Let's assume our position.
So if you've done this before,
You probably know exactly what position you want to go into.
If not,
I recommend you find something upright yet relaxed.
So I like to kind of first find a stable grounding.
You want your knees a little bit below your hips,
If possible.
You can sit on a chair or a cushion.
If your body needs you to lie down,
You're more than welcome to do that.
Try to find a position where you won't likely fall asleep.
Don't get too comfortable.
Stretch that spine up,
Maybe tilt the head down a little bit so you really kind of reach the top of the head up to the sky and let that kind of draw your spine out,
Expand your spine so that you're really up and straight.
And then hold that uprightness as you let go of tension,
Let go of the muscles around the eyes.
You can close your eyes if you'd prefer.
Let go of your jaw.
Release any tension you might notice in your shoulders.
Let your hands and arms rest gently in your lap.
Settle in to your stable base.
Let gravity hold you in a rooted way and just maintain that upright spine.
Take a moment to notice the posture.
Notice how.
This body position subtly influences your quality of mind.
That's why posture is so important.
It helps for you to take a deep breath.
By all means,
Please do so.
And if you do so on the exhale,
It's a great opportunity to release a little bit more.
Whenever you're ready.
Gently place your attention.
On the sensations of breathing.
Wherever you might notice them most clearly.
You might notice the.
Expansion and contraction of your abdomen or your chest.
You might notice air flowing through your nose.
There's no right answer here,
Wherever you noticed.
Most clearly,
That subtle sensation of breathing in,
Pause,
Breathing out,
Pause,
Breathing in.
Et cetera.
There's no need to try to control your breathing in any way.
Just let it flow naturally.
And just notice.
What it feels like.
This process.
Of breathing.
However many sextillion molecules of air.
Flowing in and out of your body.
From your perspective,
It all amounts to this subtle sensation.
Who we so often just ignore.
But actually connects us to the essence that has kept us alive since we were born.
Rhythmic in and out.
Like a bellows or a rocking boat.
Just letting it happen.
See if you can find that sweet spot of effort here.
You don't want to be so tense and focused and harshly criticizing yourself when you even slightly fall off the breath.
But you also don't want to be super lax.
Where you are completely defocused and hazy and foggy.
And that sweet spot might be different for every person.
It might be different in every moment.
Try to kind of surf that knife's edge of the perfect amount of effort.
Maybe you need to let go a little bit of the effort that you're putting in,
Or maybe you need to titrate in a little bit more effort.
See if you can feel that out.
Find just the right amount of effort.
As you stay with each breath.
As you stay with this breath.
In this breath too.
Letting the air flow in and out.
As it always does.
If at any point you feel and notice that you've lost track of the breath,
Maybe some thoughts have come along.
Taking you away or maybe you've gotten focused on some discomfort in your body or there's some sound that's happening.
It's distracting you,
That's perfectly okay.
Just noticed that that happened.
That's what we're doing here.
We're noticing.
So notice that that's happened.
No need to criticize yourself.
Or judge yourself.
It's all part of the process.
You might want to take the opportunity to refresh your posture.
Recommit to the practice and then whenever you're ready coming back to that inhale.
Pause.
Exhale.
Pause.
Now whenever you're ready,
If your eyes are open,
I might recommend you close them for this next part.
I want you to imagine.
In your mind's eye,
Visualize the view from where you are.
Directly above you.
So if you're in a building,
You might see.
The roof of that building,
And maybe some of the streets,
The way you might see on from a plane or from Google Maps satellite view or.
And see if with each breath.
As you exhale,
You're zooming out a little more on that picture.
So first you might.
See the building you're in.
You might take a breath,
And then you see the street.
Maybe the nearby park.
Some other buildings nearby.
On your next breath,
You see maybe the neighborhood.
It's okay,
Obviously you don't have a perfect map of all this in your mind,
Unless you have a photographic memory and you've already looked this up,
But.
.
.
This is kind of playful and a fun experiment.
Kind of creatively explore with your mind's eye,
With your imagination.
What the neighborhood looks like from above.
You might notice various mental images showing up.
And that's all good.
Just let it happen.
And each breath keep zooming out.
Or maybe you see some of the nearby neighborhoods.
And maybe you see the whole town,
The whole region,
The whole city.
Again,
Trying to maintain a kind of vivid clarity here.
And also a sense of creative authorship.
This is your practice,
So.
Feel free to tweak.
There's another way that it works for you.
If you're a very verbal person,
You might even just think of the names of these places if the visualization is not working for you.
For example,
Right now I'm visualizing.
A kind of creative interpretation of what Toronto looks like from above.
That's where I am.
I'm in Toronto,
Canada.
But if you're more of a verbal person,
You might just say.
You might just sort of say Toronto and imagine all the people.
Whatever works for you.
And each breath continuing to zoom out.
Maybe you see.
The state or province.
See you then.
Each breath getting a wider view.
Maybe from this angle,
You're starting to see the curvature of the earth.
It doesn't just look flat anymore.
You're far enough away that you can see.
That in fact we are on this sphere.
Keep zooming out.
Maybe you see your whole country.
Maybe the whole continent.
Keep breathing.
Floating away.
It's vacation.
While also staying perfectly grounded in the sensations of breathing in this moment.
Until you're looking at the earth.
From space.
The so-called Planet of the Apes.
And notice now from this view.
A kind of photographic image of the Earth,
So not a map.
But a photographic image of the Earth.
Doesn't really have any borders.
Sort of just land and water.
That are the home of almost 8 billion people.
Of these apes we call human beings,
As well as countless plants and animals and other living beings.
Notice that big picture.
Notice what comes up for you,
What feelings come up for you,
What thoughts come up for you.
Maybe you're thinking,
This is awkward.
What is Jay leading us through?
But maybe some other thoughts are coming up too.
It's all good.
We're just experimenting here,
Getting a little playful.
And in that melange,
If you notice a feeling or a thought of some kind of kinship,
Kind of shared humanity or shared life essence,
Some sense that we're all breathing.
Even cells,
Single cell organisms are kind of engaging in a cellular respiration.
Plants are engaging in photosynthesis.
And of course,
All the animals breathing air,
Just like you and me,
Just like everyone on this call.
For these last few moments,
See if you can breathe together.
With me.
To everyone on this call.
Everyone in your part of the world.
Everyone on earth with all the plants and the animals and even those single-celled organisms.
Just take a moment to breathe together and notice what it feels like.
To breathe in this way.
You might have mental images coming up,
That's fine.
You might want to say a phrase,
Something like.
.
.
May all beings be happy.
Or if that's too stodgy for you,
You might just want to say,
Peace.
We're happy.
Or whatever word feels right to you.
Staying with that breath.
Staying with that sentiment.
Of kinship.
Global kinship.
Breathing together.
Whenever you're ready.
You can let go of that practice completely.
Feel free to continue on for these last few minutes.
If you're ready to let go.
Just drop all the effort completely.
And just be as you are.
Don't need to rush on to the next thing.
Letting all of that settle.
Nothing to do here.
No need to pay attention in any specific way.
It's accepting whatever is here.
This last minute.
Okay,
Nice work,
Everybody.
Whenever you're ready,
Slowly transitioning out of the practice.
No rush whatsoever.
Coming back down to Earth,
As we say.
Give yourself a.
.
.
Sip of water or a stretch or whatever your body's asking for.
