A Practice For Fall

The second part of the series on fall is a meditation on presence and acceptance as these themes relate to fall. If at all possible, please do the practices outside, either in your back yard, a park, or wild space. If being outside is not possible, perhaps looking out a window. If that’s not possible, we can always close our eyes wherever we are and imagine the lovely colors sounds, colors, movements, and smells of fall.

Transcript

Hello,

Dear friends.

I'm delighted that you're taking time to spend with me today.

Thank you.

This meditation is part two of our two-part series on the fall season.

Since our focus is fall and it's October in New Mexico,

I'm going to invite you to share my experience with me and make it your experience or maybe even make it our experience.

It feels good.

I'm going to describe as part of our meditation today what's happening moment to moment in my awareness.

Use that as a guide to guide you deeper into your awareness and use these changing cues as the basis of us practicing together in maybe a uniquely interconnected way.

There will almost assuredly be some background noise since I'm outside in my backyard.

And if you can,

Just welcome these sounds as part of the journey.

Or if it angers you,

You might want to notice your aversion.

Smile without aversion.

Rarely are we in perfectly quiet spaces these days.

Rarely do we have the perfect teacher.

We're not perfect.

The conditions often don't seem perfect.

Maybe they always are.

Who knows?

And through all this we can learn how to make everything a part of our meditation.

So before we float into our meditation,

I want to share a few things I believe to be true about you.

One,

You've arrived here now because you're curious.

Wonderful.

Welcome again.

You're here now because you want to grow.

Yeah.

I think it's cool to congratulate ourselves that of all the things we could be doing right now,

We're taking time to share in meditation.

Taking time to enjoy one another's company in a community that is committed to doing good.

Right action.

Right home.

And you're here now because you want to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

This might be the ultimate intention.

So let's begin by setting an intention.

My intention,

You might want to make it yours,

Is full liberation for myself and others.

We want to be free.

We want to be happy.

We want to be free of suffering.

And we wish that others could be free.

I want others to be happy.

I want you to be happy.

Free of suffering.

Completely free of the root of suffering.

I really want that for you.

And that's a wholesome intention.

And by wholesome,

I mean good for you,

Good for me,

Sustainable.

And maybe a gentle reminder now,

A simple reminder to remember the four attitudes.

The attitudes of gentleness,

Patience,

A sense of humor.

And again,

Curiosity.

Now if you're mad,

You're sad,

You're glad,

You're anxious,

You're bored,

You're fatigued,

Whatever.

No big deal.

Because much of practice is simply doing it.

And there's really only two times you need to practice.

That's it.

Two times you need to practice.

When you feel like it and when you don't.

That's all.

So let's assume an upright yet relaxed posture.

Sort of noticing we have a body.

Yay,

We have a body.

So let's move through the body.

We won't take too much time with this,

But take a little bit of time to connect to the body.

Please move your awareness into your face.

Simply moving attention and awareness into your face.

Now breathing in,

Aware of your face.

Breathing out,

Relaxing.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Relaxing.

Breathing in,

Aware of the muscles in your face.

Breathing out,

Relaxing,

Letting go.

Good.

Let's move on down to the shoulders.

Allowing,

Directing your awareness to simply move to the shoulder area.

Breathing in,

Becoming aware of your shoulders.

Breathing out,

Letting go.

To the degree you can,

Just letting go of tension.

Why not?

Breathing in,

Aware of the shoulders.

Breathing out,

Relaxing your shoulders.

Now bring awareness to your entire upper body.

Back,

Chest,

Abdomen.

Let your awareness move through those areas.

Breathing in,

Aware of my upper body.

Breathing out,

Relaxing,

Letting go.

Breathing in,

Aware of the upper body.

Breathing out,

Relaxing,

Letting go.

One last time.

Wonderful.

Since our focus is fall,

Hoping you can hear some of the wonderful sounds of the wind.

The charms in the background.

Drawing my attention to the blueness of the sky.

Breathing in the color blue.

If you can see the color blue,

Notice the color blue or you see it in your mind.

Simply noticing the blueness of the sky.

Breathing out,

A smile to the blueness that is the sky.

Now I'm looking at the Sandia Mountains.

Sandia Mountains are 10,

500 feet.

