Welcome,
Welcome.
For now,
Just take a deep breath and just settle into this moment.
Wherever you are,
However you're arriving,
Let's just meet this moment exactly as it is.
So there was a time on my journey when I believe that once I truly saw who I was and knew who I was,
Once I really glimpsed the stillness beneath all the thoughts,
I would just stay there blissfully,
Happily forever.
I believe that this idea of of dipping out of awareness was a failure,
You know,
A sign of I wasn't doing it right.
But I've really come to see that the dipping in and the dipping out is part of the dance.
It's part of that rhythm of returning.
But in truth,
Remembering there's no returning because it's always here.
Just remembering and relaxing again.
And this morning,
I noticed it again.
I had just come home from the gym and I was actually preparing sourdough.
And if you've ever made sourdough,
You know that it unfolds in stages.
And the part I was doing took maybe 10 minutes.
But my mind had so much to say about it.
It was just full of judgment and urgency and you know,
All the storylines of you should have done this on Saturday.
You don't have time for this.
You have work to do.
You have meditations to prepare for and your calendar project to finish.
And the mind was just really trying to hurry time to fix it,
To blame time.
And then spontaneously,
The question arose,
Who is the one trying to get somewhere?
Who is the one trying to get somewhere?
Just simple question.
And the mind answered,
But I have deadlines.
I have this new calendar project.
I have a book to write.
I have meditations to record.
And then another question followed.
Who is the one creating?
Who was there to help awaken?
And there,
Just simply while kneading the dough,
My hands still moving,
My eyes gently closing,
I just rested.
I just rested.
I rested into not Jodi the doer,
Not Jodi the character,
She seemed to slip quietly into the background.
Just in what remained,
The presence,
The silent,
The still,
The complete.
And time seemed to sort of stop.
So that's where I would love to begin in today's meditation.
Just inviting you here into your own stillness,
Although it's one.
We're not getting rid of any thoughts.
We're escaping the body.
Just noticing what remains,
Even when thoughts might be busy,
Even when the body is stirring.
So let's just begin by taking a moment to feel the body breathing.
Just noticing the chest rise and fall.
Just letting your attention soften.
Letting it be exactly as it is.
And now just letting your awareness widen.
Widen to the space in which everything appears.
The room,
The sounds,
The sensations,
The thoughts.
And then the one who is noticing all of that.
Now let's go a little bit deeper,
Gently.
Perhaps you might notice that the mind still subtly is trying to do something,
To relax properly,
To quiet down.
To quiet itself.
But who is the one who is trying to do that?
Just notice.
Who is the one trying to get somewhere?
To get more peace?
To become more awakened?
You just turn gently toward what's not doing.
What's simply aware and effortlessly present.
And just watch any thoughts that may be arising.
They're just clouds.
Passing through your sky.
And you are the sky.
You're just resting in the timeless now.
There's always this current.
This pure presence.
And it's always moving beneath your pain.
It's moving beneath your thoughts.
It's a force of restoration,
Of healing,
Of peace.
And it's not something you ever control or have to direct.
You simply allow and rest as it.
So just allowing and resting.
Your heart is beating.
Your cells heal.
Flowers bloom.
All on their own.
All in the rhythm of divine timing.
And you're just letting go.
You're not separate from that rhythm.
You are the rhythm.
You're the dancer in the dance.
As we gently come to a close,
Slowly begin to come back to the room.
Just noticing your breath.
The positioning of your body.
And as you open your eyes,
Just gently notice.
Notice this presence.
Notice this rhythm.
This essence of who you really are remains here.
Right now.
While you listen to my voice.
While you look around the room.
It's here.
It's this.
It's the stillness.
Stillness amidst the moving,
The watching,
The seeing,
The noticing.
And that's the eternal now.
And that's what you are.
That's what I am.
Although we're not separate.
Thank you for joining me today.
Thank you for being here.
Namaste.
Love you.
