And let go of any anticipation as to what's next.
See this time as resting in your awareness,
Resting in your own self,
So there isn't really anything to do other than listening to me and let your intelligence,
Let your awareness do the rest.
So let go of any extra strain you may have in your body,
Let go of any anticipation or any sense of needing to focus,
Needing to work.
In fact,
The meditation that we are doing today is called Sahaj meditation,
Which means effortless meditation.
Continue to breathe in and out naturally,
Normally,
And become more aware of your breath.
Become aware of the rise and fall.
Become aware of the temperature of your breath.
The movements,
Movements of your lungs,
Diaphragm.
And allow a gentle smile on your face,
A very gentle smile on your face.
And see if you can notice the changes in your facial muscles as you smile,
Very subtle changes.
See how a smile softens your eyes.
See how a smile softens your forehead.
Notice how a smile softens your cheeks,
Your lips.
Smiling like this,
A gentle smile like this for a few minutes a day is known to activate your vagus nerve.
Vagus nerve is the main part of your nervous system that activates when you are in mindfulness state,
Also known as parasympathetic nervous system activation.
So this is when your body is relaxed,
Your cells are rejuvenating with just this gentle mindful smile.
So as we continue to smile gently,
As we continue to notice the shift it has brought to our facial muscles,
We will imagine that the smile is now percolating,
Moving,
And infecting your entire head,
The back of your head,
The top of your head.
And imagine that all the cells in your head are also smiling,
They are relaxed,
And they are smiling,
They are at ease.
And allow this smile to now gently percolate through to your neck,
Your throat region.
And gently visualize that the smile is now percolating and reached your shoulders.
And slowly it has now reached to your upper arms,
Your lungs,
Your chest,
Your heart.
And as you continue to smile,
Your upper torso is also softening,
It's also smiling.
And allow this smile to now percolate downward to your stomach,
To your lower back.
And imagine that all the organs in your stomach are relaxing,
Are smiling.
And allow the smile to now percolate through to our hips,
Thighs.
And as the smile continues to percolate downwards through to your knees and your calf muscles,
You're finding them also being relaxed,
Being at ease.
The same relaxedness is also now reaching your ankles,
Your feet,
All your toes,
And even the soles of your feet.
Now visualize that your entire body is smiling,
From the soles of your feet to the top of your head is one big smile,
One entity.
So this entity,
Smiling,
Breathing,
Is one experience.
As you continue to breathe in and out,
Become aware of all the sounds around you.
Become aware of the sounds coming,
Not just from your computer,
But from your room,
From your office.
Become aware of the sounds coming from outside of your office.
Become aware of the entire soundscape,
But not separating any sounds,
Just as a whole soundscape.
As if the soundscape is becoming available to you.
And as you become aware of the soundscape,
Visualize that your awareness is encapsulating the space and the sound within the space.
So let go of any sense of boundary you may have.
Boundary that is your body and a boundary that we call outside.
So let go of the boundary and become one with outside and inside.
Just experientially,
As an exploration,
Let go of any sense of boundary.
And see how experientially we don't feel any boundary.
So right now,
Like this,
What is inside and what is outside.
So allow yourself,
Allow your mind to give you permission for the time that we are exploring.
We feel boundary-less.
We feel wide,
Open awareness.
And just like that,
Everything is still functioning,
All your senses are functioning.
Your mind is still active,
But the sense of boundary is gone.
And there is a sense of expansion,
Openness.
So stay with this,
Abide in this as awareness.
Abide in awareness,
Abide as awareness.
And nothing else to do,
No focus,
No concentration.
Allow as many distractions as there may be.
Allow all the storylines to come and go.
But see how even the distractions,
The storylines are part of this one experience,
One open wide awareness experience.
You can see,
You can visualize this experience of wide open awareness,
Like a sky looking inward towards its own space.
Sky is aware of all the clouds.
And in this metaphor,
Clouds are like your thoughts,
Your emotions,
Your storyline,
The sensations in the body,
The breath.
All that is seen appearing in your awareness is like the clouds for the sky.
So be this wide open sky-like awareness.
