You can start this meditation by finding a posture with a straight back,
Which you're awake yet relaxed.
You can breathe in just a bit fuller than you normally would.
And on your exhale,
Drop a little bit deeper into your cushion or your chair.
Another inhale.
And with the exhale,
You surrender a little bit more to gravity.
You begin by making contact with the ground,
Feeling the cushion or chair underneath your sitting bones,
Feeling the width of your pelvis,
This central base of your body.
And with every breath,
You can allow this contact with the ground to become more full,
More present.
And from your pelvis,
You can feel how your spine is rising up,
Straight yet flexible,
Like a tree that rises up and is still able to bend in the wind.
From there,
You can feel your shoulders hanging loosely,
Your arms and your hands resting on your lap or your legs.
And maybe you feel there is some tension in the shoulders or the arms.
You can become aware of that.
And as you become aware,
Maybe there is a natural tendency to let go a little.
You can allow your shoulders to relax a bit more.
From there,
You can feel how your neck and your head are reaching straight up,
As if there is a little cord on the crown of your head,
Pulling it straight up to the ceiling or the sky,
Slightly tucking in your chin.
From there,
You can feel your eyes.
Are they squeezing,
Contracting,
Holding on to something?
And if so,
Become aware of that first.
You don't need to let go.
Feel the tension.
And if there is a natural tendency to relax,
You can allow it to.
And then become aware of your jaws.
Feel if there is any tension.
And then see what wants to relax,
Allowing it to slightly open up so that you can breathe through your mouth and nose.
And become aware of your breath,
How it is flowing in and out,
Through your throat,
Into your lungs,
Into your belly.
And maybe you can feel how this body is a container of the experience of breathing.
How breathing happens inside this body.
Going in and out.
You don't need to do anything here.
You can just follow the breath.
Observe how it is flowing naturally.
And from there,
We go on to observing the thoughts.
Thoughts that come in,
Linger and eventually leave.
And with a gentle presence,
Can you be aware of this pattern?
And if there are no thoughts at the moment,
You can be aware of the stillness.
And your being a container,
A theater you could also say,
For thoughts to arise,
Take the stage and leave.
Maybe leaving behind this empty container for a little while,
Until it fills up with the new thought.
And now shift your awareness to the emotional atmosphere.
The general mood going through your body.
And where do you feel it?
And how does it feel?
And instead of diving into this feeling and drowning in it,
Can you hold space for it?
Allow it to enter your awareness.
Allow it to take form and reshape.
No need to adjust anything here.
You are the container that holds all of these experiences.
And now feel into the energetic qualities inside,
Maybe outside of your body.
Any tingling sensations,
Experiences of flow,
Of liveliness.
How are they moving?
Let it come up in your awareness.
The awareness that holds space for every experience.
Small or big.
Pleasant or challenging.
And I invite you to feel into the stillness.
The stillness that surrounds all the forms.
That is mingled with all the forms and sounds.
Maybe you can feel some of it in between sounds,
Thoughts,
Feelings.
Or even within them.
And if not,
Simply be aware of what you do experience.
And for just a few moments,
You can sit here and observe and be with all the experiences that arise and go within and outside of your system.
Resting in the awareness that holds space for it all.
And now feel the awareness that surrounds all the forms and sounds.
And when you hear the sound of the gong,
I invite you to use the full sound to round off your meditation in whatever way is suitable to you.
The sound of the gong is the sound of the gong.
And now feel the awareness that surrounds all the forms and sounds.
