So just settling into whatever meditation posture you want to use for today,
Whether it's sitting or lying down.
We'll enter into the present moment with sound.
So I'll ring the bowl and the invitation is really just to wake up to the evolution of the sound as it progresses from moment to moment.
And so just allowing the body to settle,
Making minor adjustments to embody a little bit more wakefulness,
Alertness.
Being a little more dignity.
Being aware of the posture as a whole.
As we become more aware of the body,
Noticing if there are any areas where we're holding unnecessary tension for now,
Perhaps like in the face or the jaw,
Shoulders,
The hands.
And seeing if it's available to us right now to release some of that.
And if it's not available,
Seeing if we can make room for that for now.
So for now,
Just simply sitting or lying and knowing that we're sitting or lying down.
And as we become more aware of our posture,
Of our body,
Seeing if we can notice that this body that's sitting or lying here is already breathing.
You don't need to start breathing.
You don't need to do anything actually.
The body's doing it for you.
Just becoming more and more sensitive to this ongoing process.
And then allowing your attention to kind of naturally gravitate towards one area in the body where it's just very obvious that breathing is happening.
Just being curious in terms of where attention is going to land.
Is it the nostrils?
The mouth,
The throat?
Perhaps the rising and falling of the chest or expansion and contraction of the abdomen?
Or maybe even some other place?
In the same way that a dead leaf from a tree might kind of gently fall towards the ground and gently land on the ground.
Just allowing your attention to land in that way in this one region of the body where you're really feeling the sensations of breathing.
Noticing the aliveness in that region.
Whether it's the cooler air coming in the nostrils,
The warmer air going out.
The movement of the abdomen.
Or some other bare sensation.
Looking up to those sensations.
And seeing if we can drop any agenda to make the breath a certain way.
So no matter how it presents itself.
Shallow,
Deep,
Fast,
Slow.
What we're practicing doing is just noticing it as it is.
Noticing if we can bring even some curiosity towards it,
Some interest.
Tracking it from moment to moment.
Catching the very next moment where the body will decide to breathe in.
Being interested in how the breath evolves through the in-breath.
How it ends,
How it transitions into an out-breath.
Noticing the moments when we fall in a kind of trance.
We fall in some daydreaming,
Planning.
And noticing that the breath just keeps going on even when we're somewhere else.
It's always available to come back to.
And it doesn't even require any effort,
Just interest,
Curiosity.
The desire to be present,
To be fully alive.
To use just some empty time or to do something that is just something that is accessible.
When the body breathes in,
I know it's breathing in.
When the body breathes out,
I know it's breathing out.
What do you think now if we can expand the field of our awareness to encompass the whole body?
Just sitting here,
Just lying here,
Breathing on its own.
Nothing to do,
Nothing to achieve.
Just knowing what's real for oneself from moment to moment.
Is rest still,
Wealth and happiness?
From time to time,
Maybe asking oneself,
Am I really awake right now?
Suddenly,
You can recognize yourself immediately and recognize yourself through your sun body.
Without it,
You cannot even change who you are.
For the last moments of this meditation,
Just resting with this aliveness in the whole body.
Unge.
Just waking up again to the sound of the bowl,
See if we can stay with it for its whole duration.
If the eyes were closed,
Letting them open gradually,
Maybe finding some movement,
Shifting the posture,
Stretching if needed.
