Allow, Invite, Embrace—Bearing Witness In These Times

Sometimes in our meditation practice, we feel called to cultivate a space of peace where things in the world won't disturb us, and even on subtle levels, we can end up on an island—like this precious place of peace is somehow removed from what is, or somehow blocks out what is. Instead of trying to discipline the mind, focusing on a fragile place of peace, gently invite the attention home—to the quiet refuge of your being. As your animal body settles into the invitation to rest, soften into the truth that there is nowhere you need to go, and nothing you need to do. Simply drop into your being, as being.

Transcript

So, Beginning this meditation by recognizing that for the next 25 minutes, There's nowhere else you have to be. You've made this commitment to be here, Now. So, Given this commitment, Why have the body here, Now, Without the mind joining you? So just notice if the mind feels called to be somewhere other than here, Now, And rather than disciplining the mind, Gently invite it home, Home to this moment, Home to the refuge of your being. Soften into the way in which not only do you not have to be anywhere else right now, You don't have to do anything else right now. Let your animal body soften into the invitation to rest. Sometimes in our meditation practice, We feel called to cultivate a space of peace where if things in the world won't disturb us, And even on subtle levels, We can end up on an island, Like this precious place of peace we want to spend time is somehow removed from what is, Or somehow blocks out what is. In this moment, The invitation is to rest in the refuge of your being, Now, What is. Invite what is, Even embrace what is, And remember, Allow, Invite, Embrace is not the same as my ego likes what is. The conditioned mind doesn't have to like what is in order for allow, Invite, Embrace, To saturate your experience of this moment. If we're trying to allow, Invite, And embrace from a limited view of who we really are, I am just this body mind, For example, It will be overwhelming. This body mind doesn't have the capacity to hold the magnitude of all that is. So, Free this body mind from that job and soften the attention in your very being, Which naturally allows, Invites in that it has no capacity for resistance, Embraces in that it welcomes all experience, Exactly as it is. From here, Be that which bears witness to all that is, The crises of our times, And also the grief of our times. Again, All of this is too much for a limited sense of I, But it's not too much for the great heart, The heart of being, And the heart of who we are. How do we bear witness to the intensity of what is, The magnitude of what is? We do so through the great heart, Which again, Naturally allows, Invites, And embraces what is. The next 10 minutes will be in silence. Give yourself the opportunity to rest in this great heart of being, As this great heart of being, And then bringing your attention to the breath, Consciously recognizing the way in which your breath is how you're integrating with the universe right now. It's one way that you're integrating with the universe right now, And consciously naming this breath as a pathway to the great heart so that later in the day, Tomorrow, As something arises that may be perceived as challenging or painful, Returning the attention to the breath can be like returning the attention to the threshold of being, Or naturally allowing and inviting and embracing a curse. Thank you.