Does anybody want any assistance with posture?
Like props to use or anything like that.
I'm guessing nobody here is new to meditation.
Anybody?
Amazing.
To us checking.
I had some folks earlier this week who had never meditated before.
Pretty cool.
Actually,
All practitioners are pretty cool.
Yeah,
So go ahead and get settled.
I'm just going to start with ringing this bowl.
It's going to be pretty loud and just follow the vibration all the way to its conclusion.
And then just find your breath with that same attention.
And I'm going to ring it once more because I want it to be louder.
And just letting yourself really fully arrive here in the space.
A lot of us probably had really full days,
So just put all that stuff on the shelf for now and give yourself permission to be present.
You don't have to worry about the time.
I'll make sure we finish on time.
I want everyone to enjoy your last dinner if that's what you're doing tonight.
So just sense into your body all those points where you're being supported from below.
And just trust that you are supported.
So if you can surrender a bit.
Go ahead and do that.
And then you can just gently bring your awareness to your tailbone.
And if you'd like to,
Just in front of the tailbone you can visualize.
Like a,
Like a ray of light.
The midline of the body,
Also called Sushumna Nadi.
In Sanskrit.
And then just gently sweep your attention up your spine or up the light.
It's pausing when you get to your neck.
And if you'd like to join me,
I'm going to inhale,
Look over my right shoulder.
Exhale back to center.
Inhale,
Left shoulder.
Exhale,
Center.
Nice,
Let's do that one more time.
Inhale,
Right.
Exhale,
Center.
Inhale that.
Exhale,
Center.
And then just let your attention rest right at the top of your neck.
Going up the back of your head and to the top of your head,
Pausing there to invite softness and openness.
Maybe even seeing that midline,
Sushumna Nadi,
Just going up.
Through the top of the head.
You can bring your awareness to the space between your eyebrows.
Relaxing and opening.
And down to your eyes,
Just really surrendering all the muscles of the eyes as much as you can.
Just letting your gaze fall inward.
So yeah,
Your eyes can be open or closed.
I wanted to mention if they're open,
Just look down and soften your focus on the floor a few feet in front of you.
Then you can bring your awareness to your jaw,
Just releasing any tension there.
You can let the tip of your tongue rest right behind your top front two teeth on the roof of your mouth.
Keeping your jaw soft.
And then if it feels available and you want to experiment a little bit with just tucking your chin ever so slightly.
Just to elongate the back of your head.
You're welcome to try that.
And soften your shoulders.
And then just find your breath.
Wherever it's easiest to feel it tonight.
And your breath is going to be our anchor for this session.
So if you notice that your attention has wandered from your breath.
Just come back gently,
Lovingly.
Begin again.
And let's just allow that beginning again to be infinitely available.
You're always welcome to re-scan your body.
Reset your posture and come back to your breath.
This morning I said,
Oh,
Or maybe I said this yesterday.
I said,
It's kind of corny,
But you can like.
Imagine that your attention is landing on your breath like a butterfly on a flower.
And then immediately when I left the sanctuary,
I saw two butterflies.
And they were actually really chaotic.
They were flying amok.
Well,
That's how it looked to me.
And even when they landed on flowers,
Sometimes it wasn't this like gentle,
Graceful.
Transition.
Sometimes it was like a little messy and the flower would move.
All of that.
Is okay and available.
Right?
Just come back to your breath.
So even if your thought feels really important.
Or if you feel really averse to your thoughts.
It's all just thinking.
You can just label it thinking and come back to the breath.
See if you can do it.
Without judgment.
Just kind of like as a kind witness.
And then just come on back.
Here's a poem by Tejitsu.
Standing on the small porch of Hakujuan,
She saw the shadow of a little wren cross the footpath.
Followed by the shadow of a hungry crow.
And she saw that the little wren,
Excuse me,
Arose,
Abided,
And fell away.
And then she saw that the arising arose,
Abided,
And fell away.
And that abiding arose,
Abided,
And fell away.
And that falling away arose,
Abided,
And fell away.
She saw that knowing this arose,
Abided,
And fall away.
Then she knew there was nothing more than this.
No ground,
Nothing to lean on stronger than the cane she held.
Nothing to lean upon at all and no one leaning.
And she opened the clenched fist in her mind and let go.
And fell into the midst of everything.
So thoughts arising,
Abiding,
And falling away.
Maybe words arising,
Abiding,
And falling away.
Sledding experience.
Be the thing.
Just check in to see if the muscles of your face are still soft.
Letting go of your jaw,
Your shoulders.
Like the poem said,
Unclenching the fist of the mind and hopefully unclenching the body helps with that.
