Tip of the tongue touching where the upper palate and teeth come together.
And breathing gently through your mouth.
Eyes downward.
They can rest on a spot on the floor.
And we let our bellies hang out like buddhas.
Very relaxed.
Twenty-one breaths.
We let our bellies hang out like buddhas.
And savoring that lovely,
Very still moment between in-breath and out-breath.
And out-breath.
Or out-breath and in-breath.
And out-breath.
And hopefully you've finished the twenty-one breaths.
And now we'll do the body scan.
We'll start with our feet.
This is simply bringing our attention to each part of the body.
In this case,
Our feet.
Simply and directly noticing how they feel,
The sensations.
They're always there,
But we rarely notice them unless they hurt.
We're just noticing them now.
No thoughts or labels about them.
Just the direct experience.
And then our shins.
And calves.
Then we bring our attention to our knees.
There might possibly be a feeling of pressure underneath them from how we're sitting.
We tune in not to the word pressure,
But to the actual direct experience,
The felt sensation.
Perhaps there's some strong sensation which we don't have to label as pain.
Just the direct sensation and its particular quality.
Then we bring our attention to our thighs.
Whatever sensations are happening there.
We just are being with them,
Experiencing them moment by moment.
When we come to our hips,
You might be feeling strong sensation there.
See if you can just allow it to be and notice its particular qualities.
Sensing whatever the sensation.
Then we come to lower back.
Sitting with the sensation moment to moment.
And then belly.
Then upper back.
Not having to fix anything,
Just experiencing it.
And then chest.
And then tune into your hands,
Fingers.
Lots of different sensations there.
And then forearms.
And elbows.
And then upper arms.
Shoulders.
Again nothing to fix or label.
Just noticing what's happening there.
Feeling into it directly.
And feeling your neck and throat.
Perhaps you can feel the pressure of the weight of your head on your neck.
But again,
Without labels,
Just direct sensation.
And now the whole back of your head,
Including your scalp.
And last,
Feel your face.
So many nerves in your face.
So many sensations.
Now we'll change gears and you might want to close your eyes.
We're going to do equanimity,
Starting with ourselves.
Feeling affectionate,
Loving connection with ourselves.
So you might want to put your hand on your heart.
And since everybody's eyes are closed,
You might want to hug yourself.
No one will see.
Or you can do it with the power of your imagination.
But feel that embrace of yourself.
Not in selfishness,
But in simple,
Loving,
Affectionate connection.
Really relax into this embrace.
Allow yourself to feel it fully.
And now we'll feel that affectionate,
Loving connection for everyone,
Our fellow retreatants in this room,
Holding all of us in our mind's embrace.
Making May you be well.
May you be safe.
May you be full of joy.
And just savoring this loving connection.
Now think of everyone in this neighborhood and extend your loving embrace to everyone walking across the streets,
Going to the restaurants or the shops,
Being in their homes.
They want love,
Happiness,
Freedom from suffering.
And they're our fellow beings.
And we extend our love to them.
Then we turn our attention to the person who we feel some difficulty with,
Perhaps resentment,
Discomfort.
And for this moment,
We think of them as a fellow being.
And forgetting the story for a moment.
Who was right,
Who was wrong,
All of those details we leave aside for the moment and focus on their common humanity.
Here is someone who doesn't want to suffer,
Is always trying to push suffering away,
Is always reaching for happiness because they want to be happy.
And yes,
They pursue that in some strange ways sometimes.
But then so do we.
All of those things we could say about ourselves.
And so with this fellow wave on the ocean,
We extend our loving affection to their common sentient beingness.
The fact that they are made of ocean too and we are actually joined on this one ocean.
We allow ourselves to feel that.
That's what we choose to focus on in this moment.
A quality of this ocean is ultimate love,
Ultimate compassion,
Ultimate joy.
And so naturally,
We share that with this being.
And now we extend our loving affection and connection to all beings,
All of the waves on the ocean.
And we can do this because of our own being made of ocean,
Our own roots in ocean.
Now,
We open our eyes,
Gazing downward.
Focusing on the experience of breathing for just a few breaths.
Savoring that pause between in-breath and out-breath.
Savoring that stillness.
And perhaps especially in that still moment,
But really all through,
Savoring the feeling of being the whole ocean.
That's wandering feet.
You
