Alright,
Join me now on this soul practice.
Be here now.
So find a comfortable seat,
Spine upright.
And gently close down your eyes if that feels right for you.
What we're doing here is simple.
We are recalibrating.
We spend so much time in the noise and the doing.
The constant striving to become someone else.
To be somewhere else.
This is the time we come back in.
We recall what it is to just be.
Just get here.
Just breathing gently.
There's no need to change your breath.
Let it be exactly as it is.
Sitting with what you're experiencing right now,
In this moment.
Maybe you're feeling some tiredness.
Maybe heat,
Cold.
Maybe you're feeling the seat beneath you.
Maybe the sounds around you.
Maybe there's some tightness in your body.
Maybe a memory,
A worry,
A plan,
Perhaps a judgment.
It all belongs.
Welcome it all.
And if what comes is sadness.
If what comes is grief.
If what comes is rage or shame or longing.
There's no need for any of that to be different.
Your whole heart is welcome here and now.
Keep coming back directly to whatever it is you're experiencing.
The floor under your feet,
The air on your skin.
The weight of your own body,
The breath,
Just this breath.
If your mind takes you somewhere,
When you notice,
Just come back,
Again and again,
Over and over.
This is the practice.
Coming back home.
Thoughts may rise and pass away.
Sensations come and go.
Memories can float through.
Everything crossing your awareness,
Like clouds crossing an endless sky.
Simply notice,
Observe,
Watch.
If a sound arises,
It's welcome here.
There's no need to resist it or grab hold of it and hold on to it too tightly.
It arises in your field of awareness,
And as easily and as gently as it arrived,
It moves on,
It goes.
Whatever you were noticing just a moment ago.
It's already gone,
It's already moved on.
So the thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
Emotions,
The memories,
The plans,
The worries,
The joys,
All passing through like clouds.
And you are the sky.
Clinking to nothing.
Just being at ease,
At rest,
With what is.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to accomplish.
No merit in this.
It's just this.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to accomplish.
Just this moment.
Just this breath.
Just this moment.
Just this breath.
Where are you?
You're here.
What time is it?
It's now.
Your whole past is the platform for this,
For being here now.
The awareness is vast,
As vast as the sky.
All of your thoughts and sensations and memories are clouds that come from nowhere and go to nowhere,
And you are not the clouds.
Are the sky.
No effort.
Nothing to do.
Just being.
Nothing to do.
Nothing to accomplish.
Just being here now.
Kabir says,
Are you looking for me?
I'm in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in the stupas,
Not in the Indian shrine rooms,
Nor in synagogues,
Nor in cathedrals.
Not in masses nor curtains.
Not in legs winding around in your own neck,
Nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me.
You will see me instantly.
You will find me in the tiniest houses of time.
Kabir says,
Student,
Tell me,
What is God?
Hey.
Is the breath.
Inside the breath.
When you're ready,
Slowly bring your awareness back.
Wiggle your fingers and toes and gently open your eyes.
Baruch Adonai le'olam.
Amein ve'amein.
The goal is so.