If you're going to take not Han's meditation.

Let's see that together.

Breathing in,

I am solid like a mountain.

Breathing out,

Solid,

Mountain.

Breathing in,

Solid,

Breathing out,

Mountain.

Breathing in,

Solid,

Breathing out,

Mountain.

Now if you can,

Picture a sunflower.

It's beginning to wilt in the fall.

The leaves are changing from green to brown.

Moving in the gentle breeze of the fall.

Breathing in to change.

Breathing out,

Relaxing in to change.

Small gold fence just landed on the sunflower stalk.

He's eating those seeds,

Spreading them all over my yard.

Breathing in to that little bird,

My little buddy.

Breathing out,

I smile.

Let's incorporate that smile.

There's only two times to smile right now.

Whether you feel like it or whether you don't.

Breathing in,

I don't know where I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I smile.

I'm going to remain silent for just a little while.

I want you to simply,

To the degree you can,

Breathe in and know you're breathing in.

Breathe out and smile.

Breathing in,

I know I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I smile.

Wonderful.

Breathing in,

I'm aware of the changes of fall.

Breathing out,

I smile to those changes.

Breathing in changes,

Breathing out smiling.

Breathing in,

Change.

Breathing out,

Smile.

I know that I change.

My body changes.

My perceptions change.

My beliefs change.

My body changes.

Your body changes.

This is part of the reality of being in a body on this earth.

Breathing in,

The reality of change.

Breathing out,

Relaxing into those changes just to the best you can right now.

Breathing in,

Awareness of change.

Breathing out,

Letting go,

Acceptance.

Recognizing the wind,

The air.

Simply see if you can notice the wind,

Air.

Maybe it's the wind that fills the sky,

Rustles through the leaves.

Maybe it's the wind,

The air entering your body.

No separation,

Interconnected.

The wind is in me.

Breathing in,

Wind.

Breathing out,

Smiling.

Noticing again the sunflowers.

With the wind comes the sunflower.

The sunflower is part wind.

I'm part wind.

Noticing the sun reflecting on the backs of the sunflower right now.

The sunflower is part sun.

You're part sun.

I'm part sun.

Breathing in the warmth of the sun,

Breathing out a smile.

Breathing in warmth and vitality.

And breathing out,

We smile together.

Noticing my fountain in the backyard.

Noticing the water that's flowing outside of the fountain onto the grass that's starting to fade,

Starting to change.

I'm part water.

You're part water.

Everything is part water,

Interconnected.

Breathing in,

I am never alone.

Breathing out,

I smile that all things are interconnected.

Breathing in,

I'm not alone.

Breathing out,

I smile to being connected.

You're listening to me,

My voice is in you.

It's part of you.

You're part of me.

All of these elements that create this wonderful journey of life.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Breathing in stillness.

Breathing out,

Letting go.

Breathing in stillness.

Breathing out,

Letting go.

Practice like this on your own.

Move with me as I'm doing it with you.

Breathing in stillness.

Breathing out,

Letting go.

Stillness.

Letting go.

Stillness.

Letting go.

Let's close together.

Am I just smiling?

I'm smiling towards you.

I've really got a big gap-tooth grin smiling at you now.

And I hope you're smiling too.

And if you're suffering,

I sure hope that your suffering passes and you can get back to smiling.

I want you to be happy.

I want you to be free of suffering.

I want you to just walk around and enjoy it every moment of every day from now on throughout eternity.

Bye.

Reviews

Thank you for this wonderful meditation.

this was surprising, releasing and exactly what the universe wanted me to step into. thank you - namaste.

A wonderful meditation to welcome in the change in ourselves and the interconnected world!

smile on my face, not knowing how to start... the way you seamlessly and effortlessly incorporated the realities of change and interconnectedness.. probably because there are no seams there, and both exist without effort... Loved it! Enjoyed your company, felt welcome in your garden.. Thank you for sharing Rick..

Very soothing and relaxing, thank you. I needed that! 🧘‍♀️

A sweet and friendly conversation and meditation. The sound of the wind rustling through the leaves and chimes was lovely. ☮️

Thank you for this meditation. Smiling back at you 😊

This is a great practice. Thank you so much!