Cultivating equanimity,
Cultivating peace with concentration,
With samadhi.
You're invited to settle into a comfortable posture,
One that is free from energetic constriction and at ease and generate an intention for this practice,
Perhaps one that is for the benefit of all sentient beings,
Including oneself.
And having found a sense of physical seclusion,
You're invited to release the hindrances,
Obsessive desire,
Sensual desire,
Ill-will,
Sloth and torpor,
Restlessness and worry,
And paralyzing uncertainty or paralyzing doubt.
Put them aside for the moment.
Find some seclusion from them.
And in that way also put aside worries and concerns,
Roles and responsibilities,
The stories of the ego we carry around.
Let them go and arrive in this reality of just this,
Here now,
Just this experience,
The reality of just the six senses,
Sight,
Sound,
Smell,
Touch,
Taste and mind.
And let your awareness settle into stillness and quietude.
Find the silence in your heart.
Find that still spot,
That still space within your heart.
And let attention settle in one space,
On one thing.
Perhaps it could be the silence or the stillness,
Or it could be the movement of the breath,
Finding the still spot of awareness within that movement.
Perhaps it could be awareness of the breath as it moves across the membranes of your nostrils or upper lip,
Gathering attention and placing it there and staying there.
In that process you may notice a deep relaxation,
Beginning to occur in your body.
Let it happen,
Staying focused on one thing,
Allowing the body to relax.
Feel the pleasure of concentration.
Experience gladness with this pleasure.
And now let breathing be,
That's the focus of your attention,
Let it be in the background.
And in the foreground bring the pleasure of this experience and let it evolve to joy,
Bubbly,
Energetic,
Rapture,
Joy,
Built in the body and also the mind.
And if that's not your experience,
Invite it to think of something that brings you joy and let it fill your being,
Let it pervade your being,
Joy.
And you may notice a natural evolution to happiness,
Buoyant feeling.
Sometimes we experience in our heart area a lightness,
More refined than joy,
A simple happiness,
A smile in your heart.
It's pleasant,
Uplifting.
Let this happiness evolve to a more subtle and refined contentment.
And perhaps you can experience this in your belly,
A peacefulness with happiness,
Simply content,
Wanting for nothing.
And let it fill your being,
Saturate you,
Completely saturated,
Evasive sense of contentment.
Nothing you have to do,
No one you have to be.
Everything is okay,
Just as it is.
And allow this contentment to evolve to deep peace,
A peace of equanimity,
A refined stillness,
Luminous,
Bright,
Quiet,
Unshaken,
Unshaken by pleasure or pain,
Unshaken by praise or blame,
Unshaken by the ego,
Beyond the ego,
Bright,
Luminous,
Still,
Unshaken by the ways of the world,
Like a mountain,
A mountain unshaken by storms,
Justice,
Peacefulness.
And let's now maintain Samadhi on this quality,
This space of equanimity,
For a few moments,
In silence.