And we can just return to our breath.
We're gonna start to make a gentle transition into an optional walking meditation.
But let's everybody first take a nice,
Big,
Deep breath together.
So you can exhale everything out.
Inhale deeply.
Exhale,
Let it go.
Beautiful,
Good.
And then you can just let your breath return to its natural pace.
If you're going to be walking,
Whether your eyes are open or closed,
You can start to flutter your eyelids.
And then just really mindfully take your time to unwind from your posture.
And we're going to meet on the deck.
You don't need shoes or anything like that.
It's clean out there.
If you're new to walking or if you'd like a mantra,
Something that's been.
.
.
Working well for me lately is just with each step I say nothing to do and then the next step is nowhere to go.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go.
And then I just have to say because This has been happening since yesterday morning.
If you encounter any insects.
See if you can just regard them as teachers.
See if you can encounter them just in a full experience,
The same way you encounter your breath.
So that challenge may come to you.
It's been coming to me a lot.
All right,
So I'll meet you out there.
So just take your time getting settled once more.
Maybe you encountered some teachers.
On the walk or if you're continuing to sit.
Just let them arise,
Abide,
And fall away.
So as we practice being present with ourselves,
Our thoughts,
Our breath.
I just want to acknowledge that it takes a lot of courage.
To just sit down and be with yourself,
Right?
Like through the discomfort.
And all the other.
Spectrum of thought and feeling.
Just to bear witness.
It takes tremendous strength and courage.
And one benefit of meditation,
At least that I feel,
Is that as we become more intimate and comfortable with our own discomfort or suffering,
Perhaps we can cultivate the tools to better face worldwide suffering.
And show up for it as our full selves.
We just experiment on the cushion with showing up.
Holding space for ourselves.
Practicing just unconditional acceptance.
Giving ourselves grace and love.
And just continually returning to the breath.
So here's another poem,
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver.
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair,
Yours,
And I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile,
The world goes on.
Meanwhile,
The sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
Over the prairies and the deep trees,
The mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile,
The wild geese,
High in the clean blue air,
Are heading home again.
Whoever you are,
No matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination.
Calls to you like the wild geese,
Harsh and exciting,
Over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
And this idea of you do not have to be good,
It's like.
You already have inherent basic goodness.
Nothing to earn.
Nothing to prove.
Just being.
Sometimes if you are like me and you have like a not enough story.
That can be a hindrance to.
Just being fully present.
See if you can just see what it's like to be.
Fully present,
Knowing and accepting that you're inherently more than enough.
You have inherent basic goodness.
Just let it all arise,
Abide,
And pass away,
Fall away,
Pass away,
Fall away.
And come back to your breath.
So I just wanna guide us through this practice.
You might already know it.
It's just a type of breathing called Ujjayi Pranayama.
In Sanskrit,
It's victorious breathing.
It's just another tool to help you come back to your breath or if you want to experiment with elongating your breath.
So what you do is you can start by just making the sound of the letter H.
Yeah,
And then see if you can do it with your mouth closed.
Yeah.
And then see if you can keep that constriction in your throat for the inhale as well.
So it's something like.
And if you want to practice,
Maybe you can count 10 breaths for yourself with the ujjayi and then just drop it.
And also,
Like,
This is totally optional.
Yeah,
So if you're ever just on a break from work or life and want to take three deep breaths,
Sometimes it's nice to do them with ujjayi just for that extra focus on the constriction of the throat.
It's also because it's so steady and even,
It really helps regulate the nervous system.
Maybe that's what the victorious means.
Victory over the nervous system.
So just check in with the muscles of your face one last time.
Letting them fall.
Letting the top of your head feel soft and open.
The back of your head feel long.
If you'd like to join me,
I'm going to inhale over my right shoulder.
Exhale,
Center.
Inhale,
Lift.
Exhale,
Center.
Let's do it one more time.
Inhale,
Right.
Exhale,
Center.
Inhale,
Lift.
Exhale,
Center.
Just let your attention fall down.
Your spine,
Or if you want to bring it to the midline of energy,
Running up and down your body,
You can do that as well.
Just all the way down to your tailbone.
Your pelvic floor.
And just noticing where you're being supported from below.
And I'll ring the bell three times.
You can just follow each sound until it's.
.
.
To solution.
And just take a moment here to give thanks to yourself for showing up for practice.
Climbing the steep hill,
Literally and metaphorically,
To get here.
You can also extend your gratitude to all of the teachers who brought these practices so that we could sit here together today.
Please take your time transitioning out.
And thank you so much for practicing with me tonight.
