We're a big group today.
It's nice.
So take a moment to notice where you are.
And by that I mean where you are in the landscape,
As in what's physically around you.
The sounds that are around you,
The sensations of you sitting on whatever you're sitting on.
And also a moment for the internal landscape,
To notice where you are,
Where you're at internally.
And you might not even know how to describe that in the same way that you can describe,
Where you are,
There's the sea or there's the sky.
But you will have some kind of language of noticing what's going on.
It might be something visual.
It might be a sensation in the belly,
In the body that tells you what the emotional landscape is like.
A tightness,
A contraction or something really comfortable.
And it strikes me that if we only do this,
Then meditation is a gift.
Even if we just notice where we are and what's going on for us,
This can be the gift of a very short time of meditation.
Because so often we're rushing through our day,
Our mind is already on the next thing that we need to do,
Or stuck on the last thing that we did.
And quite rarely we find it with us in the body,
Where we are.
So this is a time for gathering,
Gathering the mind in the body where we are.
Everything together,
All together.
And the fact that we do it together in a group is somehow helpful.
That our energies are going in the same direction.
We have the same intention,
We have the same purpose.
So lean on the energy of your fellow meditator.
Rely on this sangha,
This like-minded group to encourage you to be present.
And immediately I say that,
There comes a kind of,
Well actually tears to my eyes.
Because I feel such warmth when we gather as a group.
I love so much this intention towards presence.
It pleases me so much it makes me cry.
So I guess I want to thank you,
You know,
For bringing your presence and for bringing this intention.
It moves me.
And it is so needed in this world.
When we do it,
When we take the time for it,
It is a gift.
Not only for ourselves,
For the group we are sitting with,
But for the village that you live in.
The country and maybe the entire planet.
Who knows?
Who knows the effect of this intention?
We can't know.
But we might see a little inkling of that effect when we go home and something irritates us and we don't react so quickly.
Or we manage to see another with compassion and to be slower to judge them.
Slower to criticise another or ourselves.
So what this meditation space gives us is the space between action and reaction.
Between an event and our response to it.
So normally what happens for all of us is that our automated responses come really quick.
Something happens and we are responding before we have thought.
Before we know what we are doing.
And sometimes that is a positive response and sometimes it is not.
Sometimes it is not helpful.
So with the practice of meditation what we learn is to take some space in between the event and our response.
To kind of lean back.
So let's take a moment to do just that.
To lean back.
To find the back of the body.
To put some breath into the back of the body.
As if you are breathing into the back ribs and the back ribs open to allow the lungs to expand.
Yes.
And more.
A few more.
And you may find that you then need to adjust your posture.
And that is fine.
Do it.
Move as the breath invites you to.
As the body invites you to.
To find a little more comfort.
And with that breath can we allow the back to be a little bit softer.
Some kind of letting go happens.
And the shoulders might also let go a little.
And the belly might soften.
And you may find also that the breathing in the front of the chest is somehow more easeful.
Or not.
So bringing more intention now to the breath.
To the breathing.
Let's follow the breath all the way in and all the way out.
As if the mind could ride upon the breath.
And maybe as the breath is released we open the mouth a little.
We feel how the jaw is.
How the tongue is inside the mouth.
Following the breath all the way in.
All the way out.
And for sure the mind will wander.
For sure you'll find yourself in a moment thinking about something.
Planning something.
Remembering something.
And in the moment that you do that.
In the moment that you notice that the mind has wandered.
You are already meditating again.
You're already back.
You're already present.
So not to be hard on yourself for that wandering.
It's what the mind does.
The mind thinks.
The mind remembers.
The mind plans.
And we need it to do that.
But there's also something else the mind can do that we need to practice.
And that is be present.
So the breath can really help with this.
Because it's always there.
Until it isn't.
So in a way refinding the breath again and again.
Renoticing.
Ah,
I'm breathing.
And how is that breath in the body?
Does it feel tight in the chest?
Does it feel like the breath is shallow?
Does it feel like you want to breathe a little deeper?
Or that that's difficult for you to breathe deeper?
Do you favour the in-breath over the out-breath?
Which is easier for you?
And not to tell a story about it.
But simply to notice.
And yes,
I notice someone has a hand on their body.
So feel free to put a hand on the body to support you with this noticing of the breath.
On the belly,
On the chest,
On the back.
Wherever the body wants,
A hand wants to feel,
Contact wants to feel supported.
And maybe right where that hand is,
You might be able to soften a little more with the support of the hand.
So breathing and softening.
Breathing,
Releasing.
And there we might drop in a question.
Into the space that we're creating inside.
Let's drop a question like,
What is this?
What is this?
And the mind will go where it needs to go.
And the question will penetrate.
And maybe if we listen closely,
An answer might arise.
And if not,
We keep asking the question,
What is this?
What is this?
You know,
With curiosity,
With a willingness to hear.
What is this?
So in this practice,
The intention is to get to know ourselves.
Like we would get to know somebody who we just met and we kind of like them.
We're kind of interested in them.
Who are you?
What matters to you?
What matters to you right now,
Today,
In this moment?
What's important?
Because sometimes we don't even know what matters to us.
Sometimes we're given the things that should matter to us and we take them,
We accept them without questioning.
But what really matters to you today?
Now.
So sometimes because we're not used to this question,
The answer will come,
I don't know.
And I want to say that I don't know is a really valid answer.
I don't know is fine.
It's OK.
When we come up with I don't know,
We can decide to live with the question.
We live it.
We take it into our day.
We ask it again,
Maybe when we remember in the late afternoon and there's a moment to have a cup of tea or put our feet up,
Drink a glass of water.
We ask again,
What's important to me?
What is this?
What is this life?
What is this feeling?
What is this?
So to kind of finish with this bit,
Take now the question that resonates with you.
And it might be a question I've offered and it might be a question that's just arising for you uniquely.
But take it.
Make a small intention to live with it for a while,
To live with your question and to see what arises so that you can carry this meditation into your day.
So that's the question that you need right now that will help you get to know yourself a little bit better.
We'll just take a few more moments together in silence.
Bringing all the attention in to these last few moments.
Gathering.
And then you might allow the breath to become a little deeper.
The attention to become more aware of the things that are around you.
So that you gradually become more of the world,
More in the world.
