So this morning's meditation is a meditation on what are called the grunties.
These are often translated to mean psychic knots or psychological knots.
And this is building,
This grunting meditation is somewhat inspired by the prana focus that we've been working with through the months of May and last week.
And depending on the text or the tradition,
There will be different areas that these grantees are associated with,
And in the Tantric and Pomoyan lineage,
There are three.
There is the Rudra Granthi.
So Rudra is the fierce form of Shiva,
The God of dissolution,
The one who destroys or dissolves.
And that point is this space right between the eyebrows.
There is the Vishnu Granthi,
Which is right at the heart space,
So deep behind the breastbone.
And then there is the,
And that's the,
Vishnu is the sustainer.
And then there is the Brahma Granthi.
Which is at the tailbone,
And this is the creator.
And so these psychological knots,
We could say,
Are areas where prana has a tendency,
Energy,
Life force,
To become blocked or stagnant for various reasons.
And because of this adage of where awareness goes,
Prana flows,
As you bring your awareness to these grantis,
Psychic knots and just allow your awareness to rest in these areas.
There's really nothing that you have to do because awareness itself or Prana,
Prana is the intelligence of our life force.
Prana itself.
When we focus awareness,
Focus Prana into that particular area already has a healing,
Natural healing quality to it.
So this focus or this resting awareness in these areas of the grantees begins to loosen these knots and therefore prana can begin then to flow freely.
So if you have been with us for meditation over the past several weeks,
Especially last week,
When you were moving awareness up and down the length of the spine,
You may have noticed areas along the length of the spine where maybe awareness wanted to,
Or attention wanted to move into a different place,
Or maybe it felt sticky or stagnant,
Or for some reason,
It just felt like awareness would not flow quite as easily.
And that may have been related to this psychological knock,
This flow of prana,
Being inhibited for some reason.
And so we don't,
Again,
We don't have to know the why,
We don't have to do anything in particular to begin to loosen these knots other than rest awareness in these areas.
So today's meditation will be guiding your awareness to these particular grandees.
The Rudra,
The Vishnu and the Brahma grantee and just allow your awareness to rest there and I encourage you to notice what comes up.
Is there a particular sensation that you feel?
Is there images or shapes or colors that may arise in your mind's eye?
Thoughts or memories,
Or is there a tendency to have attention wander off in some other direction?
And remember,
The goal here with meditation is not to,
You know,
To empty the mind or clear the mind.
It is to sit with what is arising moment by moment and stay with it and be curious.
So,
All right,
Let's get started.
Go ahead and find a comfortable seat,
Make any adjustments to your body,
Shifting any props that are supporting joints.
The props that may be beneath you lifting the hips.
Maybe you're in a chair and you settle your back against the chair,
Maybe you scoot a little closer to the edge.
So that as you're breathing,
You can.
Feel your back body expand on the inhale.
If you're in a chair,
Settle your feet flat on the earth beneath you.
Whatever surface you are seated upon.
Begin to sense your seat growing heavy with gravity.
Anchoring down into the support of the surface beneath you.
Sensing,
Feeling the earth.
Below that surface if you're not directly on the earth.
And recalling the qualities of the earth that are steady and stable and solid.
Remembering that your body is the earth element,
Your bones,
All the tissues,
The muscles.
Begin to sense that same quality of stability,
Quality of steadiness.
Within your body.
Maybe you even sense the spine growing taller here,
A gentle lift through the crown of your head.
Even as the spine lengthens,
That same quality of stability is still present.
The shoulders are soft,
The face and belly relaxed.
To help you settle more and more,
Begin to notice what it is that your five senses are taking in from the world around you.
And starting with sound,
Listening for sounds far off in the distance.
Let your awareness move from sound to sound.
And then let those sounds just dissolve into the background as you bring your awareness in to notice the sounds in the space around you.
And then you allow those sounds to dissolve into the background as well and bring your awareness in a little closer.
Begin to listen for the sound of your breath.
The next time you breathe in,
Can you detect a scent lingering in the air?
Maybe you have incense or a candle burning.
Maybe you recently brewed a cup of coffee or tea or made breakfast.
That scent is still lingering.
And then shift awareness to the inside of your mouth and notice,
Is there a flavor on your tongue?
Moisture on the insides of the cheeks.
Even if your eyes are closed,
Moving to your sense of sight,
Begin to remember,
To recall,
To visualize the space that you're in,
The shape of the room,
The color of the walls.
Can you see yourself in the space?
And then finally,
Your sense of touch.
Where does clothing rest on your skin?
Again,
Feeling those points of connection between your body and the surface beneath you.
Now you'll come back to the awareness of your breath.
Maybe once again,
Listening to the sound.
Can you notice if your breath has a particular texture this morning?
Maybe the breath feels smooth,
Or maybe you notice itchings or breaks.
And whatever is arising,
Whatever you're noticing,
There's nothing to do or change here.
You're just observing.
As your awareness is resting on your breath,
You may notice that there is a natural shift without any effort at all,
Something about the breath changes,
Maybe the rhythm.
