Aum So let's just take a few moments to get comfortable.
And then spend a little while simply sitting quietly,
Bringing our attention back from wherever it may be wandering to this.
And at a certain point,
You can begin to orient toward the body in a little bit more of a directive fashion by simply feeling the body.
Simply feel whatever energy,
Sensation,
Feeling,
Emotion might be apparent in the body right now.
And let it all be welcomed.
And if you notice your attention beginning to open in a way that's inclusive of the presence and the support of the Earth underneath you.
And just let the instructions follow suit and begin to feel the body and feel the Earth.
Remembering when the mind wanders to gently bring it back over and over again.
Remembering to meet whatever you find with an attitude of welcome.
And through this process,
Beginning to settle into beginning to find the body.
And having spent a little bit of time beginning to find the body,
We can actually begin to explicitly inhabit that experience.
We can complement the openness that has characterized our practice to this point with a little bit of precision by directing some of our attention to the specificity of the breath as it enters the front of the lower belly,
As it comes into the body and flows back toward the spine.
So as a portion of our attention remains with the relatively open instruction of feel the body and feel the Earth,
A portion of that same attention rests with the specificity of the breath as it flows into the lower belly.
Partition of that same attention follows the breath into the body,
Lets the breath help us inhabit the body more fully.
Starting to welcome whatever we find and to come back to this when our attention wanders.
And so having begun to discover and inhabit the body,
Having begun to settle into the body,
Begun to welcome whatever the body might be for us in this moment,
We're going to bring this little bit of embodied stability up to the heart,
Up to the level of the heart center.
So it's going to be very much the same practice.
It will just be taking place at the level of the heart center.
So continuing to let a portion of our attention feel the body and feel the Earth,
Let another portion of that same attention follow the breath into the heart center.
As a portion of our attention continues to feel the body and feel the Earth,
Let a portion of that same attention follow the breath into the heart center.
And when attention wanders,
Come back to this body,
Earth,
Breath,
Heart.
And through this process,
Begin to settle,
Begin to stabilize.
This is welcome.
As we continue,
We'll become more settled,
More stabilized,
More embodied in the heart.
And with this stability comes a refined sense of perception.
We begin to see and feel and sense and experience the heart in a more refined way than we might have,
Say,
Ten minutes ago.
We might begin to notice tension or armor in and around the heart,
Which we welcome.
We might begin to notice movement or energy in and around the heart,
Which we welcome.
We might begin to notice a kind of openness or an achy kind of tenderness in and around the heart.
Continue to breathe into the heart center and let the embodied heart reveal itself and welcome whatever is offered.
Welcome whatever shows itself.
And we're going to get a little bit more directive with the practice instructions here.
Not in order to make anything happen particularly,
Not to change what the embodied heart is.
But to allow us an opportunity to touch some things that may already be happening and may not be part of our conscious awareness yet.
So,
As we continue to breathe into the heart,
Let yourself notice any sort of tension,
Armor,
Rigidity,
Frozenness that may be apparent in and around the heart,
That may be apparent in this part of the body,
This part of your experience,
Embodied experience.
And as you breathe into the heart and as you begin to notice,
Let this tension,
This armoring,
This frozenness begin to naturally melt.
Let the hold of that tension begin to naturally loosen.
And as we continue to breathe into the heart,
As we continue to feel tension where it exists in and around the heart,
As we begin to notice that tension loosening up,
Melting.
Let the heart begin to open.
Let the heart begin to open into itself,
Into the chest cavity,
Into the room,
And out into the world of which we are part.
As we feel the body and feel the earth and breathe into the heart center and feel the tension and notice the melting,
Let the openness of the heart open up into the world.
And let yourself feel,
Let yourself be touched,
Let yourself be affected by whatever you find waiting.
Let the inherent sensitivity of the heart receive the world,
Let the inherent tenderness of the heart receive any joy,
Any sorrow,
Any delight,
Any grief,
Any this,
Any that,
That it might become evident as we continue to allow,
To invite,
To follow tender,
Sensitive heart as it opens into this world.
And as we come toward the end of this session,
Or if you want to keep going for a while,
When you come to the end of this session,
Just let any sense of formal technique gently melt away,
Let any sense of formal technique gently dissolve and return to the beginning of this practice session.
Return to simply sitting quietly for a few moments.
Sit quietly and remember to welcome whatever shows itself.
Remember to gently guide your attention back when it wanders away.
Remember as you get ready to continue on in your daily life.
Listen.
You
