Connecting To Space - Within Us & Around Us

This meditation is to support you in exploring the qualities of space. When we feel stressed, stuck, or restless, learning how to orient our attention inwardly and outwardly to the space that is here to support us can allow a sense of ease and peace. From this place, we can actively trust life and how it is unfolding.

Transcript

Allowing the awareness to begin to shift,

Shifting into the inner landscape.

Taking this initial care and time to really feel what it's like to have the choice with the awareness and where we incline it and place it to begin to take care.

So as you arrive inwardly just allowing yourself to meet the conditions that are here with you inwardly right now.

Feeling what the qualities of the mind might be like as you settle into this practice.

Maybe the mind feels a bit sticky,

Pulled,

Charged.

So checking in with your body,

How you're arriving with your body to this practice.

Maybe rested,

Restored,

A bit tired,

Restless.

So allowing yourself to really feel how the heart is arriving into this practice.

Maybe it's feeling open,

Maybe it's feeling achy.

And we can remember that whatever we find,

The conditions that are here,

They're here in this moment.

As we begin to become aware,

Allow ourselves to be present and allow a new way to relate,

To be,

To take refuge in what's here.

So now inviting the attention to really feel your body as it's seated or in the posture that you're in.

Allow yourself to feel the connection points that the body has with the support that might be beneath it,

Behind it.

And as you feel into these connection points,

Allow your body to really rest into or to receive the sense of groundedness that's here with you.

This vast groundedness,

Earthness,

Earth that contains many,

Many layers of solidity and support.

Feeling into that here with you now.

And also feeling into the way your body is alert,

Is here,

Actively practicing,

Supporting,

Attending in this intentional way.

And then attend to the body to see if there are any places of your body that need your support to relax or to release,

Shift.

Take a deep breath with so that the body has a chance to relax and to open,

Receptively present to practice.

And then I'll invite you now to just begin to open the awareness feeling into this space that's around this body where you sit.

Inclining your awareness to feel,

You can choose to open the eyes if that's helpful,

And also just to feel into the surroundings of space that are here with you,

Equally supporting your body in this practice.

As you incline to feel into the space that's here,

Maybe you feel what it's like to notice it and its presence to the sides of you,

To how it feels in front of you,

Behind you,

And above you.

And as you take care to begin to attend in this way,

It's likely there's some subtle sense of connecting to how space feels different in different directions.

And so just beginning to get curious about that.

Maybe as you feel to the sides of your body,

Noticing where the space contacts other objects,

Other things that are in the environment.

Also noticing how that's less the case when we are orienting or feeling the sense of space above us.

So as you begin to really become aware of space,

Also feel and notice what's in this space.

Are there sounds vibrating through the air?

Is there natural life?

Is there non-living things that are with you?

But still often those non-living things are made of nature,

Just a different form.

So feeling into how each thing that's here with you,

Sitting in space with you,

Equally has its own form,

Its own sense of presence representing that space here with you.

Now we'll begin to take the attention and attend to the breath.

Really a simple rhythm of an inhale and an exhale.

Letting the breath be natural,

Easy,

As best you can.

Allowing yourself to really feel into the moment to moment qualities of your breath that are here.

So you attend to this breath,

Can you begin to invite curiosity of sensing and feeling the space of the breath.

Each breath allows for us to begin to connect to feeling within the body,

Within this moment,

How space is arising,

Expanding,

Contracting with each breath.

Maybe you simply notice this is how the body moves as you breathe,

Creating more space.

Maybe you become curious about how this exchange of oxygen release of carbon dioxide is itself space,

Space we're inhabiting with each breath.

There might be moments where we encounter a lack of space,

Feeling this physically in some way in the body or maybe being caught by the thinking mind,

Being pulled in a particular direction.

Those are just moments to notice this is what's here too.

Just a difference in the way that the body,

The mind,

This experience that's here now is taking a shape or form.

So can you be present to it,

Not need to judge it or follow it?

And then come back.

