Come to find a stable supported seat.
If it's available to you,
You might sit outdoors in awareness of the spacious sky above.
Or you might sit on the floor or in a chair with your hips lifted and the back of your hands resting on your thighs with the palms facing upward in a gesture of openness.
Move your awareness throughout the body,
Adjusting to find an open and easeful seat.
Let your spine be long,
Your body supported.
You might soften your gaze and allow it to rest downward a few feet in front of you,
Or you might choose to close your eyes.
Finding stillness,
Finding awareness of your body resting and open within the space around you.
Drawing your awareness to the ether or space element,
Vakasha,
In your environment.
The spaces within your home,
The vessels in which you cook and eat,
The spaces in which you move,
The sky,
The universe.
Open your awareness to the ether element in your physical body,
The spaces within your mouth,
Your sinus cavities,
Your ear canals,
The lungs,
The spaces through which food is digested,
Bladder,
Reproductive organs,
Rib cage and the diaphragm,
And to the spaces that you create with your body.
The space to hold objects in your hands,
The space inside and embrace.
Move your awareness to the ether element in your subtle body,
Your mind space,
Your consciousness,
Your spirit,
Your creativity,
Your intuition and your connection to the world around you.
And drawing awareness to your breath,
Inhaling aware of sensation in the sinus cavity,
Exhaling moving awareness through the nostrils,
Inhaling awareness to the space within your heart center,
Deep into the lungs,
Sensing the chest expand,
Exhaling allowing the chest to contract.
Inhaling sensing into your connection to the universe,
Exhaling into stillness,
Inhaling connecting to your innate intuition,
Exhaling into receptivity,
Inhaling and exhaling into the ether.
Okay.
And holding on to that connection to your ether element,
Your quality of space,
Your quality of space,
Gently allow your awareness to come to rest on your natural breath,
Riding the rise of the inhale,
The pause at the top,
The fall of the exhale,
And the pause at the bottom,
Rising and falling,
Connecting body and breath,
Inhaling and exhaling.
Begin to extend the length of the exhale,
Allowing each out breath to be longer and slower than each in breath.
Begin to extend the length of the inhale,
The pause at the top,
The fall of the exhale,
And gently allow the breath to return to its natural state,
Perhaps bringing one hand to your heart center and offering yourself any words of nurturing your heart is calling for.
I am receptive.
I am expansive.
I am expressive.
I am peaceful.
I am connected to the universe.
I am full.
I am drawing your awareness back to the physical body resting on the earth,
Gradually deepening the breath.
And if your eyes were closed,
Blinking them open to take in the space around you,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you be peaceful.
Thank you for sharing your practice with me.
