Welcome,
This is a meditation on saying yes to everything,
Opening to all of our experience.
Begin by finding a relaxed and comfortable posture,
So sitting with your back straight,
Inviting the shoulders to relax.
Let your chest be open so you can breathe easily and invite your shoulders to relax.
Let the belly be soft and open and if you're comfortable you might let your eyes close,
Let your attention drop down into the body.
You might take a few longer deeper breaths to help you settle and fully arrive.
Nice deep in-breath,
Letting go on the out-breath,
Relaxing.
Imagine you're breathing out any worries,
Any cares,
Any stresses,
Just letting them go.
Breathing in,
Calming the mind,
Breathing out,
Calming the body and invite the intention to be as fully present as you can be for all that comes up during the meditation.
Invite to an attitude of kindness and acceptance and non-judgment to whatever you're experiencing.
So bringing in the heart,
Allowing whatever is here just to be here,
To come and to go and letting everything come and go without adding a story to it about what's going on.
Staying as close as you can to your direct experience and begin by bringing awareness to your breathing,
To the in-breath and the out-breath.
Breathing in,
Know that you're breathing in.
Breathing out,
Know that you're breathing out and let the breath be the anchor for your awareness.
This is what helps to hold you here in the present moment.
And as you bring mindfulness to your breathing,
You can also be aware of whatever else you're experiencing in the body,
In the heart,
In the mind.
So as you're aware of breathing in,
Aware of breathing out,
You notice other things come into awareness.
You may notice bodily feelings.
There might be some discomfort or some pain or a pleasant feeling.
Whatever comes up,
Just let the feelings come,
Let them be and let them go.
So you're letting your awareness rest on your breathing and also taking in anything that's calling for your attention,
Is making space for whatever is here,
Whatever's coming up with an attitude of kindness and acceptance.
When you experience an emotion or a mind state that's noticeable,
Maybe a feeling of sadness or worry or joy or gratitude or anger,
In the same way,
Let that emotion or that mind state,
Let it come.
It may have a noticeable bodily feeling,
You know,
A tightening up around feeling annoyed about something,
Or maybe a feeling of spaciousness if there's joy or calm present.
If you can just in an open,
Accepting way,
Allow whatever feelings,
Whatever movement there is in the body,
In the mind,
Just to come,
Letting it be and letting it go in its own time.
When you notice that you've been pulled into thoughts,
Maybe there's some story about what you're experiencing,
Or maybe you move into planning something in the future or daydreaming,
Just choose to let the thought go.
Choose not to follow it.
Just come back to the breath as your anchor,
In breath and out breath.
So whatever is present,
Whatever comes up,
Consciously saying yes to what's here,
Not resisting it,
Not holding on to it,
Not moving away from it,
Just making space for whatever comes into your consciousness.
Dorothy Hunt,
In her poem,
Peace is This Moment Without Judgment,
Says,
Peace is this moment without judgment,
This moment in the heart space where everything that is,
Is welcome.
Can everything that comes up be met with an attitude of acceptance,
Of welcoming,
Letting your breathing be your home base or your anchor and making space for whatever comes up in your experience.
So nothing is excluded,
Nothing needs to be pushed away.
Just the invitation to say yes to whatever you're experiencing,
This quality,
This attitude of yes,
Opening to whatever,
Whatever is here,
Whatever's present,
Letting it come,
Letting it be,
Letting it go.
We'll finish the meditation with this poem by Lynn Unger called The Way It Is.
One morning you might wake up to realize that the knot in your stomach had loosened itself and slipped away and that the pit of unfilled longing in your heart had gradually,
And without you really noticing,
Been filled in,
Patched like a pothole,
Not quite the same as it was,
But good enough.
And in that moment it might occur to you that your life,
Though not the way you planned it,
And maybe not even entirely the way you wanted it,
Is nonetheless persistently,
Abundantly,
Miraculously,
Exactly what it is.
So appreciating the time that you've taken to be present with your experience and in your own time,
Opening your eyes,
Connecting with the space around you,
And feel free to come back at any time to this meditation,
Inviting us to say yes to everything.
