A Seat For Meditation

Finding both a Sacred Space to Sit as well as a Comfortable Seat, are the first assignments I give to new meditators. This short talk and guided meditation, provide the listener with inspirations for exploring a variety of locations and seat types on their Journey into a daily mediation practice. The listener, or new meditator, is encouraged to be accepting of both the comfort and discomforts that arise as part of their personal journey.

Transcript

Hello and thank you for joining me on the journey inward. Today I'm going to speak to you about finding a comfortable seat and a place to sit as you begin your journey inward to meditation. A common problem that students face is finding a seat that they feel comfortable physically in but also a seat in a location where they're not disturbed and that they feel a sense of tranquility around them that supports their meditation practice. Now as you become more advanced in meditation you want to explore finding a seat in places that maybe are more noisy or things are happening and you want to drop in and find peace even in the midst of chaos. But as you begin meditating in your very first weeks, Months, Years, Perhaps you want to find a place that's consistent and that you can find a daily ritual to practice your personal experience of what meditation is for you. And so today I'm going to ask you to explore the places around your home, Your living facility, Maybe in the park or yard nearby, Maybe even inside your car. Where is there a quiet place that you can consistently show up at in the same time every day and sit? And this is a place where maybe you just find five minutes or two minutes and you place a stool or a cushion or whatever you need there and then you just sit. That's the only thing that I want you to do. This you could take even for the next few weeks or for a full day. We have this time that's been granted to us where we're home or a little more grounded. So find a seat in maybe your bedroom. Bring a chair into that space or a bench or a cushion if you have the flexibility to bring your body onto the floor and sit comfortably. I like to recommend that students find a time of day that's consistent. So when I mentioned using your car, What I found is that if you know that you live in a chaotic environment, Perhaps you have a large family or roommates or a loud neighborhood, Maybe you have a car ride that provides some peace and quiet and isolation for you. You could pack a yoga mat or a cushion to put under your hips and raise your seat so that your hips are higher than your knees and you could use your car as a quiet place for you to sit, Close your eyes and bridge the time between work and home or whatever your activity is, Maybe dropping your children off at school and coming back into your home or into your work. So there can be a number of ways, Places and methods for meditating. And today's method is find a seat. Now I want you to notice because you logged on to this meditation, Preparing to meditate. So I'm going to guide you through a short meditation, Noticing whatever seat you have chosen to be in right now. Notice that we are going to sit up. I'd like you not to lie down. Lying down is going to invite in a sense of more receptive relaxation. And while that is great in some circumstances, For beginner meditators, I really encourage you to find a seat where you can be upright, Like you to find your feet on the ground. And notice if you can place your feet under your knees if you're sitting in a chair. I call this seated mountain posture. And then we notice where our hips and rear rest. I'd like your hips to be slightly higher than your knees. If they're not right now, That's okay. But could you adjust yourself, Maybe bring yourself further forward on your chair. Or if you're sitting on the floor in a cushion, Maybe take your hands and move the flesh of your buttocks just a little so that you feel your sit bones, Those two ischial tuberosities, These two pointy bones right at the base of your rear. Notice that they have something beneath them. And we want to think of those as our feet if we're sitting. And we come forward on our cushion or our chair just a bit so that the hips just gently tilt forward. And we notice a low back curve. Feel the places grounding, Meeting the earth, The soles of the feet, The base of the spine, The body, Inviting those sit bones, The flesh of the buttocks to be heavy received the legs ground us. We notice the weight of the legs, Heavy, Neutral, Let go of any sense of gripping in the muscles and grabbing the bones to lift up. Let the muscles relax, Maybe take an exhale. Relax the muscles of the legs, Allow them to become heavy and grounded. Notice the earth with each exhalation. Let this moment become the moment that's grounding you and holding you to the earth. Valley and breath to begin to draw upward over the front body across the belly, Softening the abdomen, Letting the chest slightly rise from the point in the center of the chest or heart center. Allow the exhale to move through and down the back body. For this meditation, Allow the breath to guide your awareness up over the abdomen across the heart and lungs, The chest center, And then grounding by allowing the back body to be heavy, Releasing any tension that you might have noticed so far in the hips, The back and the legs. If you're feeling pain or tension, Just notice it. Notice the places where maybe today's seat has invited discomfort or