Namaste.
This is a time that you've taken for yourself.
So these first few moments are an invitation to resettle your body.
Take care of your body in a way that your spine feels supported,
Steady.
Begin to take a few easy breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth,
Letting your jaw relax and soften.
You may continue to breathe like this until you feel release in your jaw.
If your jaw is beginning to feel relaxed,
Now allow your breath to continue in and out through your nose.
Your lips can stay soft and the tip of your tongue may lightly touch the place where your teeth and the roof of your mouth come together.
The premise of today's meditation is that you are courage.
You are that ability to look at pain,
Difficulty,
Discomfort without looking away and also without being consumed by what you see.
Bring your awareness now to your breath,
Some simple aspect about your breathing where your attention is naturally drawn.
Wrap yourself up in your breathing.
Bring your awareness to the center of your chest.
Notice as you breathe this area in your body,
The quality of this area without having to name it,
With just becoming sensitive to what you feel at the center of your chest.
Let your awareness shift now,
Moving your awareness upwards from your chest towards your head and now just a little beyond the crown of your head,
Letting your awareness stay one,
Two,
Three inches above the crown of your head.
Take a few breaths with your awareness here,
Elevated.
This space is a space in Sanskrit named Chidakash,
Chid,
Consciousness,
Awareness,
Akash,
Space,
Ether.
When you put the two together,
Chidakash is a space that is universal,
It is the body of the universe,
Even the heart of the universe.
You can connect the space of your own heart at the center of your chest with the space of this universal body just above your head.
Focusing again on the center of your chest,
Begin to feel your breath moving as if it could come directly in towards your heart and leave directly out from this space.
Inviting your breath to enter through the center of your chest and then as you exhale,
To let your breath leave slowly rising up through the crown of your head,
Aware of the space just beyond your head.
Taking in what's in front of you as you breathe in,
Pausing to feel it at the center of your chest and offering it up,
Letting it go as you breathe out.
And this begins the bulk of our practice,
Working with this breathing pattern.
Now in through your heart,
Resonant at your heart,
Out through your head,
Resonant in the body of the universe.
As with any breathing practice,
If at any point you find yourself breathless or it becomes difficult,
Pause and return to your normal breath.
You can pick the practice back up at a pace of your own.
Having practiced this technique of breathing,
Let's journey a bit deeper.
Choose for yourself now some suffering that you are very aware of.
Whatever suffering,
Your pain,
The pain of someone you love,
The pain of a stranger whose story you heard on the news,
Whatever the suffering,
Take it in now,
Hold it at the center of your chest,
And when you breathe out,
Offer it up.
Take it in,
Hold it at the center of your chest,
And let it go.
Offer it up.
And let it go.
And let it go.
As you offer this pain,
The suffering,
Difficulty,
As you offer it up,
Know that it is being transformed,
Just allowing it to come in,
Holding it with care at the center of your chest,
And then releasing it with compassion.
It will not consume you.
It will not consume you.
It will not consume you.
Now let your awareness stay just above the crown of your head,
Continuing to take breaths in and breaths out,
Aware of the space of Chittakush,
The body of the universe,
The space just above your head.
Take this next breath in.
Take this next breath in,
Deep at the center of your chest,
And hold your breath there,
Suspending it without strain,
As you feel energy build.
Exhale and let this breath expand out into your chest,
Radiating out.
In the words of Iyam Forrester,
Either life entails courage or it ceases to be life.
Move out into your life now and know that whenever you experience pain or difficulty or suffering,
And it is right in front of you,
You are courage.
You can take it in,
And you can transform what you see.
Now let your awareness stay just above the crown of your head,
And let your awareness
