Taking Comfort (With Music)

In this meditation, I invite you to make yourself comfortable, in whatever way serves you today. You might lie down. You might grab a pillow, anything you need to find your way to comfort. And once you’re comfortable we’ll try to understand what makes us comfortable. Including are two readings from The Radiance Sutras translated by my teacher Lorin Roche.

Transcript

Welcome. I invite you to make yourself comfortable. Perhaps you might notice your reactions to my request. What do I even mean? To lay down? To release a tight belt or even just a watch band? To release some binding clothing? To support your head? To get a blanket or pillow? Perhaps for you all of these things and more. Or you might choose to remain as you are. Perhaps not in discomfort, But in some state of good enough. Do you even allow yourself comfort? Do you ration it out like crumbs from a miser's table? How do you know you're comfortable? Is comfort simply a lack of discomfort or is it something more? Does your generosity extend fully to yourself? Oceans embrace a continent. Space welcomes the sun. Embrace yourself this generously. Form your arms into a circle and cherish the rising of serenity. Attend the birth of something new. Thoughts dissolve into peace as you become one who embraces all. What does comfort mean to you? Is comfort for you expressed primarily through your physical body? Maybe comfort means that you aren't consciously using any muscles to support yourself. Something else is holding you up, Supporting you in a way you'd like. Maybe you're comfortable when you feel at ease in your body. A delicious release that begins with your eyebrows and slowly descends through neck and shoulders, Chest and stomach, Hips and thighs, Shins and feet, All the way to your toes. Maybe it's about feeling warm, Cozy, Safe. Maybe comfort for you is less about the physical and more about the mental or emotional. Is it a calmness, A calmness of both body and mind, Peace, Serenity? Maybe comfort is being in a place of safety. Maybe it's an absence of strong emotions, A neutrality, Equanimity. Perhaps it's feeling a positive emotion very strongly, Happiness or love. Whatever comfort means to you, Allow yourself to settle into comfort as much as you can. It might be hard for you and it might take some time. If you're still on the way there, Don't worry, Take what time you need, Take as long as you need. Allow yourself that time. Allow yourself comfort. You are deserving of comfort, Ease, Relaxation. Whatever words you associate with a state of comfort, Allow yourself that. You are deserving of comfort. What do you first notice when you are comfortable? Maybe it's something physical, A sensation or the absence of a sensation. Is anything physical calling to you right now? Anything in your body, Letting itself be known? As your body relaxes, You might feel an old pain, Perhaps an old injury. The muscles that have long supported the injury have relaxed, But perhaps the injury has never fully healed. Allow yourself to acknowledge whatever you are feeling. Can you be with whatever has come to you while still staying in comfort? Can you allow that you bear a lifetime of nicks and cuts, Scrapes and bruises, But that you can meet them all from a place of comfort? Can you be with whatever has come to you while still staying in comfort? Maybe, As you settle into relaxation, Your attention shifts. Maybe your mind is concerned about something that happened today. Maybe it wants to recall something that happened years and years ago. By settling into comfort, You have given your mind permission to process anything it wants. Try not to push away anything that comes up. Allow your attention to rest where it is called, And if at some point it feels right, Let your attention again rest on your comfort, On being comfortable. Maybe, It is emotions that you feel most strongly as you move into comfort. Some might be associated with some particular event in your life, Some person. Others might be more generalized. I feel happy today. I'm happy to have found comfort. Perhaps you feel a little sad, Sad that you don't allow yourself comfort more often. Can you allow your emotions to express themselves without judging, Without pushing away, All from a place of comfort? Can you feel, But also be tender with the one who feels, With yourself? Can you feel, But also be tender with the one who feels, With yourself? Can you feel, But also be tender with the one who feels, With yourself? Maybe you feel as if you're in the center of a whirlwind, A center of comfort but with aches and pains, Thoughts, Emotions, All swirling around you. Can you ride the whirlwind, Letting your body and mind bring up whatever they feel needs to be brought up? Maybe you can acknowledge pains and sorrows, Joys and ecstasy, Whatever comes up. Maybe you can find space for healing. That space is bad. This space is good. The ride is rough, Where the going is smooth. We're thrown into suffering. We're thrown into joy. Find the space in the center, The pulsing spaciousness encompassing all opposites. Here the essences of creation are at play and the senses that perceive them. The center is the dancing ground. Let yourself be comfortable, Whatever that means to you. Let yourself settle into whatever feels right. Let yourself be with the amazing dance of life, Of your life, Of all that you are. Is there a shortcut for you to find comfort? Perhaps there are one or two words, Maybe an image in your mind, A gentle river, A snoozing kitten. If there are words that remind you of this state of comfort, You might say the words to yourself. If there are perhaps images, You might see them in your mind. If comfort for you has an emotional presence, Allow yourself to savor that feeling for a few more moments. As we slowly and tenderly transition back to the world of action, Can you bring your words or your images or your feelings back with you? Perhaps they can create a path for you to return to your place of comfort anytime you need, A roadmap to your spot of relaxation. Gently allow yourself to take in more and more of your particular environment, Perhaps the sounds that surround you, Perhaps a smell, The feeling of your body supported. You might open and close your eyes a few times, Slowly letting shapes and colors form the physical world that surrounds you. Maybe take one more slow and deep breath, Inhaling and exhaling, Both receiving and giving, Taking comfort. Welcome back.