I've been facilitating.
Group experiences for a little over 17 years.
I have been practicing meditation for a little longer than that myself and I've gone through a lot of different Wisdom traditions and lived in ashrams and went very the traditional route and then the non traditional route.
And so how I facilitate and how I teach and how I practice is unique to all of that encompasses all of that.
And the primary lens that I that I see through and teach through is what's called instinctive meditation from the Radiant Sutra School of Meditation.
And today I'm actually going to use one of the sutras inside of this book Here's my very beat up like 10 year rendition of the Meridian Sutras that I've been traveling with for a very long time.
So we're going to use a sutra as a specific doorway.
And a sutra could mean just,
We could call it a doorway,
A technique inside of the space today.
What else to say?
We always take about five minutes to transition into the practice and then we'll be inside of this technique for a little while and then I'll transition us out of the space leaving a minute or two at the end to come back together.
Inside of my meditation spaces,
I offer a lot of freedom.
So I think of anything that I'm saying is just invitational.
These ideas,
You can think of it as an invitation or even as an experiment.
Like,
Let's see,
Let's see what's possible over the next 20-25 minutes to experience both individually and collectively.
To be continued.
.
.
Yeah,
I think that's all I want to share is the intro today feel called to spend a little bit more time inside of the practice.
So with that,
Let us begin.
I'm going to have everyone mute.
So there's Less background noise.
I have my music playing in the background.
It should just be pretty light.
I'm going to start my playlist over.
So this first song is four minutes and we'll use this four minute song to make a slow transition.
The transition times,
This is when I learned this,
This like changed everything for me inside of a meditation space.
So we can say and acknowledge.
So we're all transitioning from something,
Right?
We were all doing something right before this and to expect our attention.
To be immediately available just for like right here,
Right now presence or to be a little bit more quiet or still it's like,
In my mind,
An unrealistic expectation of our attention.
And so we take four to five minutes to feel free to not have any requirements on our attention.
And I think of this time as setting up also the physical environment So do you want to be seated,
Do you want to lay down if you've been still most of the day,
You might want to move your body like there's some people I know that show up to this and they just start like pacing their office or take it outside and go for a walk around the block while we're making a transition so.
Decide that for yourself,
You know,
Where do you want to be?
How do you want to be posture wise?
And it might also be that you're closing down tabs on your computer,
You're finishing a text message,
Or maybe you're starting to move into some journaling.
If the mind's feeling really active,
Sometimes journaling as part of a transition can feel really supportive to and doing like a little bit of a brain dump sometimes as you might do pre-medicine session.
You'll notice that I stay seated and I tend to close my eyes down,
But that's not a requirement when I'm facilitating.
This is how I facilitate when I meditate.
I like 99% of the time I'm laying down on the ground,
Preferably outside.
So.
We have this kind check in with ourselves and what's the state you're arriving in and how do you support yourself in making.
Mindful transition.
So for the next 20 or so minutes,
You can be a little more available to follow some guidance.
If you're feeling hurried or anxious,
Overwhelmed,
In an activated state,
You might offer your body some motion through the act of bouncing or shaking.
To freeze some of that big energy that is present for you.
If you're feeling tired and exhausted,
I would encourage you to give yourself permission to rest.
The breath is one of the quickest ways that we can change or shift our state.
So together,
Let's do it.
Let's begin just first and foremost to notice that movement of air coming in and out of your nose.
Spending some time with that sensory experience,
Getting curious.
We find some genuine curiosity of,
Is it possible,
Is it really,
Truly possible right here,
Right now to feel the touch of the air coming in and out of your nose?
Sometimes flaring the nostrils is helpful and taking a few exaggerated breaths to get intimate.
Curious,
Enticed by the touch of air.
How about now the feeling of the different parts of the body that are moved as you breathe?
So paying attention to the ribcage.
And the lower belly.
If you're holding tension in your belly,
See if you can soften that.
If you feel open to touching your body,
You might.
Place one or both hands on this lower part of your torso.
Perceiving motion.
As you breathe.
A misfelt sense of an equal.
Harmonious breathing pattern,
Not necessarily needing to count.
Your breath.
A felt sense that there's an equal amount of air coming in and out.
As you breathe in and out of your nose.
Let's be kind with how our attention,
Our awareness moves and acceptance.
Yeah,
Of course I'm going to.
Thinking about the past and the future,
Something about.
.
.
This day or another day,
Another person,
Another circumstance,
Something I saw,
Something I watched,
Of course.
No problem.
How interesting watching this.
Movie of my attention.
And I can remember.
And maybe even repeat right here,
Right now,
There's also this right here,
Right now.
Experience that I can observe and become aware of.
Let's continue to repeat this right here,
Right now.
