Aum So let's just begin with a few moments of sitting quietly,
Just allowing ourselves the luxury of a few moments in which our body and mind,
Our entire being,
Can begin to slow down.
And having offered ourselves this,
We can now take a little bit of time to tend to the matter of posture,
To look at how our body is arranged on the cushion or bench or mat or chair that we're sitting on.
And begin by noticing the ground underneath,
Our sense of contact with the Earth,
However it might be manifesting,
And just let yourself soften and settle into this sense of presence,
Sense of support,
And let your body naturally adjust in response.
And then,
Like a blade of grass emerging from the dark depths of the Earth unfolding toward the Sun,
Let your spine naturally elongate,
Riding the upward energy of the Earth and body adjusting,
As always.
And then gently move left to right,
Feeling for the midpoint between these two extremes where the body just relaxes and settles,
And the downward energy of Earth,
What we call gravity,
Is able to flow,
Just pour through us as the body adjusts,
And then we do something similar from front to back.
Settle,
Pour,
Adjust.
And now let's turn our attention toward the rhythm of the breath,
More particularly toward the rhythm of the breath as it comes into the body through all the pores.
So turn our attention toward this,
And just notice,
Just notice that rhythm,
Just notice the breath coming in through all the pores.
And as always,
If and when your attention wanders,
Just gently come back to this,
Just turning our attention toward the rhythm of the breath as it comes into the body through all the pores,
And just noticing.
And then let your attention get a little bit more intimate with this rhythm,
A little more intimate with the breath.
We've been noticing for a few moments now,
Let your attention rest with your experience of the breath.
Let your attention get a little bit closer and just rest with the rhythm of the breath as it flows in through all the pores.
And then becoming more intimate,
Even still,
We started by noticing,
We then rested with.
Now let your attention follow the rhythm of the breath.
Let your attention stay with the rhythm of the breath as it comes in through all the pores.
Let your attention follow the breath.
More specifically,
On the in-breath,
Let your attention follow the breath in through the skin,
In through the flesh,
In through the muscles,
And in through the bones.
Follow the breath through the pores,
Through the skin,
The flesh,
The muscles,
The bones,
As we inhale,
As we breathe in.
And on the out-breath,
On the exhale,
Let your attention just relax,
Just settle,
Just let go into your experience of the body,
Your experience of this embodied moment.
So on the in-breath,
We follow the breath through the pores,
Through the skin,
Through the flesh,
The muscle,
The bone.
We follow that in-breath all the way in.
And on the out-breath,
On the exhale,
We follow the lead of this part of our breathing cycle,
And we just relax.
We just settle.
We let go into our experience of this embodied moment.
In-breath,
Out-breath.
And as we move toward the end of this short practice session,
Just let any efforting that you may notice in your practice,
Just let any efforting soften and relax.
And as that efforting softens and relaxes,
Just settle into whatever might remain for you.
Settle a little more fully and a little more fully until you come full circle with this practice session and return to the simple act of sitting quietly for a moment or two.
Return to simple quietude with perhaps the aspiration that our time here,
This practice,
Might be of some benefit to ourselves,
Some benefit to others,
And some benefit to this world of which we are part.
