Imagine that you're a marionette and there's a string coming out of the back top of your head,
Hanging from the ceiling.
And your whole spine is hanging from that.
So it's very loose,
Yet straight.
Your chin is just a bit down,
Mouth a bit open,
Breathing naturally.
Now breathing is something we do all the time,
But rather than thinking,
I'm breathing,
I'd like you to pay attention to what's just happening.
Your gaze is downward,
Which means your eyes are half open,
Half closed.
And you're feeling the movement of your belly,
Or the coolness in your mouth,
Or what's happening in your rib cage.
Your pelvis is tilted slightly forward,
Your belly is hanging out like those Buddha statues.
And if you've had that moment of,
Oh yeah,
I was meditating,
Good.
You get to come back to simply breathing,
The experience of breathing,
Savoring this moment.
Coming back again and again to fresh moments of shamatha.
So the moments passing by and the thoughts passing by can be like a rope passing over your open hand.
So you can register all of it as it comes and goes,
Without having to grab a hold and be pulled off your seat.
That hand remains open and aware.
So you might become curious about how your torso is moving with the breath.
Exactly how,
What's it doing?
You're becoming a connoisseur of breath.
Okay.
Returning again and again.
Maybe able to stay with the breath for an entire breath.
Okay.
And the thoughts can come and go.
They can be like waves going up and down and passing by.
We don't have to follow them right now.
I don't know how a kind of a favorite little mantra of mine is,
I don't have to think about that right now.
