Let's begin by settling into a posture that's upright but not stiff.
Sitting in a way that says you are awake and here.
Let your hands rest.
Let your shoulders soften.
And if it feels right,
Let your eyes close.
Notice that you have arrived.
There's nowhere else you need to be for the next few minutes.
And there is nothing to achieve.
This isn't about relaxing or emptying your mind or getting it right.
It's simply about being here and noticing what here is like.
Bring your attention to your breathing.
Don't change it in any way.
You don't need to make it deeper or slower.
Just find the place where you feel it most clearly.
Perhaps the cool air at the nostrils,
Perhaps the gentle rise and fall of the chest or the belly.
And rest your attention here lightly.
Like setting a hand on something,
Not gripping it.
Feel one hole in breath.
And one whole out-breath.
This is attention,
The part of you that you can aim.
Right now you're aiming it at the breath.
And here is the most important thing that might happen in this practice.
At some point,
Your attention will leave the breath.
It will be pulled into a thought,
A memory,
A plan,
A sound.
You may not even notice it for a while.
When you notice,
And that noticing is the heart of all of this,
There's no need for any frustration.
You haven't done anything wrong.
You have simply seen clearly where your mind went.
That moment of seeing is the moment of awareness waking up.
And then.
.
.
Gently without comment.
You return your attention to the breath.
You may have to do this many times,
And each time,
Is not a failure.
Each time is the practice itself.
Now let your attention widen.
From the breath to the whole body.
Feel the weight of yourself in the chair.
The points of contact where you might.
.
.
Feel the seat.
Or where you might feel the feet meet the floor.
Or you might feel where your hands rest.
And simply notice.
Whatever sensations are here.
Warmth,
Coolness,
Tingling,
Pressure,
Tension,
Ease.
You don't have to do anything about them.
You don't even have to like them.
Just let them be felt exactly as they are.
This is non-judgment,
Not pretending things are pleasant,
But allowing them to be what they are.
Now let go of the body and open to the sound.
Whatever sounds are around you,
Near,
Far,
Constant,
Sudden.
Notice that you don't have to reach for them.
They are simply arriving on their own.
In your awareness.
See if you can hear them as pure sound.
Just vibration.
Before the mind rushes in to name them and judge them.
Sound arriving and passing all by itself.
And now,
Turn toward your own thoughts.
Not into them,
Toward them.
Watch the next thought arrive the way you just watched a sound arrive.
Notice that a thought is just an event in the mind.
It comes,
It stays a while,
It dissolves.
And another takes its place.
You are not the thought.
You are the one aware of it.
See if you can let thoughts come and go.
Like clouds you are watching.
Without climbing above any of them.
Here is what I'd like you to really notice before we finish.
All through this,
The breath,
The body,
The sounds,
The thoughts,
Something has been quietly aware of all of it.
That awareness didn't have to try.
It was simply there.
Open the whole time.
That's the difference worth understanding.
Attention is the beam you point.
Awareness is the open space that everything appears in.
And it's always already here.
Underneath all the noise.
You don't have to create it.
You only have to notice it.
Rest there for a moment.
Notice to focus on.
.
.
Being Aware.
Of being aware.
And gently bring your attention back to the breath one last time.
Feel the body in the room.
Wiggle the fingers if you like.
And when you are ready In your own time,
Let your eyes open.
And bring this quiet,
Open attention with you.
