As you come into this meditation,
You can start with a few deep breaths,
Getting settled,
And finding a posture that's comfortable and alert.
Not too tense,
But not too slack either.
Might wriggle around a bit,
Move the head,
The neck,
Maybe sway from side to side.
Just take a moment to find your balance.
Find what feels right,
What feels comfortable.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Just bringing to mind that sense of letting go,
Clearing,
Clearing the mind,
Clearing space for some meditation.
As we settle into this meditation,
You might choose an anchor that's suitable for you.
Maybe the in and out breathing,
The sensations associated with that.
Or if the breath doesn't work for you,
You might tune into the sounds.
You might just notice sounds coming and going,
Perhaps the silence around the sounds.
You might tune into the body,
The felt sense of the body sitting or standing or lying down.
And just bringing a light attention,
A light awareness to that anchor,
Whatever it is.
Just enough for the mind to be present and not holding too tightly.
Often in meditation,
We can get carried away with a kind of ambition of being very focused,
Very concentrated.
There's this conception that somehow in meditation you're supposed to get to a state,
Get yourself into a state which is totally blank,
Totally devoid of thinking or being distracted.
And that the way to get there is somehow to get ever more intense levels of focus and concentration.
And in that project of trying to attain some special state,
We're actually moving in the opposite direction of that which we seek.
A state of natural clarity and stillness.
Spacious.
Empty,
You could say.
But it's not something you get to or attain through lots of effort.
There's a stillness that's already there at the heart of all experience.
There's a stillness that's already there and it's more about uncovering that through letting go of that which obstructs,
That which clouds the stillness.
And this is not just a nice-sounding thought.
It's not just a kind of interesting idea,
The idea that there's stillness at the heart of experience.
This is,
It's a practice instruction.
It's pointing to something that's true about the nature about the nature of experience,
Something which you can apprehend for yourself.
So don't get attached even to the idea of finding stillness or some theory about what stillness is.
The general theme is relax,
Really relax,
And let go.
And to the extent that we do that,
We experience stillness.
The stillness becomes apparent as we're able to let go.
Let go of what?
Of whatever the mind is holding.
And it will be different for each person,
But as a general pointer,
Can you feel in your experience some sense of clenching,
Of grasping,
Of clutching?
Almost like if you imagine what it's like to have a clenched fist.
Is some part of the mind,
Of the heart,
Or some part of your experience,
Is it clenched?
And what would it mean to loosen the grip,
To open the fist?
The grip to open the fist.
You can get the flavor of this to some extent by deliberately relaxing parts of the body.
So as you breathe out,
You might relax around the face,
The head,
The eyes.
Relax the shoulders.
The jaw,
The neck.
And as you do,
Can you bring to mind that sense of letting go?
Not holding so tightly.
Letting things come and go.
In their own time,
In their own way.
Letting things be.
That's another way to think of it.
Allowing space for the elements of your experience.
Your thoughts,
Your moods,
Your emotions,
The physical sensations.
Allowing space for all of that to breathe.
To come and go.
Not trying to sort it out or fight with it.
Almost like you're relaxing into the space around.
Your experience.
Noticing how your experience flows.
The breath flows in and out.
We talk about an in-breath and an out-breath.
Can you set aside maybe even that framing?
Set aside your visual impression of the body with its lungs and its nostrils.
Just really feel the flowing quality of the breath.
Get beneath the thoughts,
The images,
The expectations.
And see if you can really be with the flowing quality of the breath.
As if you're experiencing it for the first time.
What's it like?
No need to describe it in words.
No need to form any thoughts at all.
You just soften into that experience.
Let your mind be soft and flowing like the breath itself.
It's a very intimate experience.
Drawing close to the breath.
Soften.
Relax.
Putting down.
Letting go.
Just the breath.
Right here.
Right here.
And as thoughts come up.
Or aversion comes up.
Restlessness.
Distraction.
You just notice those as ripples in the flow of your experience.
You might notice the tendency to clench around that.
The tendency to get drawn in by aversion or restlessness and make something out of it.
Can you relax into the spaciousness?
That space which allows for all things,
Even aversion,
To arise and pass away.
When there's aversion and you're aware of it,
Can you relax into the awareness?
Let the aversion be what it is.
It's not me.
Not even mine.
It doesn't have to be.
It can just be a passing condition in the mind.
And it's okay if your experience isn't totally one-pointed.
It's okay if thoughts and feelings and even unpleasant feelings coexist alongside the breath.
Of course they do.
We're not getting rid of experience.
Allow the ripples to come and go.
And you rest with the breath.
Let it go again and again.
Into the stillness.
Relaxing any sense that you need to be accomplishing something.
That sense of striving and effort.
Even the effort to succeed at meditation.
Can you relax that?
And you might wonder,
How can I relax even my attempt to meditate?
How would I be meditating then?
Just relax even that thought.
Let it go.
Let it go.
And just relax even that thought.
Don't think about it.
Just relax.
And see what happens.
If that isn't going anywhere for you.
If you're finding that you're still quite active.
Quite animated or tense.
See if you can bring to mind the perception of nothing to do.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to do.
Nothing to achieve.
Give yourself permission to do the least amount possible to do.
Just be aware of the breath.
And the space around your experience.
Very,
Very light effort.
Give yourself permission to do nothing other than that.
Relax everything else.
Even the sense that you're not relaxing enough.
Let that be.
It's just a thought.
And when you let go.
What's there?
In the mind?
Space?
Or is it just a thought?
Space?
Calm?
Absence of pressure?
Can you deepen into that?
And just rest there.
Rest in the absence of pressure.
The absence of needing to do something.
Let the breath come and go.
Letting all things come and go as they do.
The mind soft enough,
Spacious enough to include it all.
So just continue to practice like that on your own now.
As you notice yourself getting distracted or activated.
No problem.
No need to get critical or judgmental.
Just let it float.
Let it go.
And relax into that sense of space.
Of allowing.
Continue like that now and I'll ring a bell to end the practice.
