Hello and welcome.
Today we're going to be meditating with a cold or flu or some other kind of congestion,
Perhaps some allergies.
And just to up the ante on this guided practice,
I am going to be guiding it with you today while I myself have a cold.
So here we go.
I invite you to start by closing your eyes.
Affirm your intention as you settle into a comfortable position that although your nose may be clogged,
Although your body might be achy and just feeling off,
There's still the capacity here to experience true presence and to find a sense of rest in the midst of our body's healing.
So let's infuse that intention of rest into the breath here.
Lean back into your seat.
Feel the gravity connect you to the ground,
Allow your body to soften as much as you can right here.
If it's hard to breathe through the nose,
You can sip the breath in through the mouth or if it's possible to breathe through the nose,
Even if it's a little slower today or maybe even a little labored,
That's okay.
Just breathe in a way that feels the most natural with that sense of rest.
Take a moment here and pay attention to your symptoms without feeling the immediate instinct to judge how you feel or feel sorry for yourself.
What does it feel like to be having this experience of illness?
Where do you notice it most?
Can you bring yourself to just be with whatever sensations are present,
Whatever feelings you have in your body,
Whatever weird liquids and mucus is moving through you right now instead of resisting the fact that it's happening today?
Can you rest in the middle of it all?
Can you accept that this is your current state?
Can you breathe into a state of surrender?
Can you breathe into a state of surrender?
Gathering your attention,
Placing it back on the breath.
Not trying to get anywhere,
Not trying to feel a certain way.
With each inhale,
The only thing to do is breathe in.
With each exhale,
The only thing to do is breathe out.
Rest in the simplicity of this process,
Just breathing.
And as we bring this practice to a close now,
I invite you to give yourself a little self massage here.
You can bring your hands up to your face and maybe you can tap your forehead in between your eyebrows.
You can massage the muscles around your cheeks.
You can move your fingers down the bridge of your nose and massage around your nose,
Opening up the sinuses.
Move it up to your ears and your neck.
Sometimes this could be really good when our body's healing to just give it a little extra loving and TLC.
Feel free to start stretching your body,
Neck rolls,
Shoulder rolls,
Moving and wiggling your fingers and toes.
And that's it.
That's a cold meditation.
I had a friend who was a Zen monk in San Francisco and I was invited to a practice with him one day and I was sick and I said,
What do the Zen teachers say to do when you're sick?
And he says,
Ah,
Yes,
Just be sick.
That's what he told me.
Just be sick.
So over the course of this day or these next few days,
However it takes for your body to recover,
I really encourage you to find a sense of rest,
Non-resistance to the experience.
See what being sick has to teach you.
Perhaps there's an important lesson waiting for you somewhere.
And the lesson for me right now is to drink some lemon water and go take a nap.
So I'll thank you for joining me here.
Hope you feel better soon and enjoy the rest.
