Welcome to Living From the Heart.
And today I want to invite you into an inquiry that has been very live for me of late.
And this is the inquiry into silence.
So far I haven't found any end to silence.
And what I've discovered is that the more I pay attention to silence,
The more it grows.
Silence is our nature.
And when you look deep inside,
You will find that there is a vast,
Empty silence which is overflowing and alive.
When we sit for meditation,
We might notice that there are a lot of sounds going on in the world.
And what I would like to invite you into is that each sound,
Each bird song,
Each barking dog,
And maybe the melodic song of chimes outside your window,
Actually is a pointer back to silence.
Back to the silence that lives inside of you.
Silence is alive.
And I find it so helpful to walk through the world,
Especially in its ever-changing and somewhat chaotic state.
With my attention tethered to silence.
Just imagine for a moment what it would feel like to have your attention tethered to silence.
Yes.
Silence is steady.
Silence is steady and it is in constant motion.
It is the movement of molecules all the way to the smallest level of the atom.
So to be able to sense this infinite,
Silent aliveness can be very relaxing and freeing.
So I'd like you to settle yourself as we enter together into a meditation on silence.
Because the more you give your attention to silence,
The more it becomes a friend.
The more it becomes your constant companion.
Your constant companion,
Just like the beat of your heart or the rise and fall of your breath,
The rise and fall of your breath.
So taking a moment and closing your eyes,
Closing your eyes,
Getting comfortable.
Perhaps sitting with your spine long and taking a nice,
Generous breath.
Allowing your breath to go all the way through your body and maybe you can sense the breathing tube that runs through your center.
Just noticing the caress of your breath as it moves up and down,
As it moves in and out.
So let yourself sink down and down,
Sink down slowly,
Very slowly,
Very gently.
And you might become aware of your eyes,
Noticing the darkness behind your eyes.
And letting the eyes rest into their sockets,
Into the warmth of the darkness,
Just like that.
And as you do,
Your attention can sink deeper and deeper down inside.
Taking your time and the more you sink in,
The more the mind becomes quiet and you can let the body relax.
Letting the muscles in the face and jaw soften,
Letting them soften with ease.
And please remember that we are here together,
Meditating in community.
That we are a world community of meditators.
Devotees of silence.
And every breath invites you into silence.
That's right.
Every breath invites you into the ocean of silence that is your nature.
Allowing yourself to rest into the spaces between my words.
Rest into silence.
And you might be aware of the gentle flute or nature sounds in the background.
These are the sounds of life celebrating.
And these too are pointers to silence.
The vastness of silence that lives in you.
Lives in you.
And so even the sounds that perhaps one might find distracting.
These also point us to silence.
Everything.
Everything is a pointer to silence.
Everything,
All of the sounds of humans,
Whether it's cars honking or sirens blaring in the distance or even the sound of raised voices out on the street.
These too point you back to silence.
And it takes practice to train your mind to notice silence.
To recognize that silence is always here.
Even in the midst of a windstorm or heavy rains.
Or perhaps when family or friends are in the next room cheering loudly while they watch a game on TV.
Silence is here.
Silence is here.
Yes,
My friends.
Silence is here.
And silence is steady.
Because silence is your nature.
So let's take a few minutes now and rest into silence together.
Together.
And perhaps expanding your awareness to recognize that we are meditating in community,
Which amplifies the experience.
So you can trust that it's safe to drop down and down into that silence space.
And I will be here with you.
Present.
Resting into silence with you.
As we open to its steady presence.
So let's pause here for a few minutes without words.
So that you can drop down into that silence space within.
So let's pause here for a few minutes without words.
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