Hey maybe you hate sitting.
Great this is a standing meditation.
So get up out of your seat.
Stand up nice and tall.
In a talk I heard recently Akratall,
Author,
Spiritual leader,
Describes meditation as not doing but the realization of being.
He talks about this way of getting out of the conceptual and into direct experience.
Well we're going to do a little doing first but then we'll get into the being.
We'll start this with the eyes opened.
Glance down at your feet.
See if the feet are turned outward or inward towards each other or away from each other.
See if you can bring the feet more parallel,
Toes facing straight forward.
And give yourself a moment to check in with the low back.
So your low back really far arched forward.
You might tuck your tailbone under exaggerating,
Flattening out the low back and then arch the low back forward.
Exaggerating the arch like a cat cow movement if you've done yoga.
Do a couple more of those.
Come to rest in a position that's halfway between the tucked tailbone and halfway between the deep arch of the low back.
So we're more neutral in the low back.
You might close the eyes or soften the gaze if you'd like to.
Maybe paying some attention to shoulders.
Maybe rolling them up,
Back and down a few times.
Up,
Back and down.
Circling around and around.
Back and down.
Circling around and around.
Relaxing.
Let them be soft and relaxed in a down and back position to whatever degree is comfortable.
Lastly,
Check in with the neck and the head.
Notice if the chain is jutting up to the sky.
You might pull the head back in space as you draw the chin in lightly to lengthen.
The back of the head away from the shoulders,
Getting the neck long.
See if you can bring all your awareness now to the feet.
The bottoms of the feet.
The heels.
Balls of the feet.
And the toes.
How does the heaviness of the whole body feel as the feet press into the earth?
Without doing anything to change it,
You might notice your weight distribution.
Do you have more weight forward in the foot or back in the foot?
And then just really mindfully try to balance forward and backward on the foot.
Again,
Not moving yet.
You might notice if you're leaning to one foot more than the other.
And then mindfully shift your balance so that both feet have even weight in them.
Side to side,
Forward,
Backward.
Just staying with the feeling of the feet on the earth.
Our minds are silly.
Has your mind started to think about something else?
That's okay.
Totally normal.
It's how we all work.
It's how our minds are made to work.
So note that.
Be glad of this moment of calm.
Be glad of this moment of coming back.
Directing the attention back to the feet.
Feet on the earth.
Staying with the sensations of the feet pressing down and the earth pressing up into the feet.
The things on your to-do list can wait.
Or that situation you're rehearsing for or situation you're reliving.
Oh,
I wish I would have set this.
Set that all aside.
And just stay with the feeling of the feet.
Feet on the earth.
Have you gotten conceptual about this?
Did you stay in direct experience?
No right or wrong answer.
I mean,
Don't beat yourself up if you've spent the whole time trying to fight your thinking mind.
For these last few moments here,
You can just stay open to this direct experience.
Feet on the earth.
Staying with direct experience.
Whatever instinctual movements that come are probably right.
For example,
Maybe what I'm doing is I'm just moving my feet.
I'm just moving my feet.
I'm just moving my feet.
I'm just moving my feet.
I'm just moving my feet.
I'm just moving my feet.
Maybe you want to reach the arms up overhead and stretch or twist the upper body left to right.
Or take some side bending motions.
Start to transition your way out of this formal practice of staying with experience.
And into the informal practice of staying with experience.
And follow these three bells to end this meditation and come back to your day.
