This guided meditation is designed to bring you into the fullness of this moment to put aside any stress or tension that might be difficult or blocking you from being fully present right now.
There will be a bell at the end.
Find a comfortable sitting position,
Take a deep breath in,
Allow your shoulders to drop and let the crown of your head reach up to the sky.
Another deep breath to signal to your body and mind that it's time to enter a new space.
If you haven't closed your eyes,
Close them now and allow your thoughts to settle into this moment.
Notice where you feel your breath most strongly.
It might be at the tip of your nose or your belly rising and falling or the feeling in the back of your throat as the air passes into your lungs.
Pick a place where you feel the breath most strongly and focus on that one spot.
Staying with the whole breath,
Noticing its beginning,
Middle and end,
And the space between breaths.
The breath is always with us and you can return to it anytime,
Not just during a meditation practice.
Whenever something puts you in a state of mind that is difficult,
You can shift your attention to your breath.
This is breathing and it's always available to you.
As you feel yourself settling into this moment,
Your thoughts become less intense,
Less intrusive.
They are like waves upon the ocean.
Each thought,
Especially difficult ones,
Might behave as if it is the ocean,
But it is only a wave,
Sometimes just a ripple.
Your awareness is the ocean.
You,
The essential you,
Are so much more than any wave or ripple.
As you feel yourself breathing in and breathing out,
The ocean is deep and calm beneath the waves.
What's happening now?
What's happening now?
Sitting,
Noticing the sensations of sitting.
We use the verb to sit,
But how can we describe this ever-changing experience?
Is it the feeling of your cushion supporting your sit bones?
Is it the sensation in your back muscles as they hold up your spine and your spine holds up your head?
Is sitting the sensation of air against the skin of your face,
The tingling of your lips as they relax into their fullness,
The warmth in your palms?
All this and more happening now,
Available to you in this moment.
All the time.
Maybe there's a place of tension or pain in your body,
Or a persistent thought you want to chase away.
Sometimes these thoughts or pains can seem overwhelming.
We get in a cycle where we believe things are always happening,
Or certain things never happen.
Perhaps it's someone who always does something we don't like,
Or never says the right thing.
I wish I didn't always feel this way.
If only you wouldn't do this all the time.
These labels we put on sensations,
Feelings,
Or other phenomena,
They're tricks of the mind,
Falsely describing feelings or thoughts that change all the time in reality.
We need language to function in our world,
But language can lead us astray.
Even now,
You might notice that the persistent thought or sensation has already changed.
Like all phenomena,
It continuously changes.
When we think always,
We fool ourselves into not noticing when it's absent,
Or different,
Or easier.
You might notice when you focus on your breath that a thought that was disturbing,
Or a sensation,
Went away,
Or it got easier,
Even if just for a moment.
What was that like?
Other times,
That same thought or sensation might be more intense,
Even feel unbearable,
And then it recedes.
What if we didn't give it a label?
What if we didn't think of it when it wasn't there?
Years ago,
Ram Dass wrote an essay about how we use the verb to be.
We say,
I am angry.
I am happy.
I am hurt.
As if we have become that thing,
That emotion,
That sensation.
Right here,
Right now,
I am so much more than that emotion,
That reaction,
That sensation.
I am the ocean beneath the waves.
What's happening now?
Returning to the breath.
What's happening now?
Returning to the breath,
Noticing each breath's beginning,
Middle,
And end.
Breathing,
Noticing the sensations in the body.
Breathing,
Noticing the sensations in the body.
Breathing,
Noticing the sensations in the body.
Breathing,
Noticing the sensations in the body.
When we encounter a feeling or thought that we don't like,
We often contract around it.
We get entangled.
We think,
I am,
And it is,
And always,
And never.
The same is true of feelings we like.
Now I am happy.
This is good.
There's nothing wrong with noticing a happy or painful feeling.
The problem arises when we start to believe that the wave is the ocean.
In this moment,
Right now,
We can practice seeing the waves as they are.
With them lies a vast awareness.
I am so much more than this little wave moving across my surface.
What's happening now?
Believe this moment.
Feel your body open with the breath.
Feel your awareness expand.
Notice the inner space.
Sitting,
Receiving,
Here,
Now.
In this moment,
You can see the ocean.
In this moment,
You can unfold.
Maybe it's just a little at first,
But there is no limit to the unfolding you can experience if you just give it space.
Being mindful of the breath,
Unfolding,
Receiving.
With practice,
We open like a flower.
The vast awareness begins to be part of our daily experience.
The waves lose their power to fool us into thinking they are the ocean.
We still ride them up and down,
But we see them as they are.
What's happening now?
Begin breathing out.
Can you stay with one more breath?
Just one breath.
When you focus on the breath,
Your awareness notices the thoughts as they come,
As they go.
You notice the sensations as they wax and wane.
Noticing their absence,
Moments of unfolding instead of contracting,
Instead of being swept away by a wave,
You notice how easily you can be swept,
But in this moment,
At this time,
You do not confuse the wave with yourself.
You are the deep ocean,
The limitless container.
Inside,
A deep,
Peaceful receiving.
The ocean holds the waves,
Watches them crash upon the shore,
Receives them as they fade back into the deep.
Thank you.
What is happening now?
Breathing in and breathing out.
The breath is happening now.
Sitting is happening now.
Receiving.
Unfolding.
The ocean is coming.
You are the deep ocean,
The limitless container.
Inside,
A deep,
Peaceful receiving.
The ocean holds the waves,
Watches them crash upon the shore,
Receives them as they go.
You are the deep ocean,
The limitless container.
The ocean holds the waves,
Watches them crash upon the shore,
Receives them as they go.
