This meditation is most effective when practiced in a room where you feel you most likely won't be disturbed for the next 30 minutes or so.
Although,
If there is some distraction,
This is okay.
This does not have to pull your attention away from this meditation.
Taking any position that feels most comfortable and appropriate for you.
Laying down is okay for this meditation,
But try not to fall asleep.
Begin by taking a look around the room.
Noticing the character of the light in the room.
Connecting through your senses the atmosphere in the room.
The temperature.
The sounds.
And if there are no sounds,
Simply becoming aware of the silence.
Noticing the colors in the room.
Now,
See if it's possible to observe the objects within the room,
But without placing a name or a label upon the objects.
Is it possible to simply allow your eyes to receive the light without analyzing or interpreting?
Simply allowing your senses to operate without your involvement?
Simply observing what is?
A sense of allowing everything to be where it is.
Nothing needing to be moved or changed.
No labels,
Opinions or judgments upon anything within the room.
Very good.
Now,
Closing your eyes and becoming aware of the breath.
Noticing the sensations of breathing.
As the breath rises and falls.
Simply allowing the breath to rise and fall.
There is no need to force the breath in nor to force the breath out.
Simply allow the breath to rise and fall.
Noticing that as you do this,
The breath will naturally deepen itself.
Opening awareness to all of the sensations in the body.
And just as we placed no label or opinion on any of the objects in the room,
Also placing no opinion or label upon any sensation within the body.
Is it possible to simply allow any and all sensations?
A sense of being open to observe the sensation as it is now.
Now,
Opening awareness to all of the thoughts and feelings in the mind.
But just for this time now,
Do not get involved with any thoughts or any feelings.
Simply allow them to be as they are.
Noticing that just as the breath comes and goes,
So too thoughts and feelings come and go.
They arise within the mind.
Stay a while and then drift on by.
Simply do not get involved with any thought or any feeling that arises within the mind.
Noticing it is actually quite easy to do this.
If you find that your attention has wandered from time to time,
This is okay.
This is the mind doing what it does naturally.
But just for this time now,
When our attention has wandered,
Simply return attention back to the sensations of breathing.
As the breath rises and falls.
Open awareness to all of the sensations within the body.
And opening awareness now to all of the sounds around you.
If there is no sound,
Simply becoming aware of the silence.
Very good.
A sense of observation only.
Do not get involved with any thought,
Any feeling.
No judgments or opinions about anything that your senses observe.
No analysis required.
No interpretations necessary.
Simply what is now.
Recognise that you cannot feel a previous sensation.
You cannot hear a previous sound.
These things can only exist in your mind as a memory.
Memories arise in the mind within the present moment.
So too,
We cannot feel the next sensation.
We cannot hear the next sound.
This is because the future does not exist.
Thoughts of future can only exist in your mind.
And these thoughts arise within the present moment.
So simply opening awareness only to what is happening now.
No past,
No future.
Simply now.
Very good.
Continuing to feel the sensations of the breath as it rises and falls.
Now,
In this space,
With nobody else around,
Where is your name?
If nobody is around to call you by your name,
And you do not call yourself by your name,
Then where has it gone?
So quite easy,
Actually,
To simply drop this away now.
No name.
No titles.
We can pick this back up later if we wish,
But just for this time now,
A sense of leaving your name outside.
We don't need it for this meditation.
And so too,
Any numbers that you feel might represent you in some way.
This could be your age,
Your height,
Your weight.
These are just symbols.
They might be useful symbols,
And we can pick them back up later if we wish,
But just for this time now,
A sense of leaving all of these numbers just outside.
They are not needed for this meditation.
And any thoughts of past or future,
We know are just thoughts,
Just images that arise in the mind,
And they are not needed either.
So a sense of just leaving these outside for now.
And even the story of you,
The story that you've been telling yourself all of these years.
Just for this time now,
Close that book.
The whole thing,
Positive or negative,
Simply close the book and leave it outside.
We can pick it back up later if we wish,
But just taking a break from this story now.
Simply resting within this present moment,
Allowing yourself only what is,
Now.
Remaining aware of the breath as it rises and falls.
Remaining aware of the sensations in the body as they come and go.
Aware of thoughts arising and falling within the mind.
Aware of any emotions or feelings that may be rising and falling.
But just for this time now,
No getting involved with any of this.
Very good.
Now,
With name,
Numbers and all personal story left outside.
Remaining entirely as the observer only.
Simply staying as the awareness.
Nothing to analyse.
Nothing to interpret.
Nobody that you have to be.
Nowhere you have to go.
Nothing to create.
Nothing to fix.
Nothing to plan.
Nothing to remember.
Nothing to judge.
No one to be.
Simply open.
Aware.
Spacious.
Free.
Very good.
Now,
Remaining aware of the breath as it rises and falls.
Keeping your eyes closed.
Visualise the room in which you are in.
And really do this now.
Can you bring to mind the colours in the room?
All of the objects that we observed without attachment,
Without judgement or opinion.
The room as it is now.
Really bring it to mind in vivid detail.
The colours,
The atmosphere,
The sounds.
Now.
For this time,
Visualise this room without you in it.
An empty room.
No one here.
Visualise this room without you here.
Visualise what this room is like when you are not here.
Empty.
Silent.
Remain aware of the breath rising and falling.
But now there is just breath.
There is no experiencer of the breath.
There is just breath.
Rising and falling.
And now,
An empty room.
No one in here.
No one for thoughts or feelings to bother.
Nowhere for anything to collect.
Anything arising now simply drifts on by.
Simply passing through.
Nobody to get involved with any thoughts or feelings now.
Allowing the senses to continue.
Allowing the breath to continue.
But nothing to be done.
Because there is no one here.
If you find that thoughts of future or past continue to arise,
This is fine.
We simply leave them outside the moment they arise.
Really do it now.
An empty room.
Nobody here.
Simply remaining open,
Empty,
Spacious.
Allow the breath to rise and fall.
Within this present moment,
Always fresh.
Always open.
Always uncluttered.
Nowhere for anything to collect within this present moment.
If anything begins collecting,
Simply let go.
Noticing that with nobody here,
Just how easy it is to let go now.
Any and all thoughts of past,
Quite easy to simply leave them be.
Any and all worries or concerns about the future.
So simple now to simply let them be.
No need to get involved.
Because there is nobody here to get involved.
An empty room.
Now,
Reopening your eyes.
But do not jump back in to getting involved with thoughts and feelings.
See if it's possible to remain spacious a while.
In a calmer space.
A freer space.
Noticing the light in the room.
Noticing the colours in the room.
But now you are not involved.
A sense of allowing everything to be as it is now.
And as you find that your name and numbers begin to reappear.
Recognise that it's possible at any moment to simply leave these things outside.
That it is possible at any moment to simply empty yourself.
To remain open,
Empty,
Spacious and free.
Thank you for doing this meditation.
Take care and be well.
