And so go ahead and begin to settle into your seat,
Your comfortable seat,
Whatever that might look like this morning,
You may be seated on the earth,
You may be in a chair on the couch or in bed.
And if possible,
If you can sit at least upright or maybe slightly reclined,
Especially if you're just waking up.
So there's not a tendency to fall back asleep.
I want to bring some awareness into the body and into the spine today.
Kind of have a little bit of a morning cup of coffee through the meditation.
So give you a place to move from that feels anchored,
But also aware,
Alert,
Clear.
So as you're settling,
Shift any props,
Especially if there are joints that are on a hard surface,
If you're on the earth.
So using blankets,
Cushions,
Pillows,
Bolsters,
Blocks.
And maybe some cleansing breaths or long,
Slow exhales through the nose would feel nice to help you settle.
Anything that helps you arrive.
Maybe your eyes close,
Maybe they just begin to gaze softly,
The eyelids heavy.
And then take a moment to notice the sounds around you and start with sounds off in the distance.
As you cast your awareness away from you,
Often to the distance,
Let your awareness move from sound to sound.
And then you'll bring your awareness in so that you can begin to notice the sounds in the space around you.
Now allow the sounds off in the distance and the space around you to just move into the background and bring your awareness in a little more.
Begin to notice the sound of your own breath.
Or at least begin to listen for it.
And sometimes it's easy to detect and sometimes you have to listen a little harder.
And the next time you breathe in,
Become aware of smell.
Is there a scent lingering in the air?
If you're in a dedicated meditation space at home,
Maybe you've got a candle burning or a stick of incense that you've just lit and you notice that scent lingering.
Maybe you just had breakfast or a cup of tea or coffee.
And then you'll move awareness to the inside of your mouth and notice if there's a flavor on your tongue.
And even if your eyes are closed.
Again,
To remember,
To imagine,
To visualize the space that you're in.
Can you recall the shape of the room?
The color of the walls.
Even see yourself,
Imagine yourself in the space.
And finally,
Becoming aware of your sense of touch.
Where do you feel clothing resting on your skin?
Can you become aware of the points of connection between your body and the surface beneath you?
Allowing your seed to grow heavy.
Anchoring down towards the earth.
Even if you're seated on a surface like a couch or a bed or a chair,
Know that the earth is directly beneath that.
Begin to sense.
Quality of gravity,
That quality of anchoring into the support of the earth.
And on an inhale,
Allow your spine to grow a little bit taller,
Crown of your head gently lift.
Allowing your face and your shoulders and your belly to stay relaxed,
To stay soft.
Now come back to the awareness of your breath.
Begin to notice the sensation of the breath moving in and out through your nose.
Just that felt sense of the breath moving in and out.
Maybe you begin to notice the temperature of the breath.
Noticing on each exhale how the breath is slightly warmer.
From the inhale.
And continuing to remain aware of the sensation of your breath,
Begin to follow the breath on the inhale as it moves up through both sides of the nose and then down into the space of the lungs.
And then as you exhale from the space of the lungs and back out and down through the nose.
Following the breath in,
Maybe sensing,
Feeling the breath riding the bridge of the nose.
And as it enters into the lungs,
Your collarbone gently lifts,
Your ribcage widens.
And exhaling,
Your ribcage contracts,
The collarbone gently falls,
And the breath moves back out through your nose.
Now moving from the sensation of your breath to the sound of your breath.
Or the sound of your breath.
Notice the volume.
You don't have to make the breath quieter or louder.
You're just listening.
What is the volume this morning?
And then notice if your breath has a texture.
Maybe that texture is smooth.
Even.
Consistent.
Maybe you notice hitches or breaks or hiccups.
And again,
You don't have to change anything about your breath or your breathing.
You're just observing the breath moving.
Your body breathing.
You may also begin to observe the length,
The rhythm of your breath.
Maybe you notice the inhale and the exhale are different lengths.
Maybe they feel quite even,
Balanced.
Just a few more rounds noticing the qualities of your breath.
The texture.
The rhythm.
The sensation.
The volume.
Now you'll begin to bring your awareness back to the tip of your nose.
You'll continue to remain aware of the flow of your breath.
But this time shaping the breath.
So on an inhale,
Sense that the breath is moving evenly through both sides of your nose.
The breath moves evenly through both sides as you inhale.
And as you exhale.
As you're following the breath here,
You may notice that It may be the case that both sides aren't.
Even,
That one side of the nose feels a little stuffy,
Closed off,
And that's okay.
Just trust that the breath can move evenly through both sides.
