Welcome to your practice.
This is a meditation on sounds.
It'll be roughly 20 minutes.
Make sure you're very comfortable sitting on the floor or in a chair and if that's not possible you may lie down as long as you can stay alert.
We'll be doing alternate nostril breathing but with our hands on our lap which I'll instruct in a moment and then we'll be moving into some pranic awareness,
Meditational activities and then into receptive listening.
So that'll be our movement for today.
So sitting comfortably or lying down.
Let's find our breath for a minute.
The eyes may be closed or open.
Notice the breath coming in and out of your body.
Notice that you're breathing.
Allow the abdomen to be relaxed as you breathe in so that the air can flow in naturally,
Maybe a little bit deepened but no special breathing technique.
Just noticing.
Good and now we'll continue with a alternate nostril breathing technique.
Place both hands in your lap,
Palms up.
If you're lying down you can just open your hands and close the left hand into just a light fist.
So the right palm is open.
We'll breathe in through the right nostril with the right palm open.
Then when the breath is all the way in,
Close the right palm into a loose fist and open the left palm and breathe out the left nostril.
And just like that now breathe in the left nostril.
Close the hand,
Open the right hand and breathe out the right nostril.
And we'll continue like this breathing in the right nostril,
Closing the hand,
Opening the left hand,
Breathing out the left nostril.
Breathing in through the left nostril,
Closing the hand,
Opening the right hand,
Breathing out the right nostril.
And this way we alternate our breath.
Try not to get caught up into actually breathing through the right and left.
Just bring your awareness to one side and then the other.
So I'll instruct that one more time.
Right hand open,
Breathe in through the right,
Close the hand,
Open the left,
Breathe out through the left.
Breathe in through the left,
Close the left hand,
Open the right,
Breathe out through the right.
And we'll continue like this on our own for another minute or so,
Staying relaxed in the body.
And the next time you breathe out you can just let that breathing practice go.
The hands can remain open,
If that's comfortable.
You could also put your hands palms down on your knees or thighs.
Now move your awareness to your body.
And I'd like us just to feel our full body.
As your breath naturally moves in and out,
Notice the body.
Notice the different points of contact the body might have on the floor or chair.
Also get a sense of the rest of your body.
For a moment just feel like you can feel your entire body in space sitting here.
Now we'll begin to move our awareness a little more specifically.
So let your awareness drop below your body,
However you're positioned.
Find the area below your seat or your body on the floor and just bring your awareness there.
What can you sense just below your body?
Now bring your awareness in front of your body.
What can you notice just in front of your body?
You might start just in front of your heart or chest area.
Now let that expand to everything in front of you that you can sense,
Not see but sense.
We'll spend a few moments investigating that.
Now move your awareness behind your body.
So right behind your back,
Your seat,
The back of your head.
What can you notice just behind your body?
It might be an inch or two or further than that.
See what your mind is willing to feel.
Now flow your awareness above your body,
Above the top of your head or if you're lying down above your whole body.
Notice what you can feel in the space above your body.
A few moments there.
Now let your awareness move back into the body and then just around your body,
Above,
Below,
In front,
Behind.
Get a sense of your body and space and your sensations and awareness just around your body.
See where your mind easily goes again.
Maybe an inch away from your skin or it might be further than that.
See what you can notice.
Relax into any sensation or feeling that's coming in towards your mind because of this.
You might notice that your breath does or does not affect your awareness.
You can just notice that as you breathe in and out.
If you have subtle shifts in the awareness all around your body.
We'll spend a minute sitting with that.
And then let that awareness go.
Take a nice slightly deeper breath in and a long slow breath out.
Now begin to tune in to the sounds around you.
Notice the sounds in the room.
Notice the sound of my voice.
As you notice these sounds,
Ask your mind to simply receive the sounds,
Hear the sounds without reacting or judging.
Sound of my voice around the room comes in towards your ears,
Into your mind and you simply receive the sound.
And then notice the next sound.
And notice the next sound.
And as we sit for a few minutes in this way,
The mind might get stuck on a sound or react or judge or create a story around a sound and that's okay.
Just hear the next sound coming in and let that first one go.
Soften yourself to the sounds in the room.
Allow yourself to just be with them.
Slowly and gently allow yourself to deepen your breathing.
Allow your abdomen to expand on the inhalation.
Gently contract on the exhalation.
And allow this deepened breath to bring you back into your body.
So as you take slightly deepened breaths this way,
Begin to feel your entire body.
Notice your lower body on a breath.
And notice your upper body on a breath.
Back in the breath,
Back into the body.
Allow the sensations and feelings generated by your practice to move freely throughout your body.
This concludes your practice.
Om Shanti.
Om Peace.
