Take a moment and settle yourself into an erect posture.
And we're going to practice stillness while still moving,
Which is a T.
S.
Eliot quote.
We want to sit quietly and relax the body.
Relax within the body.
And to still the body and relax the body until you can begin to feel a shift towards steadiness,
A shift towards more relaxation,
A shift towards stillness and stability.
Knowing that on the inside,
Feeling the stillness that's in the body.
Knowing that when the body gets still,
There is an experience of that.
It's not just that you've stopped moving.
There are experiences inside the body that you can know more intimately.
For example,
You can begin to rest in the stillness.
Not maybe dramatically,
But you can begin to feel the nature of who you are.
You can begin to feel the steadiness that stillness makes possible.
And through this direct knowing,
You can rest in that steadiness.
You can become acquainted with it.
It could be an experience like sliding your hand in a glove.
There is perhaps moments or glimpse of comfort.
Then you can begin to notice that there is a natural awareness that's made available to you simply through this stillness,
Through this steadiness.
So when we sit daily this way,
We're opening to our nature,
We're opening to the medicine,
If you will,
That stillness offers the heart and mind.
We're bathing ourselves,
Bathing each cell,
We're gifting each cell in the body,
All the cells in the skin tissue and inside all the organs and all the space inside the body.
Through this stillness,
Through this taking our seat,
By giving our attention,
Being mindful of stillness,
It's a beautiful daily hygiene,
If you will,
Or way of self-care.
And as you sit in the stillness and experience intimately the body steadying itself,
When you feel directly the body's movement,
Its graduation,
Its gradation towards stillness,
You can also begin to open your awareness to the movement of the breath.
There's a movement,
There's an experience of breathing that you could know directly,
It's like a soft breeze or maybe a choppy wind.
You can experience the breath moving in the body,
These two things are happening together,
Stillness still and still moving.
As you sit in the stillness,
Allow yourself to notice the movement of the breath.
Don't effort the breath or try to make the breath more than it is,
Allow yourself to experience the breath moving.
Notice that you are still and still moving,
The body is still,
The breath is moving,
Both experiences to be known,
Keeping your awareness,
Keeping contact with this relaxed body,
Keeping the body relaxed as you notice that tightness arises,
Because it does,
We tense in the body,
There's no particular reason for it,
Let that be known.
But in this practice,
Still and still moving,
We just pay attention and rest our awareness in the stillness of the body and the movement of the breath,
Keeping the body relaxed,
Letting the breath be known and letting it be free.
