In stillness,
All that needs to be known is shown.
Today we will sit in stillness for a while and instead of hunting for the breath,
We will patiently wait for it to reveal itself.
We will just peacefully sit,
Stilling the body unhurried,
Because that too is meditation.
I believe that from the moment you sit with the intention of meditating,
Meditation begins.
It's not a process of wrestling with the breath,
It's more the art of allowing.
We are gentle and balanced in our efforts.
I like Lee Brazington's description of meditation.
He calls it relaxed diligence.
Reflect on that.
Relaxed diligence.
To us in the West,
That sounds like an oxymoron.
How can you be relaxed and diligent?
We see diligence as a furrowed brow,
Deep determination,
Maybe even with sweat trickling down our forehead.
But no,
In meditation these two words work perfectly together.
Nothing is forced,
We relax,
We be easy about things.
But from this vantage point we are diligent in being with the meditation object.
As you know,
Our minds,
We can make even relaxation into an inner war.
If we approach meditation with an attitude of,
I must relax,
We will inevitably create tension.
Again,
It is an allowing.
Allowing relaxation to occur and if it doesn't,
Even if we're filled to the brim with tension,
That is fine too.
We relax the mind around the tension.
We don't start this inner war trying to get rid of it.
The relaxation I'm talking about is relaxed even with a wandering mind.
Relaxed even with physical tension and relaxed even if you're struggling to feel the breath.
That which watches the inner struggle isn't itself struggling.
This is true freedom,
To go to the inner refuge of awareness and watch the show of life unfold,
Ultimately not attaching to any of it as me or mine.
We're just relaxed,
Accepting whatever does or doesn't show up.
It's all valuable.
So come into a seated posture and allow your eyes to gently close and notice that word allow again,
It's a word of acceptance.
We will meditate for around 12 minutes or so just to give you a taste of what I am talking about.
So for now,
Just sitting.
Just sitting and allowing the body to begin to settle down.
Not doing much at all right now.
It's an undoing.
Surrendering to this period of sacred time.
This relatively small amount of time that we put aside makes the rest of our lives much richer.
In many senses this is life extension,
We're extending the quality,
The moments of lived awareness.
And feeling the whole body right now,
Where is the body making itself known as you bring it to stillness?
Let's look for that.
And the more you still the body,
The more the breath becomes obvious.
We don't have to struggle to find it.
It's so very clearly here in a still body as it's likely the only noticeable movement occurring.
So tuning into that gentle wave of breath occurring in the body right now,
Where is it present for you?
Look to see how you are actually breathing,
Without any preconceived ideas of breathing patterns.
And seeing the breath not just as air,
But as a whole body experience,
An energetic exchange.
Muscles moving all by themselves.
There's no need to get involved.
There's no need to interfere or help the breath.
The body breathes by itself,
Just like it was doing before you brought your attention to it.
This gentle easy breath,
Relaxed breath,
Relaxed body,
Relaxed even if there is no feeling of relaxation.
Letting tension dissipate and leave the body in its own time.
If there is tension that is not ready to leave,
No problem.
Just feeling this easy breath whenever it chooses to reveal itself.
Being with this gentle wave of rising and falling happening.
In the body now,
We can even say in our minds,
Rising on the in-breath,
Falling on the out-breath.
Seeing if that helps you to stay with the motion of the breath.
There's no hurry,
Because there's nothing else to do.
Just feeling the breath,
And this can only be done in the present moment.
We can't feel yesterday's breath,
Or tomorrow's.
So being only available now,
The breath becomes an anchor into the now.
The mind will wander off into thinking.
This is natural.
See the thinking.
Drop it all together.
No matter how important it tells you it is,
Don't even allow the thought to complete itself.
Stop it dead and come back to this breathing body.
This gentle rising and falling happening all by itself.
Letting go,
Returning to the sensations of breathing every time we get caught,
Every time we get carried away by thoughts,
Just coming back to this gentle rising and falling happening all by itself.
Can we connect with a sense of peace that can arise in these moments?
The simplicity of life,
Of just being with the breath.
And now letting go of the breath as anything special,
And just for a moment,
Being with whatever arises.
Sitting peacefully,
Watching sensations in the body come and go.
Bringing yourself back into the room,
Opening up the hearing,
Keeping your eyes closed and just listening to the world for a moment.
Really allowing your eyes to open and connecting with the sense of sight.
Really looking from this place of stillness,
A world of colour,
Shapes,
Light and shadow.
Is there anything new here,
Something that you can see taking on a new life as you're now able to look more deeply?
Move the body slowly,
Stretch and feel in the body as if you're in it for the very first time.
Engaging the senses in this innocence that once was your experience of the world.
Thanking yourself for taking time out to give yourself this vital gift.
And I want to thank you for your attention and I'd ask you to subscribe if you haven't.
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