GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG To begin,
You're welcome to choose your posture.
Sitting,
Standing,
Or lying down are all perfectly wonderful postures.
And whatever posture you find yourself in,
Allow the body to take a few breaths if it wants to,
Stretching the lungs open gently with an inhalation,
And releasing on the exhalation,
Maybe even giving a tiny squeeze to let out all the old air.
Two more times.
GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG Then allow the rhythm of the breath to take on its own pace,
Not needing to make it long or short,
Shallow or deep.
Just let the body breathe itself.
Let breathing breathe itself.
Can you allow a sense of the air moving into the body and out of the body to rest in your awareness?
It's not too much on the imagination level,
But just enough to recognize all these sensations of slight coolness and slight warmth of expansion and contraction are also part of air from the outside moving into this body and then moving back out.
This is air that has been breathed by countless beings and we are connected through the air we breathe.
GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG And let your body rest a little more fully.
Relax a little more.
Be a little heavier.
To let the earth hold your body.
The ground,
Gravity,
Let it do its job.
Wherever you find yourself on this earth,
You are held by the same earth that holds all beings,
The same gravity.
So just as these bodies are sustained by air,
They are also held and sustained by the earth.
By the sun.
By the water.
GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG We are also sustained,
We are here because of countless ancestors.
You might call to mind specific familial ancestors,
Those who have passed on genetic components and those who have raised us.
So adoptive and biological family are all welcome into this contemplation.
Chosen family is also welcome.
GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG GONG Some of the family members we know and know of,
We have difficult relationships with.
Some we have easeful relationships with.
Most are mixed.
But beyond the specific ancestors we have known,
Or their parents and grandparents,
There are also generations and generations that go back and beyond to become hundreds and thousands and millions of ancestors.
And chances are good that if we are here today,
There is more care and harm that was passed down.
And some might call this love.
Just as some might call gravity,
Love in the sense that it holds us and sustains us.
So take a few minutes to get in touch with the care and love that sustains you.
You don't need to ignore the hardships and the traumas.
But it is important to not get lost in those and have a clear sense of the strengths that have been passed down,
The skills taught,
The dispositions towards well-being.
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And if at any point attention gets caught in stories,
Especially painful stories,
You can hold them with mindfulness,
Not pushing them away,
Just not letting them take over,
Remembering there is more.
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