What I'd like to do is,
As we do to begin the evening together,
Is to begin with the meditation.
And the meditation today is really focused on opening our hearts to everything.
Opening our hearts to everything.
It's really,
That's at the core of all of the mindfulness practice,
Really to explicitly pay attention to that this evening.
And I'll do that in the instructions.
So with that,
Just invite you to find a posture that's comfortable,
Relaxed.
Make any adjustments you need to make to be sitting really comfortably.
Letting your back be straight,
Inviting the shoulders to relax.
You can let your eyes close if that's comfortable for you.
Or keep them open with just a soft,
Unfocused gaze looking ahead of you a little bit.
Chest open so you can breathe easily.
Hands in your lap or on your knees or your thighs,
Whatever's comfortable.
You might find it helpful to take a few longer,
Deeper breaths.
This helps us to settle a little bit more fully.
So take a nice,
Full,
Deep in-breath,
Filling the lungs,
Filling the chest.
And then releasing on the out-breath,
Letting go until all of the breath has been exhaled.
And then nice,
Full,
Deep in-breath as though you're inflating a balloon.
And then releasing,
Letting go on the out-breath.
Imagine you're letting go,
Releasing any stresses,
Busyness,
Cares of the day,
Just letting them go.
Breathing in,
You might invite in a quality of calm.
You could say that word silently to yourself,
Calm as you breathe in,
Calm as you breathe out.
Breathing in,
Calming the body.
Breathing out,
Calming the mind.
Whenever you're ready,
Just letting the breath settle back into its natural rhythm,
Just however it is,
Breathing in and breathing out.
And you might see how it feels to invite a smile to your face,
Just activating the muscles at the corners of your mouth and the corners of your eyes.
If it's helpful,
Think about a loved one,
A dear friend,
A child or a baby or a pet.
Somebody who easily makes you feel joyful and happy.
Just inviting a smile.
And the smile invites us to relax,
Relax the mind,
Relax the nervous system.
The smile can be an expression of the attitude that we meet our experience with.
Whatever's coming up,
See if you can meet it with a welcoming attitude.
The expression of a smile.
You could do a brief scan of your body and just notice if there's any area where you might be holding tension.
You might be unconsciously clenching the muscles,
The belly or in the face.
So you might move your attention down the body and just see if there's any area that could soften and relax a little bit more.
Forehead,
The eyes,
The muscles of the eyes.
Facial muscles.
The mouth and the tongue.
The throat.
The shoulders and the upper back where we often carry our tension.
And the torso,
The chest and the belly where we tend to tense up and get tight if we're busy or stressed or in a hurry.
Feel that tension.
So just notice if there's any clenching of the muscles of the belly.
And invite the belly to relax.
Let the breath come into a relaxed,
Open belly.
Remembering the smile that you can come back to it at any time as a support,
As a resource.
And the lower body,
Paying attention,
Just moving the attention down.
Inviting a relaxing,
A softening of any area of holding.
And you might bring your awareness to your body as a whole.
Just see if you can relax the whole body.
Invited to be at ease.
And you might have as an intention to be as fully here as you can be.
Putting aside what's happened before.
Putting aside thoughts and plans and worries about the future.
Just let the future take care of itself and the past too.
Just let yourself be here right now.
See how it is to be here with whatever's coming up for you.
Just bring awareness to whatever is present.
And see if you can meet it with a kind and a welcoming attitude.
The Sufi poet Rumi in his poem,
The Guest House,
Invites us to welcome the guests.
Even if there are a crowd of sorrows who sweep your house empty of its furniture,
Still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
So it can be helpful to experience whatever's coming up as like a guest coming to visit.
Maybe sadness comes up or annoyance.
We might typically try to push those feelings,
Those emotions away.
See how it is to allow them to come,
To be,
And to go when they're ready to go.
Making space for whatever is present,
Whatever's coming up.
Just meeting it with a kind and receptive awareness.
You might envision your awareness,
This knowing quality of the mind,
As being large enough to hold whatever comes up,
Even very strong,
Powerful emotions or mind states.
With awareness we can meet this too with kindness and with acceptance.
It can be helpful to focus on the mind.
It can be helpful to focus on a particular object as a way of grounding your awareness.
At times the mind can be very active,
Busy,
Going off into thoughts of the future and the past,
And memories and daydreams.
It can be helpful to have a home base,
One of the most common is our own breathing.
Just bringing awareness to the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Know that you're breathing in.
Breathing out,
Know that you're breathing out.
Breathing in,
Know that you're breathing out.
Breathing in,
Know that you're breathing out.
And whenever your attention moves off into thought,
Maybe planning or worrying or remembering or daydreaming,
Problem solving,
When you notice that,
Just kindly and gently let your awareness come back to your body,
To the breath,
To this moment.
Come back out of thought.
It's not a problem when we move into thinking,
Just something to be noticed,
Then to invite your attention back,
Training the mind,
Strengthening the pathways in the brain that help us to be more here than lost in thought.
Come back out of thought.
And if a strong feeling calls for your attention,
A bodily sensation or a strong emotion,
You can let your attention move to that and just make space for it.
Be curious about it.
Where am I feeling this?
What is the sensation that's present?
Allowing yourself to fully experience the sensation or the emotion,
Letting it come,
Letting it be without resisting or judging it and letting it go when it's ready to go.
Saint Rumi says,
The dark thought,
The shame,
The malice,
Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
Come back out of thought.
Come back out of thought.
Come back out of thought.
Just meeting whatever is present right now with kindness and with acceptance.
If you're experiencing something difficult or painful,
You could put a hand on your heart or on your belly,
Just expressing a care for yourself.
You might wish yourself well.
I care about this suffering.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
The intention of not pushing anything away,
But meeting whatever's here with an open and receptive heart.
Come back out of thought.
Finishing with this poem by Holly Hughes,
Mind Wanting More.
Only a beige slat of sun above the horizon,
Like a shade poured not quite down,
Otherwise clouds.
Sea rippled here and there,
Birds reluctant to fly.
The mind wants a shaft of sun to stir the gray porridge of clouds,
An osprey to stitch the sea to sky with its barred wings,
Some dramatic music,
A symphony,
Perhaps a Chinese gong.
But the mind always wants more than it has.
One more bright day of sun,
One more clear night in bed with the moon,
One more hour to get the words right,
One more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses.
As if this quiet day with its tentative light weren't enough,
As if joy weren't strewn all around.
Chime Chime you
