I read a really potent quote that stuck with me and I wanted to share.
Meditation practice isn't a very good narcotic.
It doesn't really make pain disappear.
Instead it offers something even more valuable.
Instead of anesthetizing us,
It helps us see more clearly habits of our minds that create unnecessary suffering and offers a way to change them.
So before we begin our practice today,
I'd like to acknowledge the blessing that is you choosing yourself in this moment.
Choosing to sit in wakeful awareness in whatever state you may find yourself in here and now.
Choosing life over numbness,
Love over fear.
I hope you can see the beauty in that.
In this state of wakefulness,
Our practice today will be one that will center and ground you into your body and into your environment.
It's best to be done sitting upright either in a chair or on the floor or on a cushion.
So at this time if you'd like to you may close down your eyes but you may like to keep them open too if you're in a peaceful place without distraction.
So just get yourself comfortable and notice the way that you feel in this moment.
Perhaps put a name to the experience whether that be a physical state or an emotional state.
Just choose one word to describe the way that you feel in this moment.
Now that you've acknowledged the way that you're feeling,
I'm going to ask you to bring all of your attention towards the sensation of your breath.
There are several places in your body where you may be able to observe your breath.
Perhaps your attention will go towards the rising and falling sensations of your belly that accompany each inhalation and exhalation.
See if you can observe your breath through its entire cycle from the beginning of an in-breath to the point where your belly is relatively full and back down to the point where all of the air is released and on to the beginning of the next cycle.
Don't try to control your breath in any way,
Just allow it to be in its natural state and rhythm.
Notice perhaps that your breaths may be short and shallow or maybe they're long and deep.
Perhaps you've noticed a change in the way that you're breathing from the start of the exercise until now.
There's no need to regulate or change,
Just be with your breath.
Use all of the sensations in your body to allow you to pay closer attention to your beautiful life force happening right now.
While you're paying attention,
Do any thoughts come to mind?
Does your attention wander to maybe a painful sensation in your body?
Perhaps to a moment other than the present.
Whatever your experience is,
Just be there with it and allow yourself to come back to center,
Back to the now,
Back to your breath.
Now I'm gonna ask you to take a few moments to expand your awareness,
To include the environment around you.
Start with the ocean of sound that surrounds you.
Listen to all of the sounds that enter your ears,
Just notice them.
Avoid the temptation to interpret and judge.
Listen curiously.
What song is being played around you by the natural world?
How does it make you feel?
Next,
Expand your awareness to notice the sensations of contact between your body and the chair,
The cushion,
The bench or the ground.
Observe the hundreds of sensations coming from each point of contact.
Your feet,
Your back,
Your hands.
Notice anywhere that your body touches something firm.
Notice how these sensations are not actually solid but are made up of hundreds of smaller sensations strung together into one miracle of a moment.
How does it feel to be held?
Now turn your attention to the sensations of contact with the ocean of air that surrounds you.
Observe the sensations wherever your skin is exposed.
Your face,
Your hands or other body parts.
Notice whether the air feels warm or cold,
Still or breezy.
Notice the sensations of your breath at the tip of your nose.
How cool it is when you breathe in and the warmth when you breathe out.
And finally bring your attention to your visual field.
So at this time if your eyes have been closed I invite you to open them and perhaps you'd like to pay attention to one object in your environment or perhaps you'd like to open fully to the picture that surrounds you.
Notice the colors and the shapes and the textures of your environment.
Try to look upon this picture the way that an artist might.
Put aside for a moment the usual habit of labeling,
Of judging and interpreting and just see things exactly as they are.
Allow them to be.
Now that you are seeing your environment and feeling your environment through presence and through stillness,
How do you feel as the word that you labeled as your experience at the beginning of this practice changed?
I hope that however you're feeling you are left with the knowing that you have chosen yourself in this moment and that is the biggest gift of all.