Notice that you do not need to become this awareness.
You haven't cultivated this state,
You haven't brought upon anything.
You're just visiting the space that was already in you.
You're just giving priority to the awareness that was ever present,
Just like this,
Before this exploration and it would be like after this exploration.
This is a very normal experience.
We're just giving priority to this awareness that is ever present.
So remain aware of this wide open sky-like awareness and notice that this awareness is very inclusive.
It's also benign,
Kind,
Compassionate.
There is nothing in this awareness that is not given enough space.
Space to come,
Play,
And then go on its own accord.
Everything is already accepted,
Hence it is kind,
Open,
Inclusive,
Benign,
Compassionate.
Be this space,
Abide as this space,
In this space,
And see yourself as this space.
Abiding like this in open awareness has many names in many traditions.
Currently in modern time it is known as open awareness or open mindfulness awareness.
In ancient time in China it was known as silent illumination.
In Tibet it was known as pure mind.
As in mind is not segregated into thinking or listening or any particular activity but it's open,
Wide,
Hence it's called pure mind and there are several other names.
Some of these names may be religious or sounding religious but it is essentially abiding in yourself as yourself,
As your awareness self.
So let go of any anticipation as to what's next.
Let go of any effort to be this because you already are this.
Let go of any doubt as to whether am I doing this wrong or right.
Let go of any mental judgment,
Any storyline that is not really needed right now and just give priority to this,
To this open awareness very effortlessly.
When we ask somebody to count,
They always go one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
But all numbers starts from zero.
We never say zero,
One,
Two,
Three.
Zero is taken for granted.
Zero is always here so it's ignored.
In the same way this awareness is always present.
It's like the canvas on which all the paintings are done.
It's the very medium in which all our experiences are known,
Experienced,
Enjoyed,
But this medium,
This zero is ignored.
But for these few minutes we are giving priority to it,
Just that.
So continue to be this zero,
Be this zero without any responsibility,
Without any names.
Let go of any roles you may be wearing today,
Roles as a lecturer,
As a manager,
As a student,
Or even relationships you may be wearing today.
Let go of all of those labels and just be this zero and have you noticed that when you are zero,
When you are this awareness,
It is always now.
You can't be this zero in future,
You can't be this wide open awareness in past.
It is always now when you are this.
And you are always here when you are this,
You are never there,
You will always be here and now when you are this wide open awareness.
There is nowhere to go,
It's not in future or past,
It's always here and now.
Just like this,
Without any effort and yet so intimate,
So intimate in all your experiences.
This background presence,
This open awareness,
This medium in which everything unfolds.
So continue to be this wide open inclusive awareness,
One breath at a time and one moment at a time.
And as you sit like this and a sensation appears in your back or on your foot,
It is known,
It is not rejected,
But it is not pursued either.
When a thought or emotion arises,
It is also known,
Not rejected,
But not pursued either.
Everything is given enough space for it to come,
Play and then go.
In your sky like awareness,
All the clouds are welcome.
Even some clouds are dark and they hang around for longer than we would like,
But even they eventually disappear.
Just like all our emotions,
Just like all our challenges,
As you abide more and more in this awareness,
You will find that you intuitively have more space between action and your reaction,
Between thoughts and emotions and yourself.
You will be able to choose response as opposed to automatically responding to triggers.
But continue to abide here,
One breath at a time,
One second at a time and allow all the distractions,
Allow all so-called distractions to be part of this meditation.
Allow all the distractions to remind you that they are just the clouds and you are the wide open awareness and they are known,
They are not the knower,
You are the knower.
So anything that is known is not this awareness self.
So allow all the distractions,
Storyline to be part of your meditation.
They remind you that they are known and not the knower.
So really there is no distractions.
Continue to abide in this as this just for one more minute on your own.
Continue to abide here with that smile.
Continue to be aware of the smile,
The smile on your face,
The smile that is now percolating through your upper torso,
Your arms.
The smile that is percolating now to your stomach,
Your lower back,
Your hips,
Your thighs,
Your shins and calf and your feet.
Become aware of your body and your weight on the chair.
Become aware of the space around you.
