Welcome,
My name is Gemma Gamby Lewis.
And this is a breath meditation where we practice the art of surrendering.
Go ahead and find a comfortable seat,
Either cross-legged,
On the floor or cushion,
Or comfortably in a chair.
Find a sense of balance with your sit bones,
Allowing your back to be relaxed and upright.
Allow your hands to fall in your lap or on your thighs.
Go ahead and allow your eyes to come closed with a sense of gentleness,
Ease.
And first,
Let's go ahead and notice our attention.
What are you engaged with?
Are you thinking about something that happened in the past,
The future,
Anticipating my next words,
My next direction?
It doesn't really matter how you think about it.
It doesn't really matter what it is that you are engaged with.
Just notice what your intention is engaged with.
Now let's go ahead and shift that attention to our seat,
Noticing the sit bones.
Noticing the sit bones,
Your seat on your cushion or your chair.
Now let's go ahead and shift your attention to your jaw,
Noticing the connection of your upper and lower jaw at the joint by the ear.
Go ahead and loosen the lower jaw and allow it to release,
Allowing any tension in those joints to melt away.
And then notice the tongue.
Allow the tongue to start to melt into the base of the mouth.
Now shift your attention to your eyes and notice how they are peering towards the back of your eyelids.
Now go ahead and allow your eyes to gently relax.
Allow them to roll off to the sides.
It's quite natural and easy for the eyes to do this,
So you'll find it happening naturally.
Go ahead and allow your eyes to stay and remain in this relaxed position for the duration of the meditation.
Go ahead and shift your attention to your listening,
Noticing each of the individual sounds in your environment.
Now let's go ahead and relax.
Notice the sounds in your environment.
Notice them with a neutral mind,
No judgment.
Now go ahead and direct your attention inward,
Allowing it to fall onto the breath.
Notice the impact of the breath on the body.
Notice the impact of the breath on the body.
Notice the inhalation,
The exhalation.
Noticing the automatic rhythm of the breath.
Noticing the fact that you're doing nothing to breathe.
The breath is purely functioning on its own.
And your awareness is noticing,
Observing.
Let's go ahead and start by observing the very initiation of the breath,
The very,
Very first moment that you inhale.
And then noticing the very,
Very end of the inhalation.
And go ahead and notice the very,
Very first moment of the exhalation.
And then notice the very,
Very end of the exhalation.
And then notice the very,
Very end of the exhalation.
And then notice the very,
Very end of the exhalation.
And if at any point during the meditation,
You notice that you've become engaged in your thinking,
Engaged in your thinking,
You notice that you've become engaged in your thinking,
Engaged in your thinking,
You notice that you've become engaged in your thinking,
Engaged in your feelings,
Emotions.
Go ahead and practice surrendering the thoughts,
Surrendering the feelings to the breath.
With devotion,
A sense of graceful ease.
Go ahead and surrender any thought to the breath,
To the rhythm of the breath.
Our awareness becomes completely engaged Our awareness becomes completely engaged with the inhalation and the exhalation.
Noticing each moment,
Starting with the initiation of the inhalation,
Very,
Very end of the inhalation,
The very,
Very beginning of the exhalation,
And then the very,
Very end of the exhalation.
Now you're going to bring your attention to the exhalation,
To the exhalation,
To the exhalation,
To the exhalation,
To the exhalation,
To the exhalation.
Now you're going to bring your attention to tiny,
Tiny pause,
The two moments where we're not taking breath in or pushing breath out.
Pauses.
One between the end of the inhalation and the beginning of the exhalation and another between the end of the exhalation and the beginning of the inhalation.
These two pauses our body's not taking in air it's not pushing it out it's still.
Go ahead and just notice these two moments.
If you miss a pause at one time you'll have another opportunity the next time around.
Just slowing yourself down.
Allowing your awareness to become so relaxed while simultaneously so engaged that you're able to notice these tiny little moments.
These quiet still little moments.
If again you find yourself engaged in your thinking it's no big deal.
We notice with a neutral mind no judgment.
We take the opportunity to practice surrendering.
It's with devotion that we offer our thoughts to these pauses.
To these tiny moments of stillness.
Just like picking a leaf from the ground and carrying it to the edge of a well.
Peering over the edge of the well and just letting go of the leaf into the endless well.
Allow yourself to let go of the thoughts.
Surrender them to the pauses between the inhalation the exhalation.
Between the exhalation and the inhalation.
Okay.
So keeping the eyes closed I'm gonna go ahead and let go of the meditation.
Allow the mind to stay easy.
Go ahead and bring your attention to your listening.
Noticing all the individual sounds in your environment.
Then go ahead and bring your attention to the tip of your nose.
Feeling the tickle as the breath enters and exits the nose.
And go ahead and bring your attention to your seat.
Just noticing the connection your seat has with your cushion,
Your chair.
And then bringing one of your hands,
Your palm to the center of your chest.
Holding it over the heart.
Allow the other hand to come and meet it.
And then invoke the sense of gratitude.
Allow the feeling of gratitude to swell up within you.
And acknowledge yourself with gratitude.
Thank yourself for taking the time.
The time to sit.
Find the stillness.
The quiet.
The connection within.
Now you can go ahead and release your hands.
Return them to your lap or to your thighs.
You can gently go ahead and allow your eyes to come open.
Maybe just halfway at first.
Feeling a very,
Very soft gaze.
And when you're ready,
You can go ahead and allow the eyes to come open up all the way.
Thank you so much for your practice.
