Just let yourself be comfortable.
Don't worry about being good or what meditation is or anything like that.
Just for the moment,
Just take note of the room that you're in.
Maybe listen to the sounds outside,
Listen to the sounds inside,
Be aware of what time of day it is.
Physically ground yourself.
Know where you are.
Make sure you've switched your phone off and that you're not going to be disturbed for the next 20 minutes.
Or if you are disturbed,
Know that you can deal with whatever comes and return back to your practice should you choose to.
You can either close your eyes or you can have your eyes sort of half closed,
Still letting a bit of light in.
Sometimes when we first begin practice,
Closing our eyes lets us get a better sense of ourselves,
Our inner world.
But keeping the eyes open seems to be more grounding and all-encompassing.
Feel your weight on the cushion.
Just feel your feet against the floor.
Feel your hands in your lap or on your knees.
Just be physically present.
Be aware of your breathing and your breath is just coming and going,
Coming and going.
Don't try and force the breath.
Don't become over aware of the breath.
The body breathes itself.
All we're doing is noticing the breathing.
Notice the state of your mind but don't try to change it.
Notice the state of your emotions but don't try to change them.
Just be who and what you are right now.
Just be who and what you are right now.
Just be who and what you are right now.
It's okay to be who you are.
You're not meant to be anybody else.
So don't try and fight anything away.
Don't try and wrestle the mind into quietness.
We're just arriving.
That's all that we do at the beginning of our practice.
We just let ourselves arrive.
We know where we are.
We don't try to change.
By sitting quietly like this,
20 minutes in the morning,
Maybe 20 minutes in the evening,
We allow ourselves to connect to that innocence that is inside us.
It's beyond the ego.
Feel your weight against the floor,
Your feet.
Be aware of your calves.
Be aware of your knees.
Be aware of your thighs.
Be aware of your seat against the cushion.
Be aware of your lower spine rising out of your hips.
The point of the spine behind the belly button.
The point of the spine behind the heart.
The point of the spine behind the throat.
Be aware of the point in the middle of your brain behind the eyebrow center.
The top of the back of your head.
The top of your head.
Your face.
Your throat.
Your right shoulder.
Your right arm.
Your right hand.
Your left shoulder.
Your left arm.
Your left hand.
Left chest.
Abdomen.
Genital area.
Your weight against the chair or the cushion.
The feeling of your whole body.
The energy of your whole body.
The life force that is you.
This is who you really are.
This energy,
This vibration.
But we close off from it.
We tighten our minds.
We tighten our hearts.
We live through ego.
We live through structures too much.
We can lose the sense of ourselves.
But it is so easy to come home.
Your weight against the floor.
Your spine rising up.
Your neck,
Your head balanced.
Your full body here in this room.
If your mind wanders,
Don't try to pull it back.
Just relax back to this place.
If your emotions are too strong,
Don't push them away.
Just acknowledge them.
Greet them with love.
Understand the message that they're trying to convey to you.
Just come back to your physical reality.
Stillness.
The infinity inside you.
Let's just be quiet with that for a moment.
As we connect to this place and ourselves each day,
We begin to learn who we really are.
We're not all that stuff outside of us.
We begin being able to take responsibility for ourselves.
To move from this true place.
We don't get caught in reaction.
We begin to see other people's reactions and not join in with them.
It's not that we become distant.
It's that we become capable of responding.
Capable of loving.
Capable of seeing.
There's no need to switch the light on inside us.
It's already on.
But now that we can see,
We take responsibility for our lives.
It is wonderful and courageous of you to make this commitment to yourself each day.
To be loving with yourself.
It changes the whole world.
As we connect to our source,
Our infinite potential,
We realize that there is no king or queen above us and there is no man or woman who is beneath us.
We are all this infinite potential.
When we let go of living from the mind,
Everything changes.
Life becomes rich and beautiful.
We see the connections between everything and everyone.
Be aware of yourself sitting here in meditation.
Be aware of the room that you're in.
Be aware of the sounds inside the room.
Be aware of the sounds outside.
Bless you for having the courage to do this.
To connect to yourself.
To return to your wholeness,
Your innocence,
Your truth.
No matter what your circumstance is,
This is available to every single one of us.
