You Come to an easy cross-legged position with your spine straight,
Your heart open,
And your chin slightly tucked.
Eyes are closed,
Gaze turns inward,
Sit bones root firmly down,
Connecting you to the earth as your spine lengthens upward.
Rock your body forward and back,
Then side to side,
Then gently find a centered position.
Take a few deep breaths to gather your focus.
Draw a deep breath in through the nose,
Filling the lungs.
Pause.
And now exhale slowly through your mouth,
Emptying the lungs completely.
Draw another deep breath in through the nose.
Pause.
And as you gently,
Slowly exhale,
Notice the softening,
The relaxing,
The natural release.
One more deep breath in through the nose and exhale fully.
As your breath returns to a natural rhythm,
Inhaling and exhaling through your nose,
Take a moment to connect with the sincerity of why you're here,
Sitting in stillness.
The sincerity within you that longs to be present,
Clear,
And intentional.
As you dive more deeply into stillness,
Let your senses be fully awake.
Notice the sounds in the space around you.
Notice feelings moving through you.
Notice the dance of sensation in your body.
Imagine that your mind is a vast field and a sky as great and wide as the eye can see.
You lay on your back,
Spread out in the grass,
Gazing up at the blue sky.
It's empty,
Clear,
And infinite,
Brilliantly blue.
Sense the spaciousness,
The freedom as you gaze up at the sky.
Feelings,
Frustrations,
Thoughts,
Rehearsals and replays of the past are like distinct and fast-moving weather patterns.
Subtle,
Ever-shifting forces.
Clouds sweeping through,
Passing by.
Thought clouds,
Subtle storms of sensation,
Or flurries of feelings,
Float across the vast blue sky of your mind.
Notice them.
Observe them with a friendly curiosity.
Trust in the transience.
Let them pass.
Watch as they drift out of sight.
If your attention becomes hooked on a particular thought cloud,
Gently extract yourself.
Take a step back and let it pass.
Return your attention to the expansive neutrality of the sky.
Resting in awareness without attachment.
Notice if your attention has drifted.
And if it has,
Gently return to presence.
Remember that you are not your thoughts.
You are an observer.
Allow the thoughts to pass through.
Notice the thought float in.
As you rest more deeply in presence,
The weather patterns of your mind may even settle,
Allowing more space for a moment to pass.
Allowing more space for blue sky.
Sense the broadness,
The spaciousness between thoughts,
Sounds,
Sensations,
And feelings.
Begin to deepen your breath.
Bring your hands to prayer position at your forehead,
And then move them to your heart space.
As you re-enter your day,
Take this practice with you.
If we observe emotions,
Sensations,
And challenges in our lives with the expansive neutrality of a sky-like mind,
Rather than becoming attached to what we're feeling,
Or attached to a particular desired outcome,
We become less reactive.
We liberate ourselves,
Unchain ourselves from the sense of being held captive by our feelings.
And when we're not being held captive,
There's no need to escape.
No need to go in search of sunnier skies.
We lay on our backs,
Gazing with interest and attention,
Without attachment,
Trusting that the clouds will pass,
And then return again,
And pass,
And return again.
Trust in the transience.
Buddhist nun,
Pema Chodron,
Reminds us,
You are the sky.
Everything else,
It's just the weather.
Practice being the sky,
And resistance becomes unnecessary.
May your day be filled with presence,
Clarity,
And the bliss of spaciousness.
Namaste,
Peace,
Love,
And light.
