To begin this practice we find a comfortable stationary position,
And then we spend a little bit of time adjusting the different elements of our posture to make sure we're feeling settled still,
That there is a certain level of relaxation in the body,
And that we can comfortably keep releasing all the physical and mental tension with each natural out-breath.
Allowing our body to breathe naturally,
Without any control from the side of our mind,
Any attempts to hold the breath,
To make it more deep,
To make it more shallow.
Just letting it flow uninterruptedly,
But with each exhalation releasing more and more tension,
Releasing all types of deliberate physical,
Verbal,
And mental activity,
Such as any attempts to recall something,
To analyze something,
All the mental stories,
Our verbal narration of what's going on,
Letting it all go with a natural exhalation,
And simply allowing our body to rest.
Rest right here and now,
And still be vigilant and energetic,
Energetic enough to sustain this practice,
To keep our mind clear.
And then recalling a positive motivation for this practice by turning to our highest spiritual or psychological aspirations,
Bringing them to mind.
And with that motivation as the foundation for this practice,
Bringing our attention,
Bringing our awareness to this very physical body,
Sitting or lying here and serving as the foundation,
As the basis for this practice.
And attending to the physical sensations in our abdominal area,
Noticing all the sensations that are accompanying the process of breathing,
With our belly rising and falling naturally,
With each inhalation and exhalation.
First,
Simply attending to these changing sensations that accompany the process of breathing,
Holding them with our faculty of mindfulness and with our faculty of introspection,
On occasion checking if we have become distracted.
And so in this way,
Training to strengthen our ability to just rest with the process of breathing and the sensations in the abdominal area.
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And then,
Having focused our attention on this area for a little while,
We now try to experience the sensations directly and to peel off all the projections arising in our mind with regards to these sensations.
As we're keeping our attention on the abdominal area,
Maybe sometimes there's the image of our abdomen,
Or some thought,
Or some interpretation,
Or even the pleasant,
Unpleasant,
And neutral feelings associated with these sensations.
So all of these,
With the exception of the sensations of movement themselves,
All of these we are letting go.
They might still arise in the field of our awareness,
But we're not focused on them,
We're not resting with them.
Instead,
We are zeroing in on the sensations themselves more and more clearly,
Again and again.
Following the Buddha's instruction of,
In the felt,
Let there be just the felt.
Still breathing naturally,
Still attending to the abdominal area,
But now with the emphasis on peeling off all of our mental projections,
And simply experiencing their sensations themselves.
And now moving our attention upwards to all the sensations in our face,
But with the same intention of experiencing the sensations directly,
And seeing the difference between the sensations and all of our projections,
The mental images,
Our thoughts,
Interpretations,
Stories,
Memories,
All of that.
Once again attending to the sensations in our face,
To follow the instruction of the Buddha.
In the felt,
Let there be just the felt.
Resting with the face,
By means of its tactile sensations.
Not the mental image of the face,
Not our stories about it,
But just the sensations as they are.
Now moving our awareness to the sensations in one of our hands,
Our left hand or our right hand,
Choosing one and then resting with the sensations in exactly the same way.
Peeling off their projections and just experiencing what is felt directly.
Now moving our attention upwards to all the sensations in our face,
Not our stories about it,
But just the sensations in our face.
And then finally extending this meditative awareness to all the parts of the body at once,
Just to experience the body directly,
But once again by means of the sensations themselves.
Not our mental image of the body,
Not the story that we're telling ourselves about the body,
Just the tactile experiences.
In the felt,
Let there be just the felt.
And then with our body still breathing naturally,
Taking a few moments to dedicate the energy of this practice,
So that by completing the cultivation on the practices of wisdom and compassion,
We might fulfill our deepest highest spiritual and psychological aspirations for the benefit of all beings.
And then with that,
Slowly introducing some movement to the body,
And slowly and gently concluding the practice.
