Take your time to find a comfortable seat now.
You may lie down,
Sit upright,
Feel something under you and behind you,
Or even stand with your feet planted.
Once you've chosen the position in which to receive this meditation,
Find some stillness there,
And commit to staying,
To staying still,
To staying true,
To staying open.
Begin to breathe deeply,
If you'd like you can start in through the nose,
Hold at the end of your inhale,
And then exhale through the mouth,
Big sigh.
Allow the breath to move you as you stand or lie or sit gently,
Silently,
Quietly,
Inside and out.
Notice as you ground,
As you drop in,
That you can find your center here,
There's nowhere else to be or to go,
Nothing and no one else to become,
You are here and this is right.
Breathing deeper every time,
Elongating your exhale,
Even so that it may be double the inhale breath.
Start to listen,
Even if there is no noise,
Start to open,
Even if there is only space around you to take in.
What is it like to create space and availability to the vastness within and around you?
As you sit,
Start to notice,
Notice yourself in space,
Beginning with the body,
Tuning in to the tip of your toes,
Up to the crown of your head.
Notice from the crown of your head,
Your entire self down to the tip of your toes.
Feel the fullness of who you are,
The container and the expanse all in one.
And beginning to appreciate your body,
Your unique vessel for this human experience that you get to have.
Think about,
Consider and appreciate all the ways your body allows you to be yourself,
To be in this world,
To know and be known,
To love and be loved.
Whatever the limitations of your body in this moment,
What can you be grateful for about its form?
What capacity does your body have to express itself?
The body is a place where you and reality meet.
What is something you love about the skin you're in?
About what moves in you,
Through you,
With the body?
And yet,
Taking all of that into account,
Say with gratitude and also space,
I have a body,
But I am not my body.
And feel the you that is within and beyond the body,
Nodding and acknowledgement inwardly toward your body.
Move now towards your mind,
Awareness of your thoughts,
Awareness of the capacity of the mind to problem solve,
To construct futures that it wants to create and vision,
To remember aspects of your life and experience that make you who you are and how you are.
At the same time,
The mind can sometimes be unruly,
Fixated on the past,
Worried about the future.
So whatever the limitations of your mind,
What are you grateful for about how it expresses who you are,
How it constructs who you'll become,
How it remembers your truth,
How it interprets the world around you,
How it makes meaning,
How it tells stories.
All that said,
With space,
You can think to yourself,
I have a mind and thoughts,
But I am not my mind nor my thoughts.
And connect to the you that you are beyond your mind and your thoughts.
As you continue to breathe,
Thanking the mind with gratitude for all it does in service to your life,
Move on last but not least to your heart,
Your feelings,
Your emotions.
Have gratitude for this rich inner landscape,
Emotions like anger that tell you when a boundary has been crossed,
Emotions like joy that tell you when there's something worth celebrating that lights you up,
Emotions like grief and sadness that teach you when something that was so precious to you that you cared about seems or was lost,
How much it mattered,
Feelings like love that connect you beyond yourself,
Each of the rich,
Deep,
Beautiful things that make you human in your heart,
Bowing to those honoring them,
Acknowledging the limitations of some of their whimsy or their height,
And thinking,
For all the beauty of my emotions,
I have emotions and feelings and a heart,
But I am not my emotions,
My feelings,
Nor my heart.
And connect to the space in you that is beyond your emotions,
Beyond your feelings,
Beyond your heart.
And as you connect to these beautiful parts of you,
Your body,
Your mind,
And your heart,
Sit in the space that contains and appreciates and resonates with each of them,
And also is greater than and the sum of all of them.
Sit in the awareness,
The consciousness,
The beingness of you who holds all of these aspects.
Know yourself here.
I am,
You might think to yourself.
I am,
You might sense in your body.
I am,
You might feel in your heart,
In your being,
In your bones.
I am that I am that I am that I am.
Feel your you-ness,
Feel your here-ness,
Your now-ness,
Your beingness.
And take a few more moments of breath to allow space,
To allow vastness,
To allow yourself to sink in.
If there's any constriction that you feel in your body,
Mind,
Or heart,
Gently let it know,
If it does feel safe,
To soften and relax.
A little bit more.
Even a lot a bit more.
As you are ready,
Soften,
Soften,
Soften.
Drop what's weighing you down.
Give it to the earth.
Give it to the sky.
Offer it up.
If you're feeling joy,
Ecstasy,
Bliss,
Happiness,
Contentment,
Radiance,
Give it to the earth.
Give it to the sky.
Offer it up.
You are a piece of the being that is being itself.
The greater being knows itself through you,
And everything that you are experiencing,
You can acknowledge and celebrate as part of this web of existence.
It is shared,
And it is also uniquely yours.
Know yourself and love what you know.
Love yourself and love,
Love,
Love all the selves around you that you are connected to in this space,
In this place,
In this space of unity,
Where there is nothingness and everything all at once.
