Seneca says the things you run from are inside of you.
If we look,
We can see this very clearly.
When we run,
We're running from our own experience,
Be that pain,
Stress,
Anxiety,
Fear.
I would also add that wherever we go,
We carry what is within us.
This means the love and strength we gather in meditation are carried with us everywhere.
Everything we do is a vote for the person we want to become.
James Clear states this in his book Atomic Habits.
We are building our life experience with every action we take and every inaction we don't.
We're not a fixed entity.
We're ever evolving and we're either moving towards joy or misery because nothing stays the same.
Everything is changing.
In Buddhism,
We're seen not so much as a thing,
But more of a process.
We have the opportunity to be awake during our choices instead of being at the mercy of unconscious habit.
We have the ability to wake up in the middle of the storm and to take the wheel of the car which is heading for the ravine,
And to shift that wheel quickly and to save ourselves from imminent disaster.
So let's cultivate some mindfulness now.
Come into a seated posture.
This can be on a chair or on a floor with your legs crossed.
Place the hands on your lap and if you like you can place them one in the other as you might see on a Buddha.
And allow the eyes to gently close.
Take your attention to the top of your head.
Feeling whatever you can feel there.
Tingling,
Temperature,
Pressure.
And then allow the top of the head to relax and sweep that attention down into the forehead.
And down into the eyes.
Feeling to make sure the eyes aren't squeezed shut.
And down into the cheeks,
The jaw.
Relaxing as you scan down the face.
Down the neck.
Feeling whatever you feel.
And then come into the shoulders.
Resting your attention on your shoulders.
Feeling what you can feel in the shoulders.
And allowing them to relax.
Perhaps you can feel breath sensations in the shoulders.
The gentle rise and fall of the shoulders as the breath comes in and leaves.
And then down into the chest.
And feeling for breath sensations in the chest.
Not forcing the breath,
Just allowing the breath to be natural.
And then feeling the sides of the ribs.
How they move to accommodate the in-breath.
And then down into the abdomen.
Feeling what you can feel.
You can carry a lot of tension here.
A lot of holding.
Let that go.
And just feel the breath coming in and out of the abdomen.
The movements that are made to accommodate the breath.
Relaxing.
And seeing if you can spread these feelings across the body.
As the breath comes in.
Maybe you'll even be able to feel it in your arms.
In your hands.
Up into your chest.
Maybe your back.
Just sensitizing the whole body to the experience of breathing.
And now letting go of the breath.
Just being for a moment.
Opening up to sound.
Opening up to anything you can feel in the body.
Coming back into the room you're in.
And allowing the eyes to gently open.
Bringing the practice to a close.
