The intention for this short practice is the cultivation of a sense of direct participation in each moment as it unfolds with as much awareness and understanding as possible,
Infused with a sense of curiosity and care for what we encounter.
I'll ring the gong to start and then to end again.
So as that sound fades out,
Please arrange your body in a manner which will be supportive of your practice for the next while,
The next few moments,
And let that be a gesture of coming into presence,
Into being,
Into a sense of wakefulness.
So this may be,
It may be seated,
It may be standing,
It may be lying down,
It may even be in movement.
And just as the outset,
Let your awareness sweep through the body.
Perhaps in that way,
We remind ourselves that we meditate in the body and nowhere else.
And now coming into stillness in whatever position you have chosen,
Noticing the texture of the inside of the body,
Whether there are sensations,
Whether it's possible to feel the inside of your hands or ankles,
Knowing that the lack of sensation is an equally acceptable state,
That there is nothing to change,
Nothing to manipulate,
No particular state to acquire or aim toward,
That it can simply be this and this.
Noticing the points of contact your body makes with the surface you are sitting on,
Standing on,
Or lying on.
The very felt sense of being,
Who you are right here and right now.
Noticing the rhythm of the breath,
The in and outness,
Sense of inflating and deflating.
Perhaps you experience this in the belly,
Or maybe it's more vivid in the chest,
Or the shoulders rising and falling.
And now expanding the field of awareness to include sounds in the environment,
The sound of my voice,
And whatever else you might be aware.
Perhaps there is traffic,
Or sounds of nature.
And just like we open to sounds,
We open to the quality of light that's around us.
So if you are practicing with your eyes closed,
The invitation is to notice what it's like if you open them just ever so slightly.
This is not to stare at anything particular.
Just allow a little bit of light to come in through the eyes,
Allowing the gaze to settle on the spot.
Somewhere not too far from you.
Noticing now if there are smells in the environment,
Or is there a taste of something you perhaps ate or drank earlier,
Or there's a residual of that that you can sense.
And whatever is that you find,
Turning toward the question,
Can I be with this right now?
Just as is.
And then to include in this field of awareness the way you are relating to what you find,
Whether it's a sound or the sense of touch.
So noticing the spectrum of the mind and whether there is any commentary about what you encounter in your environment.
An opportunity to simply notice and let be what you find.
And as we come to the end of this period of practice,
Seeing if it's possible to get a snapshot of the whole of your experience as a unified field of awareness.
Being with the sounds.
Being with your mind.
Being in the body.
Being with the breath.
Being present.
Right here,
Right now.
Right now.
Just this.
And this.
And this.
