Welcome to this 11th step meditation designed for anyone working the 12 steps.
To begin,
Sit in an upright,
Dignified,
And comfortable posture in a chair or on the floor.
Take a few moments now to ease your body to a place of soft stillness.
Finally close your eyes or soften and lower your gaze to the floor if you prefer.
Notice at this time the sensations of breathing and where you feel the breath in your body.
It may be helpful to take a few breaths that are a little deeper than you might normally take,
Breathing all the way in and exhaling completely.
In and out,
Again noticing where you feel the breath in your body.
Now letting go of controlling the breath and just allowing the body to breathe on its own,
Trusting the wisdom of the body to find its own natural rhythm,
Allowing the body to breathe itself.
And when you are ready,
Opening your awareness to include the breath in the whole body,
Feeling your whole body sitting here,
Breathing.
After enjoying breath awareness,
Now we explore expanding,
Like opening the lens of a camera to include a broader picture,
Perhaps including the room you are in,
The building,
Perhaps the community,
Or even more.
Opening and allowing all of these things to be just as they are.
Opening and allowing just as much as feels right for you,
Perhaps even opening as wide as the immense blue sky,
Allowing everything to arise,
To be here,
Noticing whatever is present for you in this moment and just observing it with ease.
It's like sitting directly in the center of a giant meadow on a clear summer day,
Allowing your awareness to be as expansive and as vast as the sky.
If at any time the mind begins to wander or get busy,
Gently,
Very gently,
Without judgment or criticism,
Return focus to the breath,
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
And then,
When it feels right for you,
Expanding awareness as broadly as you like.
And if it is helpful,
Expanding awareness to your higher power,
Perhaps meditating on let go,
Let God.
Perhaps meditating on more will be revealed,
Or whatever phrase or slogan occurs to you in this moment,
Or perhaps no phrase or slogan at all,
Simply breathing in,
Breathing out.
Allowing awareness to be as spacious and open as possible.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Allowing awareness to be as spacious and open as the sky,
Or as spacious and open as your higher power.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Resting in deep and abiding spaciousness.
If your mind has wandered,
Noting where your mind is without judgment or criticism,
And very gently coming back to the breath and the spacious awareness of this moment,
Allowing everything,
Everything,
To be just as it is.
Other Dankegeek Lakes available to you here at The Personal cracked portions.
Just as clouds can appear in the sky and linger for a while before drifting away,
We may have thoughts or sensations that drift into our awareness and capture our attention for a time.
Each time this happens,
Gently returning the awareness to the breath,
Knowing that these thoughts and sensations are always temporary.
Perhaps meditating on,
This too shall pass.
Resting in the spaciousness of awareness itself,
Opening,
Allowing,
And letting be.
Some thoughts and experiences may come sweeping into our attention like dark,
Energetic clouds of a storm front,
They can seem to demand our attention.
But just as the sky holds every cloud,
Every storm,
With ease,
Our spacious awareness can hold our experience with ease,
Knowing this too shall pass.
Resting in spacious awareness of your experience,
And allowing things to be just as they are.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Awareness is the spaciousness of the sky itself,
Allowing yourself to be just as you are in this moment.
Go in peace.
