Welcome.
I've just moved in to a new home here.
And I thought I might try.
Just meditating with you down.
Here by the water.
So this is my first attempt,
It's experimental,
I don't know how it will sound,
What it will be like.
But I wanted to at least try it out.
So we'll do a.
.
.
A short practice.
For this first attempt and then maybe there will be more.
So I'd like to begin.
With lighting a stick of incense.
It's nice to have a ceremonial event.
Ritual,
Something to help.
Signify.
Shifting out of the normalcy of everyday life and into really attempting to be here with 100%.
Of your being,
Of your consciousness,
Of your awareness,
So letting a stick of incense can help with that.
Lost it.
Let's try it again.
I will likely have bugs on me.
There will likely be sounds,
Both natural sounds and man-made sounds.
My hope is to not see them as any different from each other.
There's an airplane passes by and for that moment you are the airplane.
A bird passes by,
For that moment you are the bird.
And here your eyes can be closed or they can be open.
You might attempt having your eyes open if you haven't done an eyes-open meditation before,
Or if you have.
This could be a chance to practice with that.
Certainly,
If you would like,
Your eyes could be closed.
And if you would like to close the eyes,
You can allow them to close now.
But if they are open,
You can just take in whatever it is that you see both here with me,
But also within your own surroundings.
And maybe just softening any sense of a you separate from what you are seeing.
But also softening any separateness between what you and what you're hearing right now.
And what you're feeling.
Just allowing all of this to be who you are.
This for a little while.
You can also take a couple deep breaths here if that feels right.
It's always nice to just take a couple deep breaths or to remember that that's an option.
Allow your body to relax,
Release,
Soften however it can or however it might.
Like to,
If you ask it.
Maybe the throat wants to kind of open.
Release a little bit,
Maybe the jaw would like to loosen,
Soften,
The eyes.
Can relax,
Shoulders maybe drop a little bit.
Maybe your whole body kind of.
.
.
Moves down a bit more with gravity,
But then also.
Extending up and out.
From this base.
And here I will play the sound of the singing bowl,
A very special bowl for me.
In order for the sound to be full,
The bowl must be empty.
So maybe just a couple deep breaths,
Emptying out everything.
That is not simply here just for a little while.
And becoming the sound of this bowl until it completely dissolves,
Maybe as a trigger.
To drop one level deeper into present moment awareness,
Fully being alive.
And 3.
Too.
Who won.
And now maybe let's just take.
.
.
About two minutes.
To simply be here.
Full permission.
From me,
But also maybe from yourself to you.
To just be for two minutes of your whole day,
Really of your whole life.
To not have to be solving anything or figuring anything out.
Being is the ground for doing.
In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh.
And the quality of your doing is informed by the quality of your being.
So,
Here,
Just dropping into being.
For two minutes.
Starting now.
I'll just mention here I noticed my eyes kind of wanted to close when they were open so you can always make a change too.
Letting go of really you choosing or forcing,
But just becoming sensitive to see what the eyes might like to do.
If they were closed,
Maybe they want to open.
If they're open,
Maybe they would like to close,
Or maybe not.
So just about a minute longer here.
Okay,
You might just.
.
.
Take a few more deep breaths.
Can allow the body to move however it might like to move if it wants to move.
Beginning a very gradual transition.
From this practice into whatever you do next.
From being into doing.
Naturally.
And in a moment I'll play the sound of the bowl once more.
And again,
You can just allow yourself to become the sound until it dissolves and then you are something else.
In three,
Too.
One.
And then very gradually,
If your eyes were closed,
You can allow them to reopen whenever they feel like it.
Allow the body to relax again.
Stretch.
Maybe noticing any ways in which the body might have tightened back up,
And every exhale is another chance to let it go again.
Start over again.
So I wish you well in whatever you do next,
And I'll bring this time together into whatever I do next.
I'll go that way.
I don't know what happens quite after that.
Maybe there will be more of these.
And thank you for joining me in this first time meditating in this spot in my new home.
