You can choose any one of two sitting positions.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Make sure that you are sitting nice and firmly with your feet down on the ground and your back gently away from the backrest.
Ideally we're looking to see if the body is upright,
Alert but relaxed.
If you're sitting on a zafu or a cushion,
Then sitting gently cross-legged,
Again shoes off.
In either position gently place the backs of your hands on your thighs or in your lap.
Close the eyes and we're going to breathe gently through the nose.
And now the meditation begins.
Very gently draw your attention into the palm of the left hand.
Just gently draw your attention there.
No need to understand why,
No need to analyse or examine.
Just very gently without effort draw the attention into the palm of your left hand.
Very soon we begin to feel a dialogue between body and mind.
You may begin to feel a gentle radiant sensation in the hand.
Maybe there's an increase in temperature,
A little increase of heat.
Whatever you're feeling,
Go with it.
Holding your attention onto that sensation.
No need to try too hard,
Just be there in that sensation.
Stay with it and after a while you'll begin to notice that in fact it's your attention that's maintaining and sustaining the sensation.
We are working with the body-mind field.
Stay with it,
Stay with the sensation.
And after a while maybe you'll want to gently expand the sensation.
Maybe into the fingers,
Maybe into the back of the hand,
Maybe into the wrist.
So now you are feeling that sensation throughout the whole of the left hand.
Stay with it,
Stay with that sensation.
That's good.
You may begin to feel the hand become heavy but deeply relaxed.
Maybe also the arm.
Now we're going to see if we can expand our attention a little bit more.
Maintain your connection to the left hand but we're now also going to add our attention into the palm of the right hand.
So now we're feeling the palm of the right hand and again we're feeling that gentle radiant sensation beginning to emerge.
Hold onto it,
Keep your attention there,
Sustain that sensation.
And like the left hand maybe you're wanting to expand your attention,
Go into the fingers,
Into the back of the hand,
Into the wrist.
So now we are holding our attention on both hands.
Stay with it,
Stay with it.
You may now begin to notice that both arms are relaxing deeply.
Maybe there's a feeling of relaxation coming from the inside.
If that happens don't force it,
Just let it come.
Let that sense of inner relaxation begin to come.
Now maintain the sensation in both hands and we're now going to see if we can expand our attention even further.
Let's now also focus on the soles of both feet.
Bring your attention into the soles of both feet and from there into the toes,
Into the top of the feet and then into the whole of both feet.
And again we're seeing if we can maintain that gentle internal radiant sensation.
Feet and hands.
Stay with it,
Stay with it.
You may notice that what's beginning to happen now is that your attention is expanding and shaping and opening up into awareness.
In order to hold both feet and both hands our attention shifts and shapes into awareness.
And with those four parts of connection with the feet and the hands we are beginning to build a body awareness.
Stay with it,
Keep the sensation going,
Keep your awareness flowing.
You may notice now the body is relaxing deeper and deeper.
Now if you can,
Let's see if we can embody that sensation,
Embody that awareness so that we now feel the whole body.
We bring our attention into the whole body and we build a body awareness,
An embodied awareness and we feel the shape of the body,
The weight,
The mass,
The sensation,
The space of the body.
We stay there,
We stay there.
Try if you can now to hold on to this awareness.
Don't worry if parts of the body feel as if you can't feel them,
That they feel blocked off,
That's okay,
That's normal.
Just go where your body mind lets your awareness flow.
Stay inside that flowing open awareness.
Stay there,
Stay there.
That's good.
Stay in that open flowing awareness.
And as we rest in that space,
As we hold our awareness inside that space,
You may begin to notice the body open,
The mind begin to settle and the breath become very soft and shallow.
Stay with those experiences for the moment,
Just allow them to be.
We are moving into a space of just pure awareness,
Just being,
Just being.
And that space feels boundless.
Maybe you can feel the space has no limits,
No boundaries,
No edges,
It just is.
That space is just there and its qualities are calmness,
Peace,
Nourishing,
Energising.
Stay there.
And as we hold on to that space,
As we maintain our awareness of that space,
We are moment by moment moving under thinking,
Moving underneath feeling,
Moving underneath negative patterns of thought.
These feelings,
These thoughts are purely on the surface.
We are moving underneath them.
We are letting them go.
As those feelings begin to fall away,
We rest in that space of continuous flowing awareness.
Stay there.
Stay in that space.
The more we stay there,
The more we inhabit this space,
The more we realise that it's in this space where nothing can hurt you.
This is a part of you which is never anxious,
Never worried,
Never stressed,
Never angry.
This is you.
This is your essential nature.
This is your pure being.
And as you stay there,
You'll begin to notice what happens when you lose this experience.
What thoughts,
What feelings draw you away from this space?
When we notice,
When we notice we are being pulled away,
We can let go of those thinking mental habits and return to that deeper space,
That deeper space of being.
Stay there.
And after a few moments,
We begin to realise that those thoughts that inhibit you,
That depress you,
That compress you,
Those thoughts are simply just thoughts.
They think themselves.
They form their own pattern.
You can simply let them go.
You can watch them and let them go from a safer space,
From that deeper inner space where you are now.
And then we know those thoughts are not real.
Those feelings are not real.
Don't let them define you,
Label you.
Stay instead in this space,
In this space of knowing,
In this space of being.
It's safe to let go.
Stay there.
Stay in that space.
Notice when you're being pulled out of that space,
Disconnect from whatever it is that's pulling you away from this moment,
From this space,
And choose to be here instead.
Choose to be you.
Choose to be you.
Stay with it.
In a few moments,
We will be lifting out of this meditation.
We're going to take our time coming out very slowly so that we give ourselves a chance to embed the experience,
The feeling of simply being.
Simply being.
When we learn to simply be,
We can be different and do differently.
Free to carry on doing what you do in the world.
Free from stress,
Free from doubt,
Free from fear.
Knowing that everything you do,
Everything you are,
Is coming from a deeper,
Deeper space.
That space made purely of you.
When you're ready,
Very,
Very gently open the eyes.
Take your time.
Don't move too quickly.
Gently come back into the room,
Back into the space where you are.
You can now have a little stretch if you want to,
And prepare to move out into the world free from stress.
