Come into a comfortable position.
Close your eyes.
And let's take a couple of deep breaths.
In and out through the nose.
Really exaggerating on the inhale.
Opening our and really slowing down the exhale.
Feeling the breath as it's moving through your body.
That sense of letting go.
On each exhale.
.
.
And at the end of your next exhale,
Allow your breath to be natural.
And let's check in with the body.
Just notice if there's any areas where we're holding on to some tension.
Any places that we can gently release that tension.
So becoming aware of the crown of your head.
Your forehead.
Your eyes.
Your cheeks,
Your nose.
Your mouth,
And tongue.
Your jaw,
Your neck.
And shoulders.
You might even lift your shoulders up a couple times just to Really let any tension go from your shoulders.
Becoming aware of your right arm.
And hand.
And your left arm.
And hand.
And softening in your upper back.
In your mid-back.
Your lower back.
Your sit bones.
And all the muscles around your sit bones.
And becoming aware of your chest.
And coming down to your diaphragm.
And your abdomen.
Your hips.
And softening down your right leg.
Into your right foot.
Moving your attention down your left leg.
And into your left foot.
And when you're ready,
Bringing your attention to your heart center.
Center of your chest.
And feeling that.
Gentle expansion.
And softening of your heart center.
With each breath.
And ask yourself,
What is it that you want more than anything else in the world?
Without making our answer dependent upon anything in the external world,
Without making it dependent upon anything in the future.
But what word is it that speaks to you?
About the openness and the spaciousness.
And the feeling whole.
That is always here in each moment.
And now ask yourself,
What could you be doing more of or less of?
That tends to lead you closer to what it is you most want.
So without any consideration for whether it's something We are ready to do more of,
Or ready to give up.
Just considering the types of activities that we might do that tend to get us more distracted,
Maybe more agitated.
And then the types of activities that tend to have the opposite effect.
And now let these seeds dissolve into your heart center.
And expand your attention.
So that you are aware of the breath.
As a whole.
So you can feel your torso expanding.
Gently on each inhale.
And softening.
On each exhale.
Allowing the breath to be completely natural.
Letting it move at its own rhythm.
It's on pace.
Maybe you notice your attention has wandered off with a thought.
And you can feel a slight contraction in the body.
Without any judgment.
Without any criticism.
Just bring your attention to that contraction.
Notice the breath moving,
That contraction.
Even notice after a few breaths.
How the contraction seems to dissipate.
Not because we forced it to go away.
Or even that we wanted it to go away.
Simply by resting our attention.
Bear.
And we can notice that.
As our attention rests on the breath.
Moving through the body.
Thoughts can come and go.
Maybe we see them in the periphery.
That there's no.
.
.
Pull to give attention to any of the thoughts.
They just come and go.
None of us knows what the next thought is going to be.
Just appears.
There's no author behind the thought.
Nothing to claim the thought.
Just conditioned patterns of thought.
Coming and going.
You might notice some sensations in the body.
You never know.
Where the next sensation is going to come from.
There's no one creating the sensations.
Just different conditions arising.
A sensation appears.
As conditions change.
And so does the sensation.
And maybe an emotion arises.
Maybe a little anxiety,
A little fear.
You didn't plan for this emotion to arise,
You didn't create it.
As the conditions arising,
An emotion appears.
Nothing to claim in the emotion.
We don't need to make any meaning out of it.
It's just an understanding that emotions arise.
They change.
They disappear.
And in seeing how things are arising and passing away.
Without any owner,
Without any author.
Just coming and going.
We don't have to take any of these things so personally.
I can be aware of their appearance.
But without pushing back on them,
Without feeding into them.
They're not a problem.
And then they just tend to pass on their own.
So we can also be aware that there is.
.
.
No solid center to our experience.
Passing away.
Sensations arising and passing away.
And what remains is the spaciousness throughout all of this.
The openness.
When there's no identification with the thoughts,
The feelings.
The emotions and sensations.
It's pure openness,
Awareness.
Spaciousness.
We'll rest here for another minute or so in silence.
And as we begin to come out of the meditation,
With a big inhale,
Take your arms up over your head.
Big stretch at the top.
And as you exhale,
Gently lower your arms.
And slowly open your eyes.
