out this exhale.
Just noticing that softening.
I'll invite you to bring your hands into any of your closing habits or practices.
It might be poems together,
It might be hands over your heart.
Just take a moment to thank your mind for remembering this difficulty.
Thank your heart for holding space for you.
Thank your breath for reminding you that balance of effort and ease.
The wisdom of spaciousness and softness.
We'll end with a few loving kindness raises.
So offering these well wishes back to yourself.
May I remember the innate goodness of my breath.
May my compassion continue to expand.
May my breath remind me of my abundance and generosity.
When action is needed today.
May we each choose to move with ease and peace.
And may the merits of our practice together ripple out to benefit all beings.
Go slow if you can.
There's never any rush.
Whenever you feel complete,
Maybe you need to sit for a little longer.
Whenever you're ready.
Take a moment to thank yourself.
Little movements in your body as that feels good.
As always,
Thank you for being here.
Thanks for supporting each other and our sangha,
Our community.
