So I will invite all of you to find your seat,
Find a comfortable place to sit.
You can sit,
You can lie down,
Find your posture that works for you.
I would say that sitting upright is usually helpful if you are someone who tends to fall asleep during meditation,
Or if you feel like your mind races more when you are lying.
But do whatever works for you,
Get comfy,
And close your eyes.
And so we'll start by finding the breath,
Noticing the gentle rhythm.
You might notice this more at the nostrils,
Or you might notice it in your chest and shoulders rising and falling,
Or you might notice it at your belly.
Wherever you connect with the breath is absolutely fine.
Just go there now,
Following your inhale as it makes its way into the body,
And following your exhale as the breath leaves the body.
Start to lengthen the inhale,
And allow it to flow right into the exhale for a nice,
Slow,
Long exhale.
Again,
Intentionally lengthening the in-breath,
And letting it flow into the out-breath,
And allow your shoulders to drop.
Slow,
Steady inhale.
Slow,
Steady exhale,
Soften the belly.
Low,
Steady inhale,
Soften your feet.
Every exhale,
An opportunity to soften and to release whatever kind of holding we have in the body to whatever extent possible.
And you can relax your control that you have over your breath now,
And just allow yourself to breathe in a way that feels most natural to you,
So you don't have to make the inhales and exhales.
Just breathe.
You might get curious about your breath.
Without your interference of intentionally breathing in and out,
Or intentionally holding or lengthening,
Notice your natural breath cycle.
Notice if there is a gap or a pause after you breathe in.
Notice if there's a gap or a pause after you breathe out.
Notice if the breath is deep or shallow.
As best you can,
Follow this cycle,
This never-ending pattern of in and out.
You can note that silently to yourself if that's helpful to stay focused and concentrated.
Just noting in as the breath comes in,
And out as the breath goes out.
And when you become distracted,
And you will,
Allow that distraction to serve as a gateway to the present moment.
If it's a noise,
Or a body sensation,
Or an emotion,
Become aware of it.
Do not push it away.
Do not feel like it is a hindrance or an interference in your practice.
Distractions are the whole point.
We use the breath as a resting place,
A place to collect the attention.
And we stay there until we become distracted.
And if it's a noise,
We say yes,
We open to that noise,
And we just experience it,
And we let it fade back into the background,
And we come back to the breath.
Your attention can be seamless in this way.
As long as your attention is in the now,
That is meditating.
It doesn't matter how many times you get away from your breath.
What is here to wake you up in this particular moment?
Is it your breathing sensations?
Is it a thought pattern?
Is it a sound?
Become aware of what is present for you right now.
No resistance whatsoever.
And you can allow your attention to drift from thoughts to sounds to sensation to emotion,
Or you can come back to your resting place,
Which is the breath.
It's here to wake you up in this moment.
Not thinking about what you're feeling or experiencing in this moment,
But just becoming aware.
Notice if your mind has wandered into the past or future.
Notice if the thinking mind is active.
Just notice.
The second you become aware of where your mind is,
You've woken up.
Every noise,
Every itch,
Every restless feeling,
Every bit of impatience,
All gateways to the now.
Every breath is also a gateway to the now.
The now where everything is already whole and complete,
And you are already whole and complete.
Nothing to figure out or solve.
Nothing to change,
Nothing to fix.
We've arrived to collect the attention.
It starts to wander.
It is here in this moment.
Every distraction is just a gateway.
Letting go of and dropping any resistance to what is happening right now.
Just being very open and aware and allowing things to be as they are.
Reminding yourself once more that this level of attention and awareness is not just available in our formal meditation practice,
But in every moment of our lives.
So we practice with the small stuff here,
The car alarms that go off,
The discomfort in our bodies when we're sitting in the sitting position for too long.
All of that is the small stuff,
Those little distractions,
Thinking about your shopping list,
So that when the big things happen in the rest of our lives,
We can bring just as much openness,
Just as much open-hearted awareness and attention to the big stuff,
So we can open to those moments and respond with wisdom.
And reminding ourselves,
Most importantly of all,
I don't need anything else.
I don't need to do anything else for this moment to be enough and for me to be enough in this moment.
Go ahead and take a nice deep breath,
Deep cleansing breath that really,
Really emphasizes the relaxation that can take over in the body when you realize there's absolutely nothing that you need to do right now,
This moment exactly as it is,
In this moment I.