Now,
The next time you breathe in and you follow the breath up through both sides of the nose,
Let your awareness land in that space right between your eyebrows.
You exhale following the breath from the space between your eyebrows and back down through both sides of your nose.
Inhaling,
The breath moves up both sides,
Meeting at the space between your eyebrows.
Exhaling from that single point back down through both sides of your nose.
Just continue to follow this inverted V.
The two streams of breath meeting at the point between your eyebrows at the top of your inhale.
And on the exhale,
The two streams of breath separating and moving back down.
And out through the nose.
You can continue to sense or feel this inverted V of breath.
You can also begin to see the two streams of breath.
As two streams of light.
A soft white light.
The two streams moving in through the nose,
Converging at that single point between your eyebrows.
And that point of light separating on the exhale and moving back down and out through your nose.
Continuing to shape the breath,
You'll move awareness to just the opening of the left nostril.
Awareness moves to the left side of your nose.
See or sense or feel the breath moving in through the left side up to the point between your eyebrows.
And exhaling down and out through the right side of the nose.
Inhaling,
The breath moves in through the right side to the point between your eyebrows.
Exhaling down and out through the left.
Inhaling through the left.
To the point between your eyebrow.
Exhaling through the right.
Inhaling through the right seed.
Sensing or feeling.
Exhale through the left.
Please continue.
The flow of breath alternating between the two sides.
Seeing the breath as a stream of white light.
Or sensing or feeling the sensation of the breath moving in and out.
The next time you exhale through the left side.
You'll release the technique.
Allowing the breath to flow evenly through both sides once again.
Now move awareness to the crown of your head.
Awareness moves to the crown of your head.
And once again,
Awareness will follow your breath.
This time it will move up and down through the central channel of your spine,
Sushumna.
From crown to tailbone.
Your awareness will follow the breath.
So starting at the crown of your head on an inhale,
Awareness moves down through the central channel all the way to the tip of your tailbone.
On the exhale,
The breath and awareness move from the tailbone back up to the crown of your head.
Inhaling,
Awareness moves down through the central channel to the tailbone.
Exhaling back up.
And through.
To the crown of your head.
Once again,
Awareness just follows the breath.
Washing the spine with awareness.
Sensing or feeling.
Awareness or the breath moving up and down or seeing.
That stream of soft white light.
Now adding a layer.
Adding a silent mantra.
As your awareness follows the breath through Shishumna Nadi.
The mantra is SO AM.
It is said that this is the mantra of the sound of our breath.
If we're listening closely to the sound of our breath,
This is the mantra that arises spontaneously.
You don't even have to effort.
To repeat this mantra.
We're constantly repeating this mantra with our breath.
So begin to listen.
To the sound of your breath.
First becoming acutely aware of the inhale.
And as you inhale,
An awareness moves from the crown of your head to the base of your spine.
Can you begin to hear the sound so?
The inhale breath awareness moves crown to tailbone,
The silent sound of soul.
The next time your awareness reaches your tailbone,
On the exhale,
Become aware of the sound of om.
As awareness moves back to the crown of your head.
Exhaling,
Tailbone to crown.
Hearing the sound,
The mantra,
Hau.
Now listening to both the inhale and the exhale.
Inhaling crown to tailbone the sound so.
Exhaling,
Tailbone to crown the sound.
Om.
So.
Please continue.
The next time you inhale,
An awareness moves down the length of your spine.
Let awareness land at that space at the heart.
Deep behind the breastbone,
Awareness resting at the heart space.
Continue to silently hear the sound of the mantra.
Now release the mantra.
You may notice that the mantra spontaneously arises in the mind.
Slowly allow your breath to deepen.
Once again,
Sending your awareness and your senses outward to take in the world around you.
Hear the sounds in the room and off in the distance.
Feel the points of connection between your body and the surface beneath you.
Again,
To recall the shape of the room and the color of the walls and where you are in the space.
As your breath deepens,
Is there a scent that lingers?
As you swallow,
Do you notice a flavor or moisture on the tongue?
Continue to slowly bring yourself back.
Taking your chin towards your chest and bringing your hands to heart center.
If you like,
You can begin to rub the palms to create some warmth.
And if you have a favorite way that you like to end your meditation,
Please feel free to take that.
Otherwise,
Once the palms are nice and warm,
You can place them anywhere on your body that would like to receive an anointing and a blessing.
Maybe even placing the palms over the eyes and gently blinking the eyes open.
You feel that you've returned,
You can let the hands settle back down onto the legs or into the lap.
Taking a moment to take in your surroundings.
Thank you again for joining.
Great to have everyone.
I hope that you enjoy the rest of your day.
