Bell Bring your attention into whatever space you're in.
You can honor this space with your attention by bringing care and a wish for well-being as you set up the meditation posture.
Set your mind to making this a sacred spot,
Brief though the sitting may be,
Just giving this time and space a sort of reverence,
And make contact with the earth through the contact points of the body,
In whatever seat or chair,
Floor or ground,
Just feeling the earth beneath through that contact,
The great stability,
Thinking of the earth element,
Solidity.
Then sensing the rest of the body,
Moving the attention up,
Feeling the spine stacked nicely upright,
And the body relaxed around that stable,
Balanced spine.
Letting the posture reflect alertness and ease.
Let's turn the attention to the rising and falling breath.
In the same way we conceived of this space as a sacred space and got in touch with the earth element,
Our form or posture.
Think of the breath in its energetic element,
The wind element.
Think of the giving energy of the breath,
Refreshing,
Rejuvenating,
Potentially healing energy,
Bringing the mind in line with the energy of the breath.
With that in mind,
Just following each moment of the rising breath,
Each moment of the falling breath through the sensations of the breath,
Following length and depth,
Allowing the breath to move in a natural,
Comfortable,
Refreshing way,
And also allowing for a little exploration.
Slightly deeper breath here,
Exploring some very soft and subtle breaths.
Whatever comes to mind or comes to the body to do,
In both cases with this attitude of allowing,
Allowing what will be refreshing,
What will be healing,
And just staying steadily,
Steadily and gradually settle more and more,
Allowing the sensations of breathing and the imagination together to fill the body.
Letting the sphere of sensation expand outward,
Just filling all the corners.
Filling the body with awareness,
With energy,
With breath,
And let yourself be held in the breath as well.
In a way the body holds the breath,
But in a larger sense the energy that the breath implies is actually holding us.
Being held in this refreshing,
Pleasant,
Caring attention.
I'll shortly be ringing the bell again,
And depending on how quickly you have to get to your next task,
Whatever degree of fullness and being held in this energetic attention that you're experiencing now,
Just see if you can let it recede as slowly as possible,
As if you've taken a very deep breath and you're letting it out very gradually,
But the fullness and refreshment of the breath lingers on.
Good night.