Maybe the texture,
Maybe the volume,
Maybe the length.
To anchor into breath awareness even more,
Begin to shift your awareness to the tip of your nose.
And begin to sense or feel the breath moving in and out through both sides of the nose.
So as you inhale,
Can you sense the breath moving through both sides?
Riding the bridge of the nose,
You may begin to detect that one side feels more dominant.
Or one side may be a little stuffy.
And even if there is a side that feels more dominant or a little closed off from some congestion.
Just trust that the breath is moving evenly through both sides for the next nine rounds.
Now you'll continue to follow the breath.
As you breathe in,
Sense the two streams of breath moving up each side of the nose and converging at that space right between your eyebrows.
The exhale breath,
Awareness moves down through both sides of the nose and back out.
So the breath becomes this inverted V shape.
Again,
You can just sense or feel the breath.
As you're breathing in the stream of breath moving up each side of the nose to that space right between the eyebrows.
On the exhale from that point between the eyebrows,
The two streams of breath separate and move back down and out through the nose.
You can continue to sense or feel the two streams of breath.
You can also begin to see,
To visualize the breath.
As two streams of a soft white light.
So these two streams move up each side of the nose as you inhale.
And verging into a single point right between the eyebrows.
From that point of light between the eyebrows on the exhale.
Separates back into two streams of light.
Moving down and out through the nose.
Nine more rounds.
And so as you're breathing,
You're naturally anchoring in.
So what resonates most with you?
Are you visual?
And so the two streams of light resonate with you.
Maybe you're tactile.
And so the sensation of the breath.
Moving in and out through the nose and landing at the space between the eyebrows resonates.
Maybe you're more auditory and you're just listening to the breath and letting awareness follow this inverted V shape.
Next time you breathe in and awareness moves to the point between your eyebrows,
Let your awareness rest right here at the point between your eyebrows.
Rudra Pranthi.
See the point of light or feel the point of light.
What is the sensation at the spot between your eyebrows?
If you're seeing the point of light.
Is it a tiny point?
Is it a larger point of light?
Does it radiate strongly or does it seem maybe a little soft or dim?
You're sensing or feeling.
What sensations are arising?
Is there tingling?
All seen.
Quality of constriction,
Or maybe spaciousness.
Just continue to rest awareness at the point between your eyebrows.
Noticing sensation arise.
Are noticing how that point of light may shift and change.
Next time you breathe in.
You'll draw awareness back into the midbrain.
So awareness moves from the point between your eyebrows.
Deep into the center of the brain.
And then your next breath in awareness moves down into the heart space.
Deep behind the breastbone.
Awareness at the heart space,
The Vishnu Granthi.
Allowing awareness to rest at your heart space,
Sensing or feeling sensation.
Seeing the point of light deep within the heart.
As you're sensing,
Feeling,
Seeing.
And you observe all around this point of awareness.
So the front of the body.
The back of your body,
That space between the shoulder blades,
What are the sensations present here?
How do you observe that point of light from the back of your body?
From behind the heart space.
And the same from the front of the heart space.
Take time to observe from above and below and from the sides,
Feeling into the ribs.
Maybe sensation here at the heart space is different than sensation at the third eye.
Maybe the point of light radiates differently in the heart space.
Than it did at the third eye.
Maybe you notice that awareness can rest with more ease in the heart space,
Or maybe you find it a bit more challenging than awareness at the third eye.
And just continuing to rest awareness in the heart space.
See,
Sensing.
Feeling.
Next time you breathe in,
Let awareness slowly move down to the tailbone.
Awareness moves to the tailbone,
The root of the spine.
Brahma Granthi.
Begin to see or sense or feel awareness resting at the base of your spine.
Noticing sensation.
Observing the point of light.
Now dissolve awareness of the grantees and just come back to the rhythm of your breath.
Maybe feeling the breath or listening.
To the volume,
Noticing the texture.
And observe the whole body now.
Observing sensation.
Noticing how the mind is moving.
If the breath has a different texture.
Allowing the breath to deepen,
You'll begin to call yourself back,
Back into the present moment.
Listening to the sound of your breath and the sounds in the room.
And then listening for sounds off in the distance.
The breath continues to deepen.
Becoming aware of a scent in the air.
As taste comes back online,
Do you notice the flavor in your mouth?
Feel the places where your body is supported by the surface beneath you.
And where clothing is resting on your skin.
And finally,
Remember the space that you're in,
The color of the walls,
The shape of the room.
And where you are in the space.
Gently dropping your chin towards your chest.
Bringing hands to heart center palms pressing gently begin to rub the palms together creating some warmth.
When the hands feel nice and warm,
If you would like to place them somewhere on the body that would like to receive a blessing or an anointing,
You can place them there.
You can also place the hands directly over the eyes,
Cupping the eyes gently,
Letting the eyes blink open.
Receiving some light.
And as you feel ready,
Your hands can slowly release back down onto the legs or into your lap.
Arriving back in the present moment arriving back to your day.
