Let's just begin by finding a nice comfortable posture.
You might be sitting down on a pillow,
Cushion,
A chair,
You might be lying down.
Wherever you are,
Just taking a couple of moments to find a posture that feels both relaxed and also alert.
Stiram Sukham,
Steadiness and ease.
And then when you're ready and if you feel comfortable too,
Just closing down the veil of your eyes,
Softly and slowly transitioning to an inward gaze,
The contemplative gaze,
A contemplative intimacy.
And then just the moment you do close your eyes,
Seeing if you can close your eyes but still keep your mind,
Your attention awake as if you were looking out into the world.
In that same curiosity,
That same alertness with you,
Even as you turn inwards.
And then with your gaze and attention turned inwards,
If you did close down your eyes,
Just taking another couple of moments to scan through the body and notice any obvious areas of tension or discomfort.
And if you can easily adjust your posture,
Then just taking a moment to do so.
And then just finding a way to your breath.
Noticing that amidst the waves of sounds and sensations and thoughts and moods and emotions,
There is the gentle and always present,
For as long as we're in this body,
Always present wave of breath right in the middle,
Amidst all that comes and goes around.
And so just resting with the breath,
Familiarizing yourself with the breath.
For many of us,
This might be the first time today that we have rested with the breath as our primary focus.
And so our practice for this sitting was going to be very simple.
It's to rest in the holding of the breath and to notice when we're pulled aside by thought.
And to also then notice any moods,
Emotions,
Or feelings that come with that thought.
And just to notice and be with them and start to cohere thought and feeling.
And then to come back to breath.
And so in this way,
We start to become more familiar with our observing self,
Awareness itself.
We start to be the space in which all emerges.
And so just resting here with the breath,
Noticing the beginning of the inhale,
The end of the exhale,
And the space between,
Allowing your breath to be your home base.
And if when checking in,
You notice that you've been hooked into a thought form or a sensation,
Just turn towards the thought or sensation itself.
And just notice that when you turn towards it,
How it naturally unravels.
And then also if you can notice any mood or emotion that comes along with the thought or sensation.
And just feeling that mood or emotion just simply as energy in the body.
Noticing that in the same way that sight and sound,
There is no inherent meaning with this mood or emotion.
So just experiencing it in the body.
And then when you're ready,
Gently smiling with the heart and the mind and coming back to the breath.
And again,
Just continuing in this way.
If you notice yourself drift off into a kind of virtual reality.
Pull the side by thought,
Turn towards the thought.
Notice how it naturally unravels.
And also notice any mood or emotion that comes with the thought.
And then just rest in that mood or emotion,
Letting it be neutral,
Letting it just be there.
Not because of the thought and not causing the thought,
Just simply there.
And when it becomes maybe a little less intriguing or captivating,
Just with your choicefulness coming back to the breath.
And for the last minute or so of this sitting,
Just allow yourself to start again.
There is no doubt that you have a felt sense and a memory of what it feels like to be in a place of spaciousness,
Of grace in the heart,
Of lightness of mind.
What it feels like to be in presence and compassion.
And so see if with a click of a finger,
You can simply arrive in that place.
And just resting here.
And then we'll close with a piece by Margaret Wheatley or Meg Wheatley,
A piece from her The True Professional series called Illusion.
So just allow this to be still part of your meditation,
Your practice.
Let the words rest with you.
Too much of our action is really reaction.
Such doing does not flow from free and independent hearts,
But depends on external provocation.
Such doing does not flow.
It depends on external provocation.
It does not come from our sense of who we are and what we want to do,
But from our anxious reading of how others define us,
Our anxious reading of how others define us and of what the world demands.
When we react in this way,
We do not act humanly.
The true professional is one who does not obscure grace with illusions of technical prowess.
The true professional is one who strips away all illusions to reveal a reliable truth,
A reliable truth in which the human heart can rest.
Unveil the illusions,
Unveil the illusions that masquerade,
The illusions that masquerade as reality and reveal the reality behind the masks.
Catch the magician deceiving us.
Get a glimpse,
A glimpse of the truth behind the trick.
A glimpse.
Contemplation happens anytime we get a glimpse of the truth.
Just starting to deepen the breath.
Allow those words to come alive in you and find their place.
So the practice of catching a glimpse of the truth,
Of becoming that observing self,
Co-hearing thought,
Sensation,
Feeling,
Emotion,
Awareness,
Becoming our own magician in a sense.
So with your eyes still closed in a moment and when you're ready,
You can slowly blinking open your eyes but see if you can keep this in a state.
Opening your eyes as if for the first time keep this in a state so you can then bring this to the world and those around you.