Saying those words on the inside.
Right here,
Right now.
Feeling of my feet right here,
Right now.
There's all this space surrounding my body right here,
Right now.
Or these sounds.
I can perceive right here,
Right now.
I can make this conscious choice.
Invite my attention into the right here right now through the senses.
Opening my ears to the hearing.
My ability to hear and receive sound.
Hear different frequencies.
How lucky are we that we can still hear?
And perceive sounds that are beautiful.
Sounds that are loud,
Sounds that are quiet.
Sound of your own voice.
Your own frequency.
Ability to see.
External vision,
Inner vision,
Find something so.
And chanting to behold.
That you are transfixed.
Ravage.
Allow yourself to be captivated.
Gaze upon its form with the eyes of wonder.
You may open your eyes or you might recall.
A certain landscape or plants.
Use of art.
Gaze upon its form,
What the eyes of wonder attend to the details,
The shape,
This texture,
These colors,
How?
Can something so beautiful possibly exists.
With a steady gaze.
Melt into.
Melt into the field of space,
Embracing that form.
At once,
Be at one with the creator who is looking through your eyes.
Loving creation.
Whether it's live in the environment that we're in right here right now or we remember recall a certain.
Image or landscape,
Flower,
Sunset.
Something you've created,
Something you find absolutely stunning,
Beautiful.
Awe-inducing.
Spend a little time lingering.
With that image.
The shapes,
The textures,
The colors,
The movement.
And perhaps this.
Inward contemplation.
How can something so beautiful so colorful.
So beyond my control.
Exists.
This field of space,
The vastness,
The mystery encompassing it all.
And your perception of it,
Your observing.
This I who is observing it all.
For you.
I am me.
We will.
You We'll,
We'll,
We'll I love Beijing.
Wee!
Wee!
♪ Real peace ♪ I am,
I am,
I am,
I am,
I am.
You Way up,
Way down,
Way up,
Way up to find an interest in,
I hear right now.
Through your vision or through your hearing.
Ability to sense touch,
Perceive motion.
Cultivating a stronger and stronger interest in right here,
Right now.
Is it possible to?
Cultivate some gratitude.
Appreciation for that which you can sense.
And feel.
I know the awe of hearing,
Seeing,
Of tasting.
The intensity of feeling.
Seeing,
Hearing,
Perceiving.
Space of practice to learn.
How to welcome or welcome all of it.
Inside of the safe space of our meditation practice.
Let's remember together how we started.
That harmonious.
Rhythmic nature of the breath when we're when we're breathing functionally the breath is light and quiet in and out of the nose and has this harmonious rhythm.
And spacious and the transition.
Slowly out of the practice.
As we took three to five minutes entering,
So same amount of time exiting or entering.
Engaging with whatever is coming next.
We might add some motion into the body.
Sometimes journaling after a practice feels appropriate or supportive,
Taking a sip of water,
Opening the eyes if they've been closed and letting the light and the colors and the landscape slowly come back in.
Hmm.
That was Sutra 57,
Some of those words from the Radiant Sutras.
If anyone,
Maybe some of you have this book that have been showing up regularly,
Page 92.
Now this is a technique we can bring into a practice,
Right,
To support our attention and some more presence.
Finding something so beautiful.
I like,
I just want to be with it.
And,
And then the taking this sort of practice off of the mat and into your life is when do you just naturally,
When does that just naturally happen?
Like from many people,
Especially when we're like on retreat together,
Right?
It's like,
I don't have to necessarily,
There's not like a teaching of enjoying a sunset.
It's just like,
If it's a beautiful sunset at some point,
People pause,
We pause and just like.
Oh my gosh,
Take in the beauty.
I got to like,
Okay,
Let's just sit.
We're going to stand here and we're just going to admire this.
It's just like,
It's just what happens.
So you might be.
Maybe holding a.
.
.
A soft open palm on your attention on yourself of like what as I'm moving through my life do I just naturally spend a little more time with because I find it beautiful or it sparks a sense of awe or wonder within me.
It's like your own inherent inner teacher just offering you like the world.
Through our senses offering,
It's just like this feast.
And this,
If we just kind of click in this mindset.
The opportunity to then just linger a little longer with that,
Which you're already wanting to spend some time with.
Beautiful sunset,
A puppy,
A kitten,
A flower,
A smell,
A taste,
A type of movement.
Sometimes for me here,
It's like these weather systems coming through the jungle.
It's like watching the air just like activate,
Right?
The palm leaves,
Like not there for like five minutes,
But if I allow it,
I can leave Linger 30 seconds,
45 seconds in this type of mental refreshment,
Like micro doses of mental refreshment we can get from.
From times like that.
