Welcome to this practice of accepting what is.
Let's begin with having some attention for our posture,
Which is also a nice way to settle more into presence.
So just for a moment,
Without any specific guidance,
Just be with your body for a second and see if there's any adjustment that would make your posture more enjoyable,
More sustainable for about the next 14 minutes.
Most importantly,
See if you can have a bit of an elongated lower back.
Some of us tend to really contract the lower back and it can be very pleasant to intentionally extend it.
So see that you can sit in that way that is pleasant.
Make any other little adjustments and then also let go of the body.
So we want to prop up into a healthy position but then also we want to let it go.
And here also again we can start accepting.
That's actually a nice way of practicing acceptance is to not react to every little little discomfort or pain.
Of course if you have a very strong kind of stabbing pain somewhere,
That's typically a sign of you really need to do something.
But most of the time when we're meditating specifically and there is some kind of a discomfort,
Let that just be there.
It's not actually in need of any attention.
It's typically more in need of acceptance.
Let's take a few longer inhalations and exhalations without forcing but just increasing the duration and expanse of the breath.
This will allow some energy to come into the practice and especially with the exhalation it'll allow some relaxation.
So inhaling to get some more energy into the body and enjoying that and then when you exhale also exhale with your entire body.
So really let your face,
Your shoulders,
Your torso exhale into relaxation.
So do that maybe three,
Four,
Five times and then quiet and down again.
So do it at your own pace.
Let's have an intention to sit as still as possible for the entire practice.
And again noticing that if there is this this wanting to move,
Just see where that comes from.
And if you notice it comes from discomfort then instead allow yourself to accept whatever discomfort it may be.
Maybe it's a little pain or it's a bit of soreness or itchiness.
Can you just let that be just for the duration of this practice.
So we're really going to practice non-reactivity by not moving.
After a few rounds of non-reacting,
If it's going well you might notice that there's a kind of peace that is coming with that non-reactivity.
So notice that maybe already for three times you had that itch on your left leg or something.
Notice that each time you don't react there comes this increase in kind of spaciousness.
It's like training a muscle of equanimity.
And it's actually it becomes pleasant to not react because there you are actually free.
This constant reacting to little triggers is a great on freedom.
So just allowing this space of non-reactivity to become bigger and bigger.
It's very pleasant to have a point of focus,
A point of centering.
And let's just use the breath for this meditation.
Maybe you're feeling your belly going up and down or maybe you can feel the very subtle stream of air around the nostrils going in and out.
So just find any place where you can feel the breath.
And then just stay there.
We're not kind of contracting and narrowing the focus on the breath only.
We're really kind of keeping a relaxed open awareness.
And then in that relaxed open awareness we're noticing the breath with some stability.
And then we can use this breath as a anchor to our equanimity.
So maybe the body is kind of uncomfortable or maybe you're noticing some thoughts are happening here or there.
And now we have a choice to not run after the thought or not correct the body every 30 seconds but simply noticing them,
Noticing thoughts,
Noticing urges,
Noticing cravings or discomfort.
And instead choosing to simply remain still and aware of the breath wave.
So let's practice that for a few minutes in silence.
Simply sitting still,
As still as possible and allowing everything that happens to happen.
While simply watching the breath.
Maybe you're noticing that you're getting caught or maybe you even did do an adjustment or something.
Okay,
So you were caught in a thought or you were making an adjustment.
Just go back to your intention of sitting still.
Let's just be patient.
You might notice that when you don't react you can feel a lot of things and there can be a lot of thoughts.
And that's okay,
There's nothing going wrong.
You're just becoming aware of what's happening.
And we're not resisting,
We're not fighting with reality.
If we are at peace that means we are not fighting with what is.
We're just witnessing it.
So for about two more minutes in silence let's practice in this way.
Pure,
Non-judgmental acceptance.
