Arriving in the present moment,
Finding your comfortable posture,
As comfortable as possible,
One of relaxation and ease,
Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly,
Giving yourself the leisure of dropping all concerns just for the duration of this session,
And connect to the most meaningful and authentic motivation that feels alive for you in this practice.
Your aspiring ideals,
Your skillful desire for liberation,
And your longing for awakening.
And if you're sitting upright,
Uplift your sternum slightly,
Getting a sense of uprightness in your posture.
A willingness to reach out and meet your aspirations.
Feeling comfortable and relaxed,
But also awake and alert,
A softening and a brightness.
And with a clear motivation for this session,
Guiding your awareness down into the body,
Moving slowly down from your head to your torso,
Your belly,
Hips,
All the way down to your legs and feet.
Taking note of all the places where we are in contact with the floor,
The cushion,
Or the chair.
Letting the tactile sensations ground and anchor your presence.
Feeling held by gravity,
The element of earth,
Solid and stable.
And notice in being simply mindful and aware of all the somatic sensations of your body in contact with the ground.
There is no need for it to label anything.
It is enough to relax into the sensations of being held by gravity.
And from the space of solidity,
Filling your whole somatic space with vivid presence,
Directing the luminosity of your awareness to the whole space of the body,
Including your feet,
Your legs,
The front of your body,
The back of your body,
Your arms and your hands,
As well as your face and the back of your head.
Almost as if your whole body is radiating and vibrating,
Permeating with warmth and energy.
And as you breathe in,
Noticing any area that feels tight or uncomfortable,
And attending to this area.
See if you can find the borders between what feels tight and uncomfortable and the surrounding area that feels different.
And on the out-breath,
Releasing your muscles,
Releasing any holding,
And releasing any aversion and grasping.
Breathing in,
Finding areas that feel constricted,
And breathing out,
Relaxing our relationship with these sensations,
Surrendering our muscles to gravity.
No need to hold on to anything.
Remain mindfully aware of the whole body space.
Breathing in,
Focusing on the areas that are inviting some care,
And breathing out,
Feeling the comfort of letting go.
Relax all muscles in your face,
Any holding in your neck and shoulders,
And any contraction around your chest and stomach.
Taking a deep breath in,
Allowing your abdomen to expand,
And a very slow and controlled out-breath.
And note if this allows for a gentle softening of our experience.
See if we can find that breath that gives a sense of enjoyment,
Of ease,
Of well-being.
In this way,
Settle your body in a posture of ease,
Of comfort,
And relaxation.
Allowing yourself the pleasure of being carefree in this moment.
Remaining still with a sense of uprightness and of wakefulness.
This is the body's natural state,
Deeply at ease and deeply present.
While breathing,
Keep massaging the sensations of your body with your luminous awareness.
Noticing any tension around the eyes,
Around your mouth,
The jaw,
And the throat area.
Letting go as much as you are able.
Releasing all tension and giving it up all to gravity.
Releasing all sensations into the space of awareness.
And while we remain in contact with the sensations of solidity,
Of all the areas in contact with the floor,
Just remaining intimate with whatever sensations arise within the body.
Within this field.
While we keep breathing in slowly and deeply in a way that feels comfortable and energizing.
And see if you can notice that sometimes awareness has this tendency to contract.
It will keep shrinking to places and to sensations.
And if that happens,
See if you can keep stretching it out.
Stretching it out in such a way that your bright awareness includes all present sensations in somatic field.
It keeps contracting,
You keep opening up.
Perhaps even bigger than your physical body.
Almost as if the whole space of awareness is filled with bright and vivid energy.
Like water flowing to every area.
And feeling the fluctuating and shifting patterns of moving sensations throughout this field.
As we fill all areas of this present moment with awareness.
Stretching and opening up our attention.
As if we are being washed over by this fluctuating field of vibrations.
And notice how does the breath make this whole space feel.
Breathing in,
Expanding this whole bright space.
And breathing out,
An almost existential release into ease.
And keep filling the body with awareness.
The whole body,
Including the legs,
The feet,
The torso and the head.
Being present with the whole body space.
And letting go of the body and mind.
Nothing needs to be changed,
Only recognized and relaxed into.
Grounding in solidity and resting as stability.
Let your body be still like a mountain and your awareness like space.
Relinquishing all control and relinquishing all preference,
All effort.
And without grasping,
Without labeling and without distraction.
Remain aware of all that arises within the space of the body.
All the sensations arising and passing moment by moment.
Without preference,
Without desire,
Without aversion.
Letting it all unfold by itself.
Just noticing what remains.
Stillness and movement.
And rest.
And then finding our way back to the sensations of solidity.
The feeling of firmness hovering motionless in the space of our awareness.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
And if you'd like,
Make an inner bow to yourself for showing up in practice.
