Hi my friends,
This is Suzanne and welcome to your practice.
Today we're going to focus on and embody this concept of the center point.
The center point,
Also sometimes called Madhya in Sanskrit,
Can mean the middle.
It's the place that we sometimes sense that lies between the inhale and exhale.
We might experience this center point as the night transitions to day.
We might notice it between our thoughts or our actions.
We might even sense this place of stillness as we're rising up on a swing towards the heavens.
And in that moment,
That pause,
Where we're neither going up nor down,
We're experiencing the center point.
There is a feeling of stillness and yet expansiveness.
So let's start our practice together now.
Go ahead and take a comfortable seat.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Place your feet firmly on the floor beneath you.
If you're sitting on the ground,
You might prefer to sit on a cushion or a folded blanket to help you lengthen your spine.
Now feel the base of your pelvis supported by the chair or the cushion beneath you.
Notice the anchoring down towards the earth.
And then from there,
Begin to lengthen your spine a little bit more,
Creating space between each vertebra.
You begin to stretch up a little more out of the crown of your head,
Reaching in the opposite direction towards the sky,
Maintaining this connection to the earth and the sky.
And then from there,
Begin to relax your eyes.
Soften your forehead.
Release a little bit any tension in your jaw.
Perhaps glide your upper palate,
The roof of your mouth back just a little bit towards the back plane of your body.
And allow your shoulders to roll back and down towards the floor.
And so with your eyes now either closed or softly gazing down,
Begin to turn your attention to your breath.
And as you allow your awareness to linger on the breath,
Can you sense that subtle pause between your inhale and your exhale?
And again,
Can you sense the pause after your exhale,
Allowing it to dissolve completely before you inhale again?
Inhale and there's a pause,
A still point.
Exhale and there's a pause.
As you focus your attention on your breath,
You might naturally desire to expand that pause a little bit more.
That center point perhaps begins to grow just ever so slightly larger,
More expansive.
You're not trying to force it or make it happen,
But just for the pure delight of it,
Delighting in the breath,
That still point wants to expand.
As you inhale,
Feel the breath moving in toward the body,
Feeling that point of stillness and centeredness on the inside.
And as you breathe out,
It's as though that center point moves to the outside of you.
So neither in nor out,
It's not about being up or down,
You're just noticing the pause in between.
And as you continue to bring your awareness to that subtle essence of stillness,
You might be aware of your mind,
The thoughts circulating around as you practice your meditation.
Perhaps with curiosity,
You can even begin to notice that center point between your thoughts.
One thought comes in,
Dissolves,
And passes through,
And another thought comes in.
As we become aware of the space or that pause between our thoughts,
We become aware of the fact that we are more than just our thoughts.
We are more than just our words.
But our true essence lies in this center point.
Simultaneously,
We feel absolutely nothing,
A pure emptiness,
And yet everything that we need is there at the same time.
This center point can be seen as a gateway,
A threshold,
An opening into this part of yourself that is pure consciousness,
Stillness,
Awareness.
This center point,
Madhya,
Is divine,
Doesn't need to be forced.
It's always there,
Just waiting for us to uncover it,
To notice it.
All right,
My friends,
Take a deep breath in here,
And a deep breath out.
Perhaps with your eyes still closed,
Just for a moment,
Bring your hands,
If you want,
To your heart,
One hand,
To your heart,
Other hand on top.
And just remember that you are indeed your actions,
You are indeed your thoughts,
Your feelings,
And yet you're also so much more than that.
So as you move on into the rest of your day,
I invite you to be on the lookout for the center point,
That empty space between our actions,
Between our words,
Our thoughts,
Our breath,
Between day and night,
Between winter and spring.
You are the essence of the center point.
