Let's just find a comfortable position.
Close your eyes.
And take a few deep breaths in and out through the nose.
So you're really expanding on the inhales,
Opening up.
Long,
Slow exhales.
And at the end of your next exhale,
Let your breath be natural.
And we'll just notice how you're feeling in your body right now.
We've had a few hours of silence,
Of introspection,
Contemplation moving slowly.
Just notice how your body feels.
How your nervous system feels.
So we use the breath as our anchor,
Resting our attention there.
And as we feel the breath moving through the body,
You just notice what it is that's here.
And if we notice any of that contracted energy,
That habit energy,
Just breathe a little space into the energy.
Is nothing wrong because it's arisen?
I'm just noticing that that's what's here.
We breathe mindfully.
Sometimes there's pleasant sensations arising.
And other times unpleasant sensations.
We're not choosing any of these.
You're simply arising.
And as we meet these sensations with mindfulness,
Opening to what's here,
Not pushing anything away,
Not trying to hold on to any particular state.
We notice that we can feel a greater sense of ease.
With whatever it is that's arising.
And whatever it is that's arising.
It's already changing.
We can't hold on to any one particular state.
And pushing away something that's already changing doesn't really make a lot of sense.
In fact,
If anything,
It exacerbates the unpleasant state.
So we breathe mindfully.
We notice what's here.
Maybe even noticing that attachment arising to the pleasant state.
And just breathing into that attachment,
Into that contracted energy,
Opening up and really being able to feel the pleasant state again,
Instead of trying to hold on to it.
And really so much of our experience is just neutral states.
Neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
We often think of as just the mundane parts of our lives,
Of our world.
And a great deal of agitation seems to come out of the neutral states.
But when we can accept these as well.
Simply acknowledge what we're feeling is neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
Neutral tends to be much more pleasant.
And we acknowledge it and we don't fight it.
Let's take our attention into our heart centers.
Imagine as if you're breathing in and out of your heart center.
And ask yourself,
What is it that you want more than anything else in the world for yourself?
What is it that you most intrinsically want to feel inside?
And now ask yourself,
What could you be doing more of or less of?
That would move you closer towards what it is you most want.
So when we contemplate this question,
Reflect on it.
We're not doing this with any force.
We're not saying to ourselves,
I have to do something.
I have to do less of something else.
But just to reflect particularly in context of the morning silence and the retreat.
Just planting some seeds.
Of how some things might change in your day-to-day.
And the things that you're doing and maybe some things that you might be doing less of.
And now let all these little seeds of our intentions Dissolve into our heart center.
And we can continue to rest our attention on the breath here at our heart center.
And I'll just leave you for the last few minutes in silence.
And as we slowly come out of the meditation,
Taking a big inhale and lifting your arms over your head with a big stretch.
And as you exhale,
Lower your arms.
And gently open your eyes.
You
