So I've been looking today at this week,
The word of the week for me this week seems to have been porous and I've just been hearing it,
A lot of people have been saying it one way or another in different contexts.
I'm thinking about it in terms of how we typically,
Most of us,
Go through the world really experiencing ourselves as being a separate entity from everything else.
And when you consider the alternative,
The alternative is that there is one whole and then all that exists exists within that whole or there's a whole bunch of separate entities running around and it got me to thinking about the body,
The human body and you know like something like half our weight is bacteria and then there's the muscles,
There's the bones,
There's all the organs.
Are they all separate or is this one body?
Like it's interesting that we would perceive the body as one thing and one thing that's separate from everything else when there's so much going on in here,
So much going on in here that is it me,
Is it not me?
And yeah this gets back to the idea of being porous.
If everything is just contained within a whole then it's possibly a good idea to question our boundaries,
Our physical boundaries and our mental boundaries,
Our emotional boundaries.
Like where does one,
Where does this meet that?
Where do I end?
Where do you begin?
Where does that begin?
And this practice of just experiencing ourselves as being porous is one way to explore that.
So that's the invitation for today,
To explore being porous.
Like our skin,
We know it absorbs so much,
Right?
Like if there's poisons in the air,
We absorb them.
If there's sun in the sky,
We absorb it.
So we are kind of porous anyway,
We know that.
Anyway,
Let's get started on the practice.
So I invite you as always to find an awake posture and a relaxed posture.
Awake and relaxed.
As you settle in,
You may want to invite some deep breaths.
Settling,
Settling,
Allowing relaxation if and when it chooses to announce itself.
Let's do a quick scan down the body,
Starting at the top of the head.
Sort of like warm maple syrup flowing down the body as we just scan down through the face and the skull,
The neck and the throat,
The shoulders,
Moving down the arms,
Moving to the hands,
Just sensing into all of these spaces,
Sensing into chest and belly,
Sensing down the back from the top,
Vertebrae by vertebrae,
Working your way down the back,
Just checking in.
Hello,
Good morning,
Buddy.
Checking into the hips,
The sits bones,
The pelvis,
The upper legs,
Knees,
Lower legs,
And the feet,
Right down to the tips of the toes,
The toes,
Sensing in the whole body.
Body is a single entity,
Sitting here,
Breathing,
And experiencing it almost as a sponge,
Just absorbing anything that comes to it.
So not seeking anything,
Not looking for anything,
Not reaching out at all,
Just being porous to what presents itself,
Whether that be sounds,
Sensations,
Smells,
Tastes,
Sights,
Experiencing it all here and not holding on to any of it either,
Letting it flow through at its own pace.
Certain sensations,
Certain experiences will appear more solid than others,
And as you sense into them and allow them to be porously,
There's a good chance you'll notice that even the more solid sensations have a certain fluidity to them,
Being receptive to this,
Allowing this.
Thoughts arise,
And if we're able to meet them with the same kind of porous receptivity,
There's a strong chance they'll pass away as well.
Noticing the difference,
Noticing what a porous receptivity may look like in relation to thoughts,
It's not going to grasp,
It's not going to cling,
It's not going to hold on to any thoughts,
It's not going to identify as any of these thoughts,
It's just going to allow them in and allow them to pass in their own time.
Noticing where else grasping or reaching out,
Clinging,
May occur.
A good example is often with sound.
There is a tendency for many of us when we hear a sound for our minds to go to the place where we imagine the sound originates from.
As best as possible,
Experience the sound here,
Let it flow through you here.
We may try and name,
Identify a sensation or a sound.
Notice how that gives it a sense of salinity,
How that is a form as well of clinging,
Holding on,
Even letting the name flow through you,
The identification flow through you.
It's just another thought,
Porous.
It could be said that the best way to let something go is to not put it is to not pick it up in the first place,
But we do,
Right?
So maybe a good way to let things go is just to absorb them and let them flow through us without grabbing onto them,
Without holding,
They let themselves go.
We can fully experience that which presents itself to us.
We can absorb the flavor of the textures,
The depths of the experience,
And we can watch it go without doing anything,
Just being here for us.
Maybe if we let things be,
Everything is osmosis.
So where do you end and the rest of the world start?
You find a clear delineation between you and them,
This and that.
Isn't this experience,
This relationship with that which we call that,
Isn't this a part of you?
Every relationship,
Every interaction,
Isn't it some form of osmosis,
Some form of whatever that is,
But also being in you as you when you walk from here to there?
Isn't the air that you walk through,
You breathe in a part of you,
Those moments?
The floor,
Your feet on the floor,
Is it just at that point of connection between floor and skin?
Is that the only part of the floor that has any connection with you?
Or does it resonate up through your legs as you walk?
And when you get to there,
Is here no longer with you?
Sensing into this body sitting here,
Sensing into its apparent solidity,
Its interaction with the floor,
With ground,
And its interaction with the air around it,
Continuing to invite and welcome whatever presents itself.
Thank you for your practice.