Allow yourself to be with the breath,

Feeling how space makes itself known moment to moment.

Money.

We're now shifting from attending to the breath.

We're beginning to explore the body,

Feeling the body here now.

Just arriving to allow yourself to connect to the sensations that are present.

Maybe noticing temperatures of the body.

Pressures of touch or texture.

Sensing pulses,

Vibrations,

Movements.

Just entering the stream of awareness to this body,

Sensations,

Coming and going.

And as you begin to explore,

Attend to this body.

Bringing a lens of curiosity to feel the space that resides within the body.

While there's many forms of matter that are the skin,

The bones,

The muscles,

Beneath and within all of that,

There's space.

Just being curious about attending or feeling into the body,

Where you might connect to feeling or sensing this space.

The body is made of more space than it is of matter.

Just being curious to let that be a guide to feel,

Sense sensations,

Expressing themselves in the body and how space resides within that.

Maybe you just feel this on the surface of the skin,

The skin is making contact to the external space.

Maybe you feel this more deeply within,

The sense of this whole body.

Living and flowing,

Moving alive.

Just being a supportive element to allow this body to thrive.

Moment to moment inhabiting this body.

Letting whatever is here be here.

Trying to force space to arrive.

Just simply an inquiry,

Curiosity,

Inclining the awareness to just feel this body,

Present to it.

Opening to the spaciousness of it.

Sorry.

There's the attention now.

Drifted or caught,

Distracted.

Open into the space of that moment.

Choose.

Let yourself come back and be present to this body.

Now allowing the attention to investigate or feel into the landscape of your mind.

Allowing the attention to really attend to the way the mind is being felt or known in this moment.

Maybe less thoughts,

Maybe less stickiness.

Also in the place of that is there more space in the mind.

Being curious to incline your awareness to feel that.

Much like a vast open sky.

Maybe just fluttering gently with feather-like clouds moving through it.

Can you feel and sense the space of the mind?

Being curious if this is an absence or less thought or charged thought.

Maybe the space of the mind is just feel how you can observe,

Feel,

Sense the thoughts coming and going.

Can always return to the breath of the body to anchor into.

Testing awareness into the sense of space,

Feeling this in the mind or in the body or in the breath.

The question Pompeiizzy is,

Dimensional reality is peaceful and it will burn out now.

Now shifting our attention to the landscape of the heart.

These times this might be the place where we feel less space.

So inclining your awareness to just feel and notice more movements of emotion.

There's achiness,

Tenderness,

Sadness,

Worry.

Noticing how all of those qualities of the heart can give way to tightening.

So being curious as you attend to the heart and whatever is here in the landscape of emotion to see if you can just feel or sense,

Be curious about what space might be here.

To remember each pump,

Pulse,

Beat of the heart is threading space through the heart.

So feeling into,

Climbing the awareness just to attend to the heart in this way.

You incline the heart to connect to the space that's around you to support being curious about this space that's present and possible in the heart to attend to.

The natural space,

All the things that surround us are here to invite support,

To study us into the moment to be with what's here.

So now just as we move into the last few minutes of our practice time,

Just letting your awareness rest openly into whatever space supporting your being here now.

Space around you,

Space within you,

Maybe feeling how all of this is rising together.

Just inclining feeling the sense of spaciousness that's here for you to rest in,

Dwell in.

As you attend in this way,

Can you really let the body,

The heart and the mind trust into,

Feel supportive.

The truth that this is all just unfolding moment to moment.

Open it up.

Spacious awareness.

Being with this space that's here for us to dial into.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

Come to close this practice.

Allowing yourself these last few moments to feel into the goodness cultivation of your practice what's here now.

How is this center landscape now how is this felt sense of resonance to the outer landscape in this moment.

You trust in the goodness,

It's here.

What's arrived into any moment is a beautiful mystery for us to rest spacious,

You know,

Supported by what you're choosing to be present to it all.

Close off for a moment of gratitude to yourself.

This practice is a kind of a sort of space.

Yeah.