And let's support that practice by just finding that posture in the body that feels both grounded and also relaxed.
And let's take a deep breath in and a deep breath out,
And let's take a deep breath in So whether you're sitting on a chair or seated upon a cushion,
Or even if you're lying down,
Just allow your body to really be supported.
Just sensing the ground beneath you,
Sensing its firmness and ability to hold you with ease.
So as we exhale,
Really imagining just unfurling,
Exhaling deeper into the ground.
So if there's been muscles that are tensed up,
Sometimes we might find that our shoulders have been up by our ears,
Just maybe lifting them intentionally and then letting them drop slowly down the back,
Letting that chest be open,
And encouraging the body to just settle,
To just find stillness.
And if you find it helpful,
Then you can softly let your eyes close,
Or just keep your gaze a quarter of the way open,
Looking down to a few feet in front of you,
Not staring at anything,
But just letting the gaze be relaxed and loose,
Maintaining the direction of our focus in the same general area of the ground.
So eyes don't move back and forth,
But we're not efforting and staring,
Just loosely gazing.
If you become sleepy during the practice and your eyes have been closed,
You might find it supportive to open them and practice in that way.
So it's just an option to just try on and see what feels right for you and your practice.
And allow yourself just for this time to let go of anything that came before this moment,
And anything that might come after.
Nothing to fix,
Nothing to think about,
Nothing to figure out.
Instead,
Just letting yourself dwell at home in this present moment,
Letting yourself be just exactly as you are with whatever passing moods,
Or sensations,
Or thoughts,
Whatever may come,
Just allowing it to be just as it is,
Not needing to change it or manipulate it,
Simply allowing.
And allowing yourself to take a few deeper breaths now,
Slowly drawing air in through the nostrils,
And slowly out through the mouth.
And let's do two more just like that,
Drawing the breath in from the nostrils,
And exhaling through a little bit of a pursed lip,
Like you're blowing out a candle.
And one more time,
Inhaling,
And exhaling through the mouth.
Just allow the jaw to remain relaxed,
And rest the tip of the tongue right behind the front teeth,
While letting the jaw just relax.
Now letting that breath just fall back into its natural rhythm,
This time inhaling and exhaling through the nose.
And really allow your mind to intimately know what is happening.
You might say in the mind,
This is breathing in on the inhale,
This is breathing out on the exhale.
But that light labeling of inhale,
Exhale can help to bring the mind into the same place as the body.
So that there's a union between what's naturally happening and what we're knowing.
So knowing this experience of this is sitting,
This is hearing,
This is breathing.
Just letting our mind and body unite in this way is very calming to the nervous system.
It helps us to settle.
So anytime that you notice that it seems that the mind and the body are not in the same place.
So perhaps there's distraction and the mind has wandered.
Without being critical,
Without beating yourself up,
Just simply remember the breath,
And coming back to this simple act of this is breathing in,
And this is breathing out.
So just remembering that nothing is ever lost in practice.
We arrive whenever we arrive.
Each moment is an opportunity to re-arrive.
Connecting with our breath,
And connecting with the felt sensation of this moment here and now.
Noticing the textures of the breath.
Noticing the sounds as they arise.
And knowing that all is welcome here.
Whatever feelings arise,
Moods,
Thoughts,
Sensations,
Welcoming it all.
No need to cling or to push away.
Just with a welcoming heart making space for whatever comes into our awareness.
And if at any point your mind drifts into thought,
That's okay.
That's simply the mind doing what the mind does.
It's it's habitual tendency.
But when you notice it,
That's mindfulness waking up again.
So enjoy that clarity.
This is awareness dawning.
And you can broaden your awareness just a little,
And let yourself feel the whole of your body breathing.
So not just sensations at the nostrils or in the nose,
But the sensation that flows throughout the whole body on the inhalation and the exhalation of the breath.
Really letting that awareness expand right along with the breath.
We can let awareness grow even deeper by turning that awareness on itself.
And looking with curiosity into the mystery.
What is it that knows that I've been distracted?
What is it that wakes up out of these discursive thoughts?
What is it?
Where is it?
Just turning to look,
Not seeking an answer,
Looking into that fundamental ground of knowing,
Of awareness itself.
In these final few minutes of our practice,
Letting go of any sense of being in meditation or being in meditation.
Any meditator,
Any identification at all,
Just letting it go.
And instead,
Turning your intention to deep rest,
Let it go,
Let it be.
