Deepening the capacity to give and receive,
A meditation practice on Dhana and the Parigraha.
As we begin,
You might wish to take a few moments to find a way to allow your body to feel completely at ease.
Maybe that's sitting or lying back.
Allow yourself to feel completely supported.
You may wish to allow your eyes and your gaze to rest softly or close,
Whatever feels right for you.
Breathing in.
You may begin to notice how the body breathes in through its own rhythm and pace.
Simply allowing yourself to breathe in.
Just notice as your body begins to orient and be at ease in this moment.
You might begin to notice where your body makes contact with something.
If that's perhaps a chair,
A cushion,
A blanket,
The floor,
The bed,
The ground beneath you.
Something that holds and supports you in this moment meets your body where it's at.
In the tradition of yoga,
There is a teaching called Dhana.
It's a kind of giving that arises naturally when the heart is clear and the body is settled.
Before we explore giving outward,
We could first offer something to ourselves.
Maybe that's our own presence,
Our own attention,
Our own sense of softening.
You might begin to notice the places where your body feels supported.
Any noticing that arises.
Maybe that's your hand on your heart.
Maybe that's,
Again,
The chair or the cushion or the floor beneath you.
Simply being aware of whatever information is present.
There might be a place on your body that feels settled.
A hand that may be resting or a foot on the floor.
A place where there's a sense of ease.
You can be with or notice that place if you like.
Or maybe you wish to be with the whole awareness of the body at once.
If it feels right for you,
Allow a hand to rest somewhere on your body.
Perhaps that's on your belly or on your chest or on your lap.
Just allow the hand to rest in that space.
Perhaps noticing the warmth of the hand and the weight of the hand.
The hand as a sense of presence and company and warmth.
This is a small act of dana towards yourself.
The gift of your own attention and awareness,
Freely offered.
And you may begin to also notice the breath.
The breath in its own way,
Moving into and out of the body.
If your attention shifts,
That's completely natural.
When you notice,
Simply invite your awareness to return to the hand wherever it's resting.
Or return to the breath.
Each time you return to the noticing,
Giving yourself space for attention and awareness,
Is an action of care,
An action of dana.
Each return is a renewal of this offering to yourself.
Returning with care.
Returning with gentleness.
Returning to that sense of presence to ourself with our own awareness and attention.
And then begin to return attention to the breath for a moment,
Simply noticing it move into the body,
And then move out of the body.
There's a quality that can be experienced in the body.
It may be thought of as a sense of enoughness.
And in the yoga tradition,
It can be connected to the precept called aparigraha.
This may mean a sense of spaciousness,
Or a sense of just freedom in holding lightness.
Aparigraha invites us to notice what is it like to release the need to grasp,
To let there be space,
To let there be room,
To let there be lightness.
To discover that there's already space for what is here,
Space for the breath,
Space for noticing our presence,
Space for being enough.
Maybe you wish to just allow yourself to notice.
What is it like to be here in this moment?
Just to be with this question of enoughness,
Spaciousness,
Lightness.
In this moment,
Can you notice some place on the body that feels completely okay?
Completely content.
Completely at ease or light.
Maybe you could just allow yourself to take a moment and move awareness around the body.
Maybe noticing the space of the head.
The torso.
Front and back.
The arms.
The hands.
The belly.
The legs.
The feet.
The toes.
Simply welcoming yourself here in this moment.
And is that enough?
Is that a sense of spaciousness and awareness just to notice the body in this moment with a sense of lightness?
Being with the paragraha can allow you to have that sense of enoughness in this moment,
Related to self,
Related to awareness.
Giving yourself that space of dhana,
Kind awareness in this moment.
Allow yourself that sense to just have space to discover what may already be true,
But perhaps you haven't noticed it in a while.
Simply allowing the space for whatever is here to be here,
Without a need to hone or push away.
Just that sense of lightness,
Curiosity,
And kind awareness towards self in this moment.
Noticing whatever arises.
And if again your attention drifts,
Simply allow it to return with kind awareness.
Maybe again it's that space wherever the hand is resting,
Or noticing the breath,
Or circling the periphery of the body in whatever way feels right for you.
And then what would it be like to invite awareness into the center of the chest?
Space between the ribs,
Around the space of the heart.
Can you bring your awareness and your attention there?
In the teachings of dhana,
Giving is understood as a natural expression.
When the heart is clear and the body is settled,
Generosity arises like water finding its own space.
You may wish to explore what it's like to simply be with this space in your body,
The space around the heart.
Noticing whatever is present.
Perhaps you notice warmth.
Perhaps you notice a sense of openness.
Maybe nothing arises but curiosity or wonder.
There's room and space for whatever arises.
Some people may experience this area as a place where care lives.
Care for self.
Care for others.
Care for the world,
Your community,
Nature.
Dhana is something we allow for.
When there's ease in the center and the space in the heart,
Giving becomes a natural movement.
It's like a tree offering shade without any effort.
Can you allow your sense of awareness in the space of the heart to just be as it is?
Allowing the breath to move through this space in its own pace and rhythm.
