Welcome to this practice.
I'm going to take a little bit of time to settle into a space of comfort.
So start with any movement you need to find your way to the place of stillness that serves you.
Today you might choose to sit up and sit up nice and tall so there's a sense of alignment with the spine.
Or you may choose to be in a reclined position.
And as you take that movement really bring as much awareness as you can cultivate to the parts of the body that are desiring that movement.
Whether it's a movement in the shoulders,
A movement in the head,
Or is it a movement through the pelvis to try and release the spine in some way.
Take your time.
It might even be subtle,
Subtle rotations through the hands,
The wrists,
Or the feet,
The ankles.
Take your time until you really find that place of centered and settled.
And then from there begin to shift the awareness to the breath.
And noticing the qualities of the breath.
Starting first of all with the quality of pace.
And inviting as you bring your attention to the pace of your breath,
Inviting maybe a little more slowness.
And then,
Generally become aware of the rhythm.
And as your awareness shifts to the quality of rhythm,
Come to notice the difference between the length of your inhale and the length of your exhale.
Or maybe you invite a sense of balance.
So inhale matches exhale.
Or you may prefer to exhale just a little longer than the inhale,
Inviting the sense of extra settling,
Moving a little bit more towards the deeper state of relaxed breath,
Easeful breath.
And then begin to notice those spaces in between.
The moment where the inhale is complete,
But the exhale is yet to begin.
And if it feels easeful,
If it feels available today,
You might hang,
You might spend a little bit of time in that pause of fullness.
A sense of waiting for the exhale to naturally arise.
If the attention is drifted away from the breath,
Find a gentle invitation to bring it back.
Just acknowledging the mind,
Doing what the mind does,
And that is thinking,
Just the natural state.
And there is no failure,
And the mind drifting away.
It is the nature of the mind to do such things.
So just bring a real sense of allowing,
Giving the mind,
Giving the mind something to focus on again as you come back to the breath,
Back to the noticing.
Or maybe back to that space in between the inhale and exhale once again.
Really not trying to force any particular length of hold,
Just observing the space in between.
Space after you've completed the inhale,
Before you initiate the exhale.
Attempting to wait for the exhale to naturally initiate itself.
Or maybe you start to bring a little bit more focus and attention to the other end.
This moment where the exhale is complete.
Lingering there before the inhale naturally initiates.
And noticing what it's like to hang in that space of emptiness.
That space of maybe no breath.
And then the inquiry for the remainder of this practice was to notice if you have a preference.
Not in the sense we're trying to cultivate a preference and choose what's better.
But in this deep self exploration,
This challenge of really noticing how your physical body,
How your mental state,
And how maybe even your emotional state responds to hanging in that place of fullness versus hanging in that place of emptiness.
And just be really curious to how your whole self responds to those two different ends of the spectrum.
And as we come into this place of comparison,
The challenge is not to go to judgement.
More to be in this place of curiosity.
The sense of curious discernment.
Can I discern the difference in my mental state,
Emotional state,
Physical state?
And those two points,
Those two places,
That fullness and the emptiness.
And again avoiding some awareness.
And again avoiding some awareness.
To where the mind may have drifted.
And inviting the attention back to the breath.
And those points of the breath,
The exploration of fullness and emptiness.
And then very mindfully,
To begin to let the practice go a little.
And allow your awareness to start to broaden from the breath to awareness of the entire body.
Maybe the connection between your body and whatever it is that's supporting you.
A chair,
A cushion,
Etc.
And noticing that connection between your body and the support that sits beneath.
And when you feel ready,
Bring your awareness back into the space around you as you gently,
Easefully start to bring the practice to a close.