disease. This is normal. We all have different positions or days that our body finds tension or gripping. And through our practice of meditation, We notice how we are in our seat and we let go of our attachment to wanting to feel differently. And notice how you're feeling today. Notice the exhale letting go and the inhale refreshing as it moves up. This time, Allow that inhalation to come right up over the shoulders. Feel the fullness of the torso. And then with the exhale, Let the shoulders begin to release. Muscles of the shoulders relax and the arms become heavy. You may notice the bones of the arms just as we notice the bones of the legs. Allow the bones of the arms to be heavy. Maybe bringing the hands to rest on the knees or your right hand resting inside your left hand on your lap. Let the muscles of the arms release their grip on holding and lifting the shoulders and the muscles of the arms upward. And with your next out breath, Just let the arms go. Let the muscles relax. There's no doing that needs to happen right now. We let the arms release. Let the hands be soft in whatever placement you've found comfortable. Try to avoid moving the hands between different places. Find one place that your hands can rest and allow them to be there today. Maybe tomorrow, You'll explore another place and you'll find over time what works for you. But for just today, Allow the muscles of the hands to release. Maybe the fingertips soften so there's a gentle curve to the palms. The weight of the forearms and wrists is relaxed and the elbows are heavy. As the elbows are heavy and release, We invite the tension that many of us carry across the shoulders to let go. That in breath rises again from the belly, The palms of the hands, Across the chest. And as the shoulders relax and move down the back body, Notice if your neck muscles can follow the weight of the shoulders, The weight of the seat and release their tension into the earth. Maybe swallow a few times so that you feel the throat release. As the throat releases, The tension in the neck may start to subside if you hold tension there. Can you find a connection point between your ears and your neck? Allow the ears to become restful, Letting go of the listening to what's happening in your mind chatter, Allow the ears to be receptive, Listening to your body, The sensation of the breath. And from your ears, Follow the jawline until the jaw releases. Maybe the lips part slightly and you feel a spaciousness in the interior of your mouth. Again, You can swallow a few times until you find a place of comfort where you can release the root of the tongue, Letting the soft palate at the roof of the mouth open, Receive the warmth of the breath as you exhale, Throat soft, Shoulders and back soft, Hips and legs grounding as the in breath follows. Notice the breath rise from the roots of the body up. When we focus on the in breath, We might notice the nose, The airway and the path that leads the breath in through the nostrils as cool and calming. Seeing the expression that crosses over the cheekbones and the eyes. Allow your brows to become soft if they haven't already. You may have already noticed a shift in your expression and the way that your skin is resting on the face, The forehead soft, Letting go around the seams of the hairline, Letting go from one ear to the other ear, Following the pathway of the scalp and the hair, Releasing the jaw and just noticing now your state of being, Noticing the breath move in, The breath leave. I'd like you to stay in this position as long as you would like, Noticing how today's seat has worked for you, Both the seat that you're sitting in and your experience of sitting. Notice the places in your body that you've invited to let go. Maybe places that you hadn't considered tension residing until today. Begin to deepen your breath, Noticing the fullness of the in breath coming through the nostrils, Filling the body, Washing the mind, Each in breath cleansing and renewing. Each exhale allow to be a thank you to your body, To your mind, To your soul for granting yourself this time today with the in breath, Refreshing and replenishing with the out breath bringing the hands over the heart center, Either to rest on your heart or to pray into a prayer position, Allowing your head to bow honoring you for showing up, Honoring you, Honoring your breath, Your body and your soul. Thank you for this time today. Namaste. Allow the hands to move down to the lap and the eyes to softly open. Whatever your experience was on the seat that you chose today, Whether it's in the room or the space that you've chosen or the seat that you've chosen, Honor and notice what worked and honor and recognized what didn't work and go from that as you begin to explore other locations in your life that may become your sacred space for meditation. You know, We'll notice a lot from practicing meditation every day. Maybe what time does or doesn't work for you, What location or seat is or is not comfortable, Where you get disturbed or what times of day you get disturbed. Think of this as an exploration project. You're going to be exploring how it is to sit in meditation, Just like a scientist. So your homework for today is to go into the corners of your life and sit and notice how that works. Notice how comfortable you are sitting and then take that information and use it to grow your personal meditation practice on your journey inward. Thank you for joining me. This is Nadine. Namaste. Bye bye.