A very warm welcome to this meditation.
For this practice I want us to invite complete acceptance.
And we're going to do that in several ways and in several waves.
Let's begin by just arriving in the present moment.
Of course the mind can be active,
We can think about the future or maybe we're holding some tension or thinking or stress.
And we're not here to change that.
Trying to change the state is already actually a rejection of the present moment.
And there's a wonderful thing that happens because when we do accept completely the present moment what tends to happen is that the contraction,
The resistance that is making it sometimes more difficult,
Tends to dissolve anyway.
But the trick is to not accept what is in order for it to change.
Then it becomes again this kind of goal-oriented escape,
This subtle escape from the moment.
But we're actually truly going to accept whatever happens.
And one of the things I want us to do here just in the beginning is to become a bit more aware of the body.
Often if you look at the face for instance or just take a moment to feel into your face we can hold some subtle or not so subtle stress there.
So allow yourself for the duration of this meditation to completely be expressionless in your face.
That in itself,
That allowance of just resting the muscles,
The ligaments of the face,
The tissues,
Is already a release.
See if you can feel that.
And again here it's not a doing necessarily,
It's really a letting.
So we're letting the skin,
The muscles,
The tissue,
We're letting it go.
So it's more of a non-doing.
It can help to be intentionally more aware of specific areas in the face or noticing the eyes and the skin and the tissues around the eyes and just letting it become soft.
The nose and the cheeks.
Just notice if you can see any tension there,
Any holding of the muscles and just invite that to let go.
Also the ears can be tense.
There can be this hardness even in the ear tunnel and the skin around the ear.
So just allowing that to relax down.
And then lastly the mouth,
The lips,
The tongue.
Feeling how they too can become soft and supple and restful.
And then allow this relaxation of the face to actually go towards the entire body.
Kind of a downward movement of relaxation of letting the body just be.
And there's ultimately no true distinction between mind and body.
So if we're relaxing the body,
We're already relaxing the mind.
And we're helping the body to do that.
And one of the things you can do is what we just did to be aware of relaxation.
Another thing we can do is to breathe a certain way.
So I want to invite you to do the physiological sigh,
Which means you're going to inhale completely.
And then when your lungs are completely full,
You're going to inhale a little bit extra.
And then let it all out in an audible sigh.
So one more time I'll explain it.
If you already understand,
Just do it.
The idea is to inhale completely through the nose,
Feel your lungs filling up completely.
And when you feel they cannot go anymore,
Take a very small pause and then inhale just that little bit more,
Maybe by lifting your shoulders a little bit.
And then just letting it all out with a pleasant audible full sigh.
You can do that two or three times right now.
And this actually immediately resets your nervous system.
This is a neurological process.
So go ahead and do that right now.
Very good.
Now it may well be that this has already put you in a very pleasant relaxed place.
And in that case,
Very good.
Enjoy this until the meditation is complete.
And at the same time,
Things can come up.
Maybe you're still holding something.
And I want to first see if there's any uncomfortable notions or thoughts or stressful ideas that you've been holding.
And to a degree that is manageable for you,
You know,
Don't traumatize yourself or something,
But to a degree that is manageable in the confounds of this meditation,
Bring up this thing that you find uncomfortable,
If there is such a thing.
Maybe there's a situation you're facing,
Or maybe you have some anxiety about the choice you have to make,
Or maybe there is some pain or guilt,
Anything that it might be.
And just kind of let that notion,
That thing come into the meditative space.
And don't do anything else.
So you already probably have something right now.
And what we're going to do is simply let it be there.
This might include some repetitive thinking.
It might include,
For instance,
Maybe you're clenching your fists,
Or maybe you're noticing that you're breathing a little bit differently,
Whatever it may be.
That is okay.
That is welcome.
This is what you're experiencing right now,
Is how you relate to that topic.
And that's okay.
There's nothing wrong with it.
It's just the reaction.
Of course,
If it becomes too intense,
Just let it go and focus only on your breathing.
But if you're welcome to do that right now,
If you're ready to do that right now,
Just allow this slight activation of discomfort to just be there.
And funnily enough,
That is the same practice.
You know,
If you're with the topic or out of topic,
You're still just minding your breath.
And just try to be as relaxed as possible while you're holding this uncomfortable thought,
Idea,
Situation,
Feeling.
And notice that you can actually be with it.
So do that for a few moments here.
And again,
We're not trying to change it.
We're not trying to subtly manipulate the experience.
We're actually really truly accepting it.
I do want to invite you,
However,
To see if you can allow your body to be as relaxed as possible.
There's no scoring system or doing it right or wrong,
But just see if you can have any additional relaxation.
For instance,
Maybe your belly is contracting.
And then see on an exhalation if you can just allow it to relax again.
And see how that changes your capacity to be with the discomfort,
Any discomfort.
Very good.
And then just letting this go.
Whatever you were practicing with,
Just let it go.
Let it evaporate.
Let it dissolve.
What you can do is take another one of those physiological sighs to kind of reset your nervous system.
So again,
Taking a long deep full inhalation through your nose.
And then when you're completely full,
Maybe by lifting up your shoulders,
Take a little bit of the extra inhalation and then a long big relaxing releasing sigh to completely reset your nervous system.
You can do that once or twice or three times.
And when you do that,
Keep doing it.
Allow yourself to really enjoy that relaxation.
Go with that wave of release and relief.
And then for the last few minutes of this meditation,
I want to shift focus a little bit to physical sensations.
You know,
When you're sitting meditating,
It can be that we have some discomfort or maybe you know,
There's something that is annoying in your eye or maybe some pain in your back,
Whatever it may be.
To practice just letting that be.
Now there is a nuance to understand here.
If you're noticing for instance a very sharp shooting pain in your back,
It might be very skillful to actually do something that relieves your back.
We're not here to create damage,
But discern whether the pain or discomfort you're feeling,
Whatever it may be,
If it actually does need an adjustment or if the adjustment is actually your mind trying to get away from presence.
Because typically the mind is trying to hold on to anything to occupy itself,
Right?
So the caveat is quite specific.
If there is a way you're sitting,
For instance,
That's really just unhealthy,
Then change it,
Do it slowly.
Otherwise,
Any discomfort,
Just for a few more minutes here,
Let's just allow that to be here.
So noticing any,
It doesn't have to be a big thing,
Just be a slight discomfort or a small pain or a little annoying tremor here or there.
Just see if you can find any of those.
And then it's also not to focus on it with kind of a laser-pointed attention,
But just to hold it in a broader,
Wider field of attention.
So that is mindfulness.
It's kind of this open field of awareness and allowing any pain or anything like that to be there in that open spaciousness.
So practice with that now for a few more moments here.
And again,
Remember that we're not accepting it in order to change it,
Although acceptance will likely change it,
But we're really sincere in our acceptance.
And that means,
For instance,
Let's say there's a pain in your thumb,
Accept that pain in your thumb as if it's never going to go away.
That is amor fati,
That is true acceptance.
Accept it like you chose it.
And keep breathing and keep relaxing your body.
Now this is the official end of the meditation.
If you're in a very pleasant space,
I heartily invite you to stay there for as long as you like.
And thank you for practicing.
Have a good day.
