Greetings and welcome.
Thank you so much for joining this guided meditation.
I'd like to begin with a quote.
Is to guide our energy through this.
Short meditation together.
Salute!
Suzuki said,
In the beginner's mind,
There are many possibilities.
But in the experts there are few.
So I invite you to begin just by simply arriving into your seat.
Maybe on your heels or a cushion or sit in a chair.
So allow yourself to observe.
I invite you to close your eyes.
Let's drop into the natural rhythm.
Of your breath.
Allowing the shoulders to soften.
Allowing yourself to breathe in fully.
And exhaling.
Completely.
For the next few minutes there is nowhere else we need to be.
Except right here.
Together.
The beginner's mind doesn't ask us to forget what we know.
As I.
Begin my yoga practice.
That concept of letting go.
Always.
A challenge for my mind to embrace.
So many lessons I felt that.
.
.
I didn't want to forget.
As my practice has developed I've Learn that it's nada.
Practice of forgetting.
Or ignoring.
And it's not a simple task.
But also it's not.
Is impossible.
As I once thought.
The task is to clear the slate.
Empty the cup.
Not to forget the cup exists.
Not to ignore the wisdom learned hard through experience.
Simply letting go of the emotional attachment.
Sometimes.
Cauterizes a wound or that lesson learned.
In my younger days,
I was.
.
.
A Navy Diver.
In that training.
One of the exercises was to Donar.
Scuba equipment.
Jugs of air on our backs and we would swim.
In the bottom of a deep pool and the instructors would observe from above.
And we were.
Instructed to keep our face down looking at the pool floor beneath us.
Meanwhile,
The instructors prepared to literally attack us from above.
And we had practiced these 13 very specific steps to recover from these attacks.
And the attacks would include removing your face masks and removing your air,
Even turning off the air circulation provided by the scuba jugs,
The air cylinders,
And sometimes tying those hoses into knots.
And Samadhi.
Of most expediency.
And discipline.
Without his sight.
We had to.
Reinstall,
Repair the gear,
And first and foremost,
There was nothing more important to our minds than to breathe again,
To get the air circulated to our lungs.
And it seemed like a complex lesson at the time.
It was a lot.
Stress was imposed and still monitored for safety.
But definitely still that sense of fear.
The unknown.
And throughout the complexity,
These very specific steps that had to be followed in a specific sequence.
But first and foremost.
Primary rule stood out was to breathe again.
And so with that lesson,
I have learned to let go of the stress of those types of situations that may have cauterized the lessons that have made me who I am today.
And that may be an extreme example.
But it also highlights a certain humility.
It must be present.
Not a humility is.
Making ourselves smaller,
But.
.
.
A certain humility.
Becoming receptive.
Are willing to meet the moment.
Before deciding.
What it means and before allowing that moment to define us.
Before deciding what should happen next,
Or deciding.
Anything at all.
In reality,
This moment has never existed before.
This breath has never been breathed.
Before.
You have never been exactly who.
.
.
You are.
And so in this moment,
This here and now.
I would be in fact limiting.
Myself,
My potential.
If I were to hold on.
To what once was.
Still in the bottom of the pool fighting.
For that next breath.
It's unnecessary.
And so as we return to our seats.
Notice the heart rate.
Come back to the rhythm.
Of your breath in this moment.
Simply experience it.
Feel where the breath first makes itself known.
Maybe entering the nose,
The mouth.
The chest all the way down to the belly.
Sometimes it's even nice to place a hand on the heart,
Hand on the abdomen.
Just to reconnect to the rise and fall of that physical.
Motion.
Returning.
No need to breathe differently just to notice.
And maybe feel less pain.
The way your body moves around your body.
And the weight of your body settling into your seat as you soften the muscles.
As you let go.
Of the tension.
Something very simple of just choosing to relax your neck and shoulders.
Or the expansion of your lungs and the chest.
Something throughout the day maybe.
Or nearly pass by without noticing.
Just allow yourself for a moment to be surprised by it.
There's something extraordinary about them.
The ordinary,
The simplicity.
And we can see it and we can feel it when we stop assuming.
That we already know it.
And those moments of simplicity perhaps.
Is where genuine awe and wonder emerge.
That beginner's mind is open.
Receptive.
Not necessarily.
A mountaintop.
Something.
Enormous.
Maybe not even a great revelation,
Some life-changing event.
Sometimes all begins simply with humility.
Hearing that still,
Small voice,
The natural vibration in the throat as you breathe.
Just noticing what is already here.
Maybe.
The sound of the birds,
The light through the window.
Maybe the presence of another person in the space you share.
Reminding us of the simple fact that we are all here.
And that we are.
Here at all.
What a miracle.
Of so many miracles.
Receiving this moment in this way,
Open,
Curious.
Not empty of experience or wisdom,
But just spacious enough.
For experience in this moment too.
Continue to teach us.
To show us what we.
.
.
Are.
And from that receptivity we can move.
Forward.
Just one breath at a time.
Learning doesn't always mean adding more.
Sometimes learning is just discovering what works.
Already is.
Sometimes it's even discovering what can be removed.
What is unnecessary?
What is blocking us from.
.
.
Who we are from learning in this moment.
By removing that extra.
Burden what becomes lighter.
Clear.
We might even ask,
What is the simplest thing in this moment?
That is true.
It's the simplest.
Knowing.
One breath.
A heartbeat,
A sensation.
Another being.
One thing worth doing.
It's not necessary for us to understand it.
In fact.
The most wonderful thing,
Ours.
Unnecessary and maybe even impossible.
Understand as.
.
.
The Earth trying to wrap itself around the sky.
We can just meet ourselves where we are.
Allow yourself just to rest in the balance.
The balance of that humility,
Of receptivity.
And the simplicity in it.
An appropriate response.
As we start to transition.
Back to our day.
Maybe carry that one question.
With you.
That's something you have to answer.
Nothing to be forged,
Just allow it to emerge.
It's the question to return to whenever the day begins to feel complicated.
Let's pause and.
.
.
Ask,
What is the simplest thing in this moment?
That can inspire what's real in me.
And let that question just remain open.
Let the day answer it.
In its own way.
Just one slow.
.
.
Breath at a time.
Whenever.
Whenever you're ready.
Just gently open your eyes.
And begin again.
Thanks you so much for choosing to practice.
I hope to see you.
Return as often as you can.
And stay as long as you can.
With all my love.
With all my gratitude.
Namaste.
