We are going to do a bravery meditation practice this morning.
So this is not a seated meditation.
This is actually standing meditation.
So some of you may not have done a standing meditation before.
So if you are lying down in your bed or if you are on your cushion,
Now is the time to stand.
And this is a wakefulness practice.
So your eyes will be open.
So I'm not asking you to close your eyes or balance or anything like that,
Especially at seven in the morning.
So your eyes are going to be open.
They aren't fully open.
Well,
They can be fully open if you'd like them to be,
Or they can be cast down just a couple inches in front of you,
Capped.
It's not that you're focusing on any one thing in particular you are inviting everything that you see into your gaze.
So not one thing is more important than the other thing.
You're just able to see everything.
And your arms are hanging by your sides and your palms are going to be facing forward.
Just gonna move.
There we go.
Okay.
You know,
And if you're standing in front of a computer,
If you're standing in front of me,
Looking at me,
You can,
Or I invite you to turn around and hear my voice from behind.
Okay.
So just feel into your body right now and stand and feel the body.
Just be in the body,
Really inhabit the body.
And you might notice your thoughts,
Right?
They might kind of be circling around your head and just let them come down into the body.
And put your attention at the bottom of your feet.
Feel the support beneath you.
Move your attention to your ankles,
To your shins,
Your legs,
Your calves.
And notice your knees,
Are they locked?
Are they fully bent?
Don't go to the extreme,
Just find somewhere in the middle.
Just notice what the middle feels like.
Move your attention to your thighs,
Your hamstrings,
Your pelvis,
Your chest,
Your knees.
Your glutes,
To your belly,
Your lower back,
Your diaphragm,
Your chest,
Your belly,
The middle back,
The upper back,
Your chest,
Your arms,
Your chest,
Your arms,
Your chest,
Your palms.
Move up to the shoulders now.
Tuck your chin slightly,
Lengthen the back of your neck.
Move your attention to your throat,
Your head,
And now your head.
And just feel this sense of uprightness,
This posture that you have,
This presence that you have.
And as thoughts come in and try to take you away from this moment,
Or if you notice that you're caught up,
Just say,
Thinking,
Thank you so much for sharing,
And come back to this sense of uprightness,
This being in the body,
This standing.
Feel this openness as though you are facing challenge,
You are standing in front of challenge,
You are seeing clearly.
This sense of knowing,
Capability,
Belief that you have within you.
Feel your whole body at once.
Constantly returning to the body,
Staying in,
Staying home.
Bringing your awareness now to your breathing.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And as you breathe in,
Say Earth,
Connect to the Earth.
And as you breathe out,
Silently say Wind,
Connect to the Wind.
Inhale Earth,
Exhale Wind.
Earth,
Wind.
We are grounded like the Earth,
To the Earth.
And we allow ourselves to move through like the wind.
Let go of the breath now and just stand.
And as we end today's bravery practice,
Silently say to yourself,
I see clearly,
I am strong,
I am brave,
I am fearless,
I am awake.
Okay,
So the beauty of wakefulness practice is that it is supposed to,
Well let me say most meditation is a wakefulness practice,
Right?
But when we meditate with our eyes open,
It is different in that we can move back into activity much easier than when we have our eyes closed.
And it is with these types of practices that is the idea.
The idea is to bring this practice into your action,
Your day to day.
So there is no difference between sitting and being in meditation and being in the world.
When we close our eyes,
That's us going inward,
That's us needing to be with ourselves.
And then there are other practices that are geared more towards this sense of bringing the practice into your day to day.
So with this practice,
I hope that it was just a different way of seeing meditation,
Of experiencing meditation.
And also you may feel differently than a seated practice.
So I'm going to end today with a Buddha card.
Okay.
So the Buddha card says,
Offend no one and yet speak the truth.
Be clear with and kind with your words.
Never harsh.
