Hello and welcome back to Quick Shanti.
Today's meditation we are just being.
Nowhere to go,
Nothing to do,
Just being.
Go ahead and find a comfortable seated position.
Take a moment to adjust your posture,
Sitting as upright as possible,
A nice straight spine,
Making sure that this position is comfortable for the next 10 minutes or so.
Take a nice deep inhale,
And as you exhale let go of any tension or stress you may be holding in your body.
Pull your shoulders down and away from your ears,
Relax your jaw,
Unclench your fists,
Feel your body sinking and melting into the ground.
Become more present in this moment.
Now before we begin I want to leave a quote out in the open as an offering for today's practice on just being.
Now Ram Dass once said,
There's nowhere to go,
There's nothing to accomplish,
There's no merit,
It's just this.
Just this.
We're just being.
We're here to find balance between the hustle and bustle of daily life and cultivating some inner stillness.
So begin by taking a few gentle breaths,
Just normal breathing.
Go ahead and just acknowledge what's going on within you.
If you feel grumpy,
Allow yourself to feel grumpy.
If you feel anxious,
Just notice those anxious sensations.
If you're hearing sounds from your house or outside or traffic,
Just allow them to be there.
Give them space.
Do not push anything away.
Just be with whatever is showing up right now.
Now continue to bring your attention back to your present moment,
Your present experience.
Be with what is.
If your mind wanders or if a thought or memory pulls you outside of this moment,
Simply notice that.
Acknowledge it and bring your focus back to the sensations of your breath.
Feel the air entering your nostrils,
Leaving your nostrils.
Maybe focus on the feeling of the cushion beneath you or maybe the smells in your room.
Just noting,
Acknowledging.
As we exist in this present experience,
Allow thoughts,
Emotions,
And sensations to arise.
That is natural.
Allow them to arise and pass without grasping onto them and without pushing them away.
Your awareness is as vast as the sky.
Be the sky.
Your vision is not focused,
Rather it's panoramic,
All encompassing.
Identify with this space for a moment,
Grasping for nothing,
Just being.
Rest in this vastness.
Now let's expand even further.
We're gonna zoom out far,
Far,
Far out.
Your awareness is as vast as the universe,
Stretching out in all directions without limit.
Take a moment to identify with this space,
Being this space without effort.
We're being all of it at once,
Coexisting with everything that fits into this vast universe.
Allow all thoughts,
All feelings,
And memories to flow effortlessly through this awareness,
Not clinging to anything,
Not pushing anything away.
Just being,
Pure being,
Resting in the vastness of your awareness.
This vastness,
This is you.
This is your awareness.
When you're capable of holding space for everything at once,
Now slowly come back into your body.
Find your breath again.
Use your awareness to feel where the ground meets your body.
Start to breathe deeply into it.
On the next inhale,
Deeply breathing through your nose.
One,
Two,
Three.
And open mouth exhale for three,
Two,
One.
Same thing.
Inhale.
And exhale.
One more time.
Inhale.
And exhale.
When you're ready,
Slowly open your eyes.
Become reacquainted with the world around you.
Gently taking in the colors and the patterns that you see.
Perhaps smiling at a plant or a pet if you have one nearby.
Thank yourself for taking the time to just be.
And remember,
Your awareness is always there.
That vastness is right there inside of you.
Namaste.
