Welcome.
I am Bram Levinson and this is meditation for tuning into what is.
The process of tuning into what is,
Is in many ways diametrically opposed to many of the lineages and the meditation modalities and the techniques that we find in the spiritual and wellness community.
Very often we are required to withdraw from external stimuli,
From external sources in our environment.
We are often asked to withdraw from our communities and our families,
Withdraw our senses in order to connect to something bigger than us,
In order to find peace and to find calm and to find communion or connection.
What I love about this meditation is that it is the polar opposite to what we are constantly told is helpful.
Personally I find that what I am looking for is found through connection not necessarily to a higher energy through withdrawal of my physical being or my cognitive presence but rather by connecting.
Connecting to other people,
Connecting to my environment,
Connecting to the sounds around me,
The sights,
The smells,
The tastes,
What the body can feel.
And in doing that through that very particular channeling of attention and cognition I very often find everything that I hope to find from a meditation,
From some sort of psychological exercise or psychotherapeutic exercise that will ultimately bring me back to perspective and calm and grounding.
And so join me for this meditation as I guide you through the process of tuning into what is.
We will begin by tuning into what the senses can notice and then we might take a step or two backwards in this game of perceiving to notice what it is that notices.
So sit or lie down but take a moment to get comfortable.
Close the eyes if you're comfortable doing that and notice how once the eyes are closed we immediately fall into the practice of sensing.
We immediately fall into noticing what the body is sending us in terms of signals.
Is there comfort or discomfort?
The areas of comfort won't be asking to be shifted or moved or adjusted.
Any areas of discomfort might and so please take a moment to shift whatever parts of the body are asking to be shifted,
To be replaced,
To be replaced purposefully with niyasa so that the body itself can find comfort and the mind itself can be focused on the meditation.
Once you have found a comfortable position for the body let's just inhale through the nose deeply to inflate the belly and the lungs.
Open the mouth exhale let it go.
Let's do that again inhale through the nose inflating the belly and the lungs.
Open the mouth exhale.
One last time inhale big and exhale let that go.
From here close the mouth and let the breathing find its own way back to its natural rhythm with no need to manipulate the breathing pattern with no need to make it anything other than what it is.
The body doing what it does breathing itself.
Very slowly let's direct our attention now to what we are hearing.
Let's listen to the sounds.
The sounds of my voice.
The sounds that may exist in your immediate surroundings wherever you find yourself listening to this.
Maybe noticing sounds that are a little bit further away perhaps elsewhere in the room that you're in or elsewhere in the building that you find yourself in.
Tuning into the sounds that may be further away outside of where you are for the body is.
The sound of traffic perhaps.
The sound of wind or rain.
The sound of life outside.
And then from here let's tune into what we can see even with the eyes closed with the eyelids closed over the eyes.
What do you see?
Are there colors?
Is there shadow?
Are there shapes?
And perhaps something being reflected back to you in the back of the eyelids.
Maybe some sort of imagery but just observing what the eyes see.
Noticing if there is any smell present for you right now.
Becoming aware of any taste in the mouth.
And then very slowly tuning into what the body itself can feel.
Noticing how the air feels on any exposed skin.
The temperature of the air.
The density of the air.
The movement of the air on any parts of the body where skin is exposed.
Becoming aware of how the clothes fit on the body.
The weight of the clothes on the body.
And maybe becoming aware of anything else that the body itself is noticing.
Is feeling.
So once again let's rotate attention back to hearing.
Observing what is arising within your awareness when there is hearing.
Noticing what is being heard.
Rotating attention to notice seeing.
To notice what is arising within awareness when there is seeing.
And noticing what is seen.
Observing what is arising within awareness when there is smelling.
Noticing what is smelled.
Observing what is arising within awareness when there is tasting.
Noticing what is tasted.
Observing what arises within awareness when there is feeling.
What arises within awareness when the body feels.
Noticing what is felt.
Noticing what is felt.
Hearing.
Seeing.
Smelling.
Tasting.
And feeling.
You as the power of observation.
As the energy that perceives through hearing.
Seeing.
Smelling.
Tasting.
And feeling.
Rest in that energy right now.
And stay resting in that energy for as long as you would like.
