Find a comfortable seat and take your time to find some stillness that you can't find.
Feel some space there.
This might mean elevating your hips.
Your hips should be higher than your knees.
Sit on a cushion or blocks or something.
Feel like your knees are flowing down like water from your hips.
And feel some support there in your lower legs.
Rock back and forth until you feel your shoulders center over your hips.
The movements get smaller and smaller as you find that center.
Be aware of your breathing.
Just notice it.
Don't try to change it too much.
Just be aware.
Be aware that as you start straightening your spine a little,
Pulling your shoulders up and back and down,
That your breathing actually starts steadying and becoming more even.
Just notice.
It's almost like your body knows that this is going to be a time of relative peace for you,
No matter what's going on in your life.
Already your breath is thanking you and your breath is doing its work to calm down the nervous system.
This just happens.
And can you imagine that your head is like a helium balloon and it's sort of going up into the sky a little bit,
And you'll feel your spine elongate even more in a subtle way.
And again,
Notice your breathing.
Part of meditation is just noticing our breathing.
It can be endlessly interesting,
But it's a skill you have to train and acquire over time,
Just the noticing.
It's a skill.
Here's some tips.
Notice if the breath is deep or shallow.
Notice if you're breathing more into your belly or your chest.
Notice if the inhales are longer than the exhales you might even count.
One,
Two,
Three,
One,
Two,
Three,
Or whatever counts you here in your mind.
Just notice.
Apply that count.
And then notice if there's a pause at the top of the inhale or the bottom of the exhale.
And then notice if your breath is audible or silent.
And notice if the breath is smooth or if it's stuttering or choppy a little.
This is subtle.
It's subtle in meditation,
But it's not subtle in life.
Our breath becomes broken and very choppy when we're laughing or crying,
For example.
When we're meditating,
This evenness or smoothness,
Choppiness is a sign that there is some undigested emotion or thought.
Emotions or thoughts.
Let's go back through those qualities now,
And this time we will try to adapt the breath to our own benefit along each of those dimensions.
First,
We make the breath deeper.
Breathe into your side ribs and your back.
Breathe into your belly first,
Side ribs,
Back,
Chest.
And then try to make the inhales and the exhales the same length.
And if there's a pause at the top of the inhale or the bottom of the exhale,
Just smooth that out.
So the inhale leads into the exhale,
Leads into the inhale.
Imagine it is an elliptical shape or an oval.
Just goes up and then comes down.
Doesn't stop at the bottom or at the top.
It's more of a circle and a straight line up and down.
And then try to breathe a little more into your belly than your chest.
So make your belly big on the inhale.
You might even put your hand there so you can feel your hand moving away as your belly gets big.
And then your navel goes towards your spine as you exhale.
This takes some focus.
We usually inhale into our chest.
We have to move it down into our belly,
Which is a very calming breath,
Belly breath.
And then try to make your breath silent rather than audible.
Breathe through your nose.
But make it silent if you can.
If you can't,
Don't worry.
And then that element of smoothness or choppiness,
You won't be able to control that just so much.
Because again,
That tells you what's going on in your heart,
Your mind.
But you can notice this at the end of your meditation and see if it's smoother.
I want to offer a visualization,
Something to focus on for the rest of our time.
I want you to see yourself sitting there as a sort of translucent being.
Being without physical form,
But almost a shape,
Like in the movie it would be a holographic image.
You could run your hand through it,
But it's there.
And I want that shape to just elevate a little and just travel across the landscape.
Just going on a little journey,
Whatever landscape you can visualize.
It could be your neighborhood or the country somewhere,
Something relatively peaceful.
You're just traveling.
And ahead you see a river,
Not a violent river,
A gently flowing river of some sort.
And in the river there's a rock and it's just under the surface,
But it's smooth and wide and open.
I want you to take your being and just sit on that rock and the water's flowing through you.
And the rock sort of disappears from under you,
But you don't sink,
You just go down a little bit.
Maybe now the river's flowing through your belly and chest,
Your head is above the water,
Certainly plenty of air.
And that water represents your emotions and your thoughts.
And here's the thing,
Your water,
Your emotions,
Your thoughts run through you.
They don't get stuck.
All those emotions and thoughts have some time in your body,
Absolutely.
And they might swirl around in your head,
All over your body.
They might feel good,
They might feel suffocating,
They might feel scary,
They might feel loving,
But they run through you.
You could even sink down to the bottom of that river now.
The water's so fast on the top,
But at the bottom it's barely moving.
And still it's moving.
And even in that peaceful state at the bottom of the river,
Still thoughts and emotions just go through.
Nothing lodges.
Nothing sticks.
No thought or emotion or cycle of thought or emotion is permanent.
Come out of the river and back to wherever you're sitting.
You have a newfound insight into how thoughts and emotions work.
Come back to your breath.
Let go of the visualization of the river.
Be in the moment.
Be in your breath.
Be in your seat.
If those thoughts and emotions come back,
Just let them flow through you.
Your breath is the great instrument for facilitating their release.
Deep breath.
Even breath.
Just notice.
Sit as long as you like in this breath awareness and the awareness of the fluidity of thoughts and emotions.
And I'll ring the chime in two minutes.
I'll ring the chime in two minutes.
I'll ring the chime in two minutes.
I'll ring the chime in two minutes.
I'll ring the chime in two minutes.
I'll ring the chime in two minutes.
