Expansive Awareness

A sequence of body scanning, Tibetan pranayama, mindfulness of breath in its natural state, and then expanding the space of the mind's natural awareness.

Transcript

Welcome to your practice.

We will work with our minds and bodies and our connection to the earth,

As well as our breath and our awareness,

In four successive stages.

So please take a comfortable seated posture,

Sitting on a cushion on the floor with knees falling below the hips,

Legs loosely crossed,

Or sitting in a chair with your feet flat on the floor and knees at 90 degrees.

Placing the hands on either side of your lap somewhere around mid thigh,

And notice that the hands are helping the shoulders be placed in a balanced fashion,

Where the collarbones are wide,

The heart is open and exposed,

But the lower floating ribs are not jutting out.

You can also straighten the low back just a little bit,

Just straighten it,

And you'll notice that this creates a slight engagement of the lower abdominal muscles,

Which is good.

It will help support your entire posture for the low abs to be very slightly engaged.

The back of the neck is long,

So tuck your chin down just one or two degrees towards the floor and in,

And notice that just underneath the earlobes in the highest part of the throat,

Underneath the jaw,

The throat is hollowing out just a little bit and the back of the neck is lengthening.

The face is soft,

The eyes are soft,

The belly is soft,

Although we have the slight engagement beneath the navel.

For a few moments just check in with yourself,

Welcome yourself to your practice,

And discover what it feels like to be me right now.

And then can you touch in on your sense of motivation for practicing today?

Why are you doing this?

I encourage you to add to that sense of motivation the notion that you are basically good,

That you are not broken,

You are not unworthy,

You are completely lovable,

Completely sane,

Completely whole from the beginning.

Just entertain that notion and entertain the notion that this meditation practice is nothing more than an expression of your basic goodness,

Your basic sanity.

We'll begin with the body,

So please bring your attention down to the soles of your feet,

Begin feeling all the sensations and aliveness that are present in the soles of the feet,

In the toes,

In the balls,

In the heels,

The arches,

The sides of the feet and so on.

Noticing all the tingling pressure and noticing also that there is tension held in the soles of our feet.

There's a subtle form of gripping that is going on in this region,

In the muscles,

In the bones.

So please just notice that.

And then the next time you take a natural inhale.

Don't turn away from the tension or try to push it away but go towards it with your mind.

Be with it.

And then your next natural exhale.

Imagine that tension is melting down into the earth.

And then you come to the tops of the feet and the exact same thing,

Just feeling all the many different sensations that are present and alive in the tops of your feet,

Highlighting in particular discomfort and gripping and tension.

And then as you exhale,

It releases into the ground.

As we briskly move through the ankle bones and up to the calves and the shins,

Seeing how much we can fully inhabit this lower region of the legs.

And then your next exhale invites them to relax.

As we feel our way through the knees and into the thighs and the femur bones,

Noticing the diverse array of sensations that are present from the knees to the inner groins to the outer hips.

So much living presence is available to be felt just in this region of the body alone.

So feel any tension that's stored here and your next exhale,

Surrender it to the earth.

Coming to the pelvis.

Feeling the entire pelvis,

The bones,

The glutes.

And relaxing,

Surrendering tension down.

And then feeling the belly,

All around the belly.

So much tension and holding going on here in the low back as well.

Feel it as you breathe in,

Release it as you breathe out.

Scanning through the mid body,

Solar plexus,

Mid back.

And on up to the upper torso,

Shoulders,

Back of the heart,

Front of the heart,

Lungs,

Ribs,

Collarbones,

Shoulder tops.

What's going on here?

Will you let it go?

You are the only one holding on.

And then feeling the arms,

From the upper arms through the joints into the palms,

Into the fingers.

Feeling aliveness,

Feeling tension,

Bringing relaxation to the arms and hands.

And then the head,

The crown of the head,

The occiput in the back of the head,

The temples,

The brain,

The ears,

And the face,

The brow,

All around the eyes.

Noticing tension held in the eyes,

Tension held in the cheekbones,

Tension held in the jaw,

The lips,

And the mouth and tongue.

Be with it,

Go towards it.

Let it go.

And then just a few breaths to be with the whole body breathing.

Feeling the body expand when you breathe in and feeling the body release and let go as you breathe out.

The body wants to let go.

It longs to release its tension into the downward flow of gravity.

So tension melting down through the body into the earth and creating a sense of energetic connection to the earth.

Really feeling the earth beneath you.

And from here,

Start letting your breath become fuller.

Sending it down to the low belly,

Just above the pubic bone,

Lowest part of the belly.

Letting the belly really fill up.

And this next breath,

Let the belly fill up and extend out a bit.

And as you exhale,

Pull the belly in towards the spine and pull the pubic bone back towards the spine as well.

Just exhale everything out,

Out,

Out.

Then relax everything,

Fill the belly again.

And this time on the exhale,

You'll pull the belly back,

Pull the pubic bone back,

But also pull up on the anal sphincter and the perineum,

Which is right in front of it.

Really getting all the stale air out and then relax everything again,

Filling the belly.

And then engaging the pelvic floor upwards,

The pubic bone back,

The belly in and up as much as you can.

And then relax everything and breathe in again.

We'll start a rotation of 12 breaths,

Just like this now.

Letting the belly completely relax and become very,

Very full.