Allowing the breath to move in,
Maybe reach and connect to the space of the heart.
And then allow the breath to move out,
Easing space back into the body.
Allowing that noticing to move with the breath through your own pace,
Through your own rhythm.
There's a natural rhythm in life of giving and receiving.
Both are part of the same movement.
Dhana is that sense of giving.
But really it lives within a larger circle.
Receiving completes the movement.
What would it be like to notice in this moment what is already received?
The air that you're breathing,
It arrives simply just as it is.
The ground beneath you supports you.
And the warmth of your body holds you.
Can you allow yourself to feel what it's like to receive these things?
Simply noticing that they're there,
That you're held in this web of support that asks nothing of you.
This is receiving as part of dhana.
The recognition that giving and receiving are one rhythm.
If it feels right,
Maybe you want to play around with what it's like to receive something small,
A gesture to yourself.
Perhaps your body needs to shift.
Perhaps you need to deepen the in-breath or deepen the out-breath.
Perhaps you want to shift your hand or create greater ease in your body by lengthening it,
Simply allowing yourself to notice what a small sense of receiving might feel like.
And maybe by receiving you might notice a sense of openness.
And maybe that sense of openness connects to a deeper exhale.
Whatever is present in your noticing,
In your body,
Is simply part of the experience.
Receiving,
Like giving,
Is a practice of allowing.
If we think of dhana as a kind of giving,
What would it be like to think of dhana as an action of giving that's moving through us right now?
A kind of giving,
A natural expression of care,
Of attention,
Of presence,
That's already here,
That's happening in this moment.
Showing up and being here in this practice,
That's a form of dhana towards self,
Freely given with presence.
Attention and awareness moving in the body,
In the breath,
Throughout the entire experience with attention and awareness.
And awareness as gift itself.
Dhana only asks that we notice what is already moving through us.
Can you allow yourself to feel what it's like to offer something small right now?
A moment of attention towards your own heart.
Perhaps a sense of softening and acknowledgement of,
I am here,
I notice,
I am present,
I am alive,
I care.
And then maybe allowing awareness to expand,
Expand to include something beyond self.
Maybe it's to somebody else,
A person you know,
A place,
An aspect in nature.
And then allowing your attention to rest with a sense of care towards that person,
That place,
That aspect of nature.
This too is dhana,
The gift of presence being freely offered.
And there's no need to create anything.
You're simply noticing what is already present,
The capacity for awareness,
The capacity to care,
The capacity to be with.
And this is dhana moving in you,
Living in you,
As part of your awareness,
As part of giving,
As well as the rhythm of receiving.
And then creating space again for aparigraha,
That sense of spaciousness,
Lightness,
Spaciousness,
Lightness,
Room for what is already here,
Room for whatever arises,
Connecting to the heart of aparigraha,
Not holding too tightly,
But allowing spaciousness,
Room for lightness and movement.
Can you notice the space around the body?
And the air or the energy between you and perhaps the walls or the room holding you?
The sense of openness that's already here.
Even noticing the space within your body,
The space between your ribs,
The space in your chest,
The space behind your eyes.
These spaces are always here holding whatever is present.
Aparigraha is simply resting in this space.
Maybe you wish to allow your breath to move into space.
You can do any of these spaces,
The space between your ribs,
The space in your chest,
The space behind your eyes,
The space in your body.
And letting your awareness drift around and simply being curious,
Noticing the space with a sense of lightness,
Lightness and ease to whatever is present.
As we begin to allow our sense of awareness to return back towards the present moment,
You might begin to notice the sense of grounding and connection in your body.
The way it's being supported in this moment,
The presence of your hands,
The space of your body,
The breath moving into and out of the body.
As you move back into your day or your night or wherever you are,
Maybe you'll carry with you a sense of what you noticed.
Perhaps there's a quality of enoughness that you noticed through aparigraha,
That sense of making room for whatever was present.
Perhaps there's a sense of softness in the chest,
That action of dana moving naturally like water finding its way.
Perhaps there's a sense of receiving what is already given,
That other half of rhythm.
Perhaps there's the recognition that generosity is already moving through you through your sense of attention,
Through your own sense of presence.
And through your own sense of care.
In yoga tradition,
Dana and aparigraha are companions.
One can open the heart to offer a sense of giving freely and one can open the hands to hold that sense of giving.
Perhaps there's a sense of space or lightness.
Together they create a way of being that's both generous and sustainable.
You may notice or be curious around what is it like to be with yourself,
To offer yourself attention,
To receive what is already here,
To let spaciousness be present and know that in any moment you can return to the breath,
You can return to the hand and the space of the heart,
You can return to lightness and gentle awareness.
May you move through your day with ease.
May you know that you are already held.
May you discover again and again the generosity that is already here.
Gently deepening the breath in and deepening the breath out.
Inviting gentle movement in the fingers,
The toes,
Small movements throughout the body,
Letting your body know that you're returning.
And when you're ready,
If you wish,
Allowing the eyes to open if they were closed and feeling and knowing that sense of giving and receiving that's within you in each and every moment.
