Let's begin with the intention for well-being.
When for goodwill,
We set up our posture and mind with intention.
We bring to our posture,
Whether sitting,
Standing,
Lying down,
A kind of balance and alertness and ease.
Composing the body to be in line with our intention for this practice and witnessing the general mind state that is in line with that idea.
Let's turn our attention to our breath,
Looking at the impulse and movement within the body rather than the air itself.
It's an energetic signature which draws the air in,
Refreshing the body,
Releases the air.
You can connect with a feeling of refreshment on the inhale,
Cleansing,
And release on the exhale.
All of the sensations associated with the breath,
Staying steadily all the way through the rising breath,
All the way through the falling breath,
Not grasping too tight,
Just steady steady awareness,
Like the metaphor of a steadily burning oil lamp that you can read by.
Notice how the sensations of breathing take shape in our mind's eye,
In the body.
The shape isn't very definite,
It moves,
Changes.
Keep staying,
Gradually flowing with the breath,
Moving with the feeling of ease and refreshment of the breath.
Let's gradually grow our awareness of the body.
We begin moving past the boundaries of what we normally think of as feelings of breathing and include more and more of our entire form,
Steadily staying with the rising and falling breath,
Infusing the entire body with the light of our awareness.
With each breath we become more settled,
More at ease,
But still alert,
Till we're holding a space of awareness even beyond the borders of our skin,
Like we're in a sphere of our own awareness,
With our breath steadily,
Steadily at the center.
Now let's do an exercise where we look into the somewhat recent past,
Say five years or so.
Looking for a contented memory doesn't have to be overwhelming joy,
Just a simple time,
Maybe picture yourself looking out a window or taking a walk,
Sitting on a bench,
Anywhere.
Be as specific as you can,
Find a time you can remember,
Say five to seven years ago.
Just content,
Maybe happy,
And see through your mind's eye at that time.
Be a witness to how it felt to be at that time.
Become as thorough a picture as you can,
And when you have that picture well in place,
Go in as close as you can and see the similarity in that time that there is or this time right now.
There is a consistency that can't be accounted for by location.
Most of the cells in your body have changed,
Different things were going on then,
You've grown and changed,
But there's something that can be seen,
Felt as the same,
A consistent awareness.
Just returning for a moment,
Aware of the rising and falling breath,
Fully in this body at this time,
Awareness expanded,
Filling the body with the breath.
Okay,
Let's repeat the exercise once again,
This time let's go back to childhood,
A time you felt content,
Nothing spectacular maybe but sitting on a swing,
Riding a bike,
By a river with a friend.
Be as fully in that place as possible,
And just as before,
Seeing how there's something in that mind,
In that awareness that is just the same as now,
Completely unchanged by time.
No matter how little or how much you might see it,
Just taking that view,
Look through these eyes,
Look through those eyes,
A consistent awareness,
An awareness that has nothing at all to do with time,
Which was somewhere in your experience then,
As it is now.
And checking in with the rising and falling breath right here,
Right now,
And with that peak into the timeless nature of awareness that we can experience at some level,
Just letting ourselves open,
Open,
Broaden our understanding of this awareness,
Stretched out infinitely into the past,
Infinitely into the future,
Letting the boundaries dissolve,
Just as we dissolve the boundaries of the breath,
Experience awareness beyond the limits of our body,
And letting that open out as well,
Breathing not just into this body,
Breathing into an expanded,
Spacious,
Increasingly limitless awareness.
And while we're here,
As close to limitlessness as we can get at this moment,
Let's just bring that goodwill back up again,
Spreading the metta with that awareness,
Wishing all beings well.