And then a diligent engagement of the low body as you exhale.

We're welcoming in fresh,

Awakened energy with the in-breath.

And as we exhale,

We're exiting everything that is stale and stuck from the body.

And then we inhale in bright,

Vibrant,

Fresh breath.

And as we exhale,

We are knocking the rust off the pipes,

As it were.

Keep the breath gentle and smooth.

Even though the muscular engagement in the low body is quite strong at this point.

Great.

If you blust count don't worry.

And if you finish just keep going.

No matter where you are just three more for good measure.

Don't worry Okay,

Let go of the technique and just relax.

Keep a good posture,

But enjoy the energy coursing through your body right now.

Let the tingling sensations melt away any residue of unnecessary tension.

So please place your attention now specifically at the tip of your nose.

We'll begin working with the breath and its sensations directly in the tip of the nose.

When you breathe in it's cool,

When you breathe out it's relatively warm.

So our anchor point is the nose and the nostrils right at the tip.

And we're just feeling one breath at a time.

I'll give you one last instruction before we practice quietly for some time.

That is allow your exhales to fall out of the body in a relaxed manner and let there be a space,

Moment of elegant suspension at the end of the exhale between two and four seconds.

And then the inhale comes almost as a surprise.

It starts on its own and you follow the inhale in,

Not the other way around.

Slight gap at the top of the in-breath,

Be there for that.

You'll feel the exhale leave the body of its own volition.

And then space,

And then inhale and then space like that.

Just keep a watchful eye on what breathing in this natural way,

What kind of influence it exerts over your mind and body.

Let your breath out,

Listen carefully to the air.

Exhales.

If you get lost,

Simply come back with an attitude of gentleness.

Re-establish yourself in the notion of basic goodness.

The only rule is you're not allowed to beat yourself up.

And if you're beating yourself up,

Don't beat yourself up over beating yourself up.

You're not allowed to beat yourself up over beating yourself up.

You're not allowed to beat yourself up over beating yourself up.

You're not allowed to beat yourself up over beating yourself up.

You're not allowed to beat yourself up over beating yourself up.

So here with our attention placed at the tip of the nose,

I'll ask you to notice the sound of my voice,

In particular that my voice is just trickling in.

You can hear me just fine with no effort whatsoever.

In fact,

Check and see right now that you can feel your breath and be in your body while hearing my voice at the same time.

This does not have to distract you,

Me guiding the meditation.

It would be a lot harder to not hear me,

Actually.

What is it?

The same goes for other sounds in the room that are present right now.

Without any effort,

You're taking that in as you're feeling the breath.

It's very passive and relaxed to take in the sounds while your active attention is placed on the breath.

Notice also that you can tune into the feelings that are present on the skin layer of your body.

There's air quality,

Other sensations.

And notice that you can open to those sensations while keeping your mind stabilized on the breath.

It's a passive function of our awareness.

We're opening our awareness,

Mindfulness on the breath,

Opening our awareness to our environment.

Same goes for the thoughts that might be present for you right now.

They're just passing through.

You didn't ask for them.

You didn't conjure them.

So just let them be free.

Let them be free from you.

Be very passive about just letting them wander through.

And then opening to the sense of space surrounding your body,

The space in the room that you're sitting in.

Without leaving the breath,

Open your mind to the space in front of you,

To the right of you.

Notice you can feel the space to your left and behind you and above your head,

Below your seat.

Feeling the space all around the body now.

We are literally surrounded by the space of the universe.

No effort is required in feeling the space.

You have a dot in the middle of a giant circle and the dot is your breath.

The giant circle is everything that's happening in the space of the environment around you.

So practice with this for some time.

Please relax with it.

Relax into full presence.

These are all Jamie Jackson sprints.

And at this point in the journey,

It might be helpful to have your eyes open.

Eyes open.

Gaze soft.

Seeing the space in front of the eyes,

Not the objects in front of the eyes,

The space.

And take in selectivity.

Cool.

Ouch.

I'm feeling better.

Phorse.

And in these last couple of moments,

We'll end with a traditional dedication of merit.

So wishing for the benefits of this meditation practice,

Any tranquility or insight,

Relaxation or awakening that has occurred at all,

May it radiate out from our bodies,

From our hearts into the atmosphere like the most profound ripple effect ever,

Touching all sentient life forms all over the planet.

May all beings everywhere be safe.

May they be happy.

May they be free.

May peace and sanity prevail in our world.

May our practice be a significant contribution to that potential reality.

Re-seal in your practice by letting the half-smile of a Buddha spread across your face.

And then take a deep breath and be sure to transition very gently out of your practice.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank you for this powerful yet deeply relaxing practice 🌟

I feel really relaxed and calm now. I'm going to incorporate the breathing exercises into my silent meditation practice. They were really helpful!

I listened yesterday and today to Ralph DeLa Rosa. Both days I have felt such gratitude for his teachings. They are truly such a treasure for me and so helpful in my practice.

So nice, thank you

Thank you so much. This is wonderful. Will be doing it again!

Nice. I enjoyed the breath work Lu's some quiet time to focus. Metta and thanks.

Practice time and direction I was guided to face was mind-opening. The breath work’s pauses, with mental focus on the inbreath - I’ve never felt so easily present with one-breath-at-a time; I think the instructions to be curious and let the exhale be a surprise was exceptionally powerful for me.