Welcome to this meditation.
Please find a comfortable seat,
One that you can sit in for a few moments.
Whether it's in a chair or on the earth,
Finding your comfortable space,
Maybe it's even in your bed.
Allow yourself to rest,
Feel the parts of the body that are on the earth,
The chair,
Wherever it is that you are.
Let the spine go long and tall,
Long through the crown of the head,
And allow the eyes to flutter closed if they aren't already.
Just allowing the hands to be relaxed on the thighs,
Shoulder blades down the back,
Tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth to relax the jaw.
We'll begin by opening the aperture of the ears.
This opening of this portal of perception to listen.
Noticing all the sounds coming and going.
And no need to label them as good or bad.
They just are sensation arising and passing.
You might start to notice that thoughts also come in.
Thoughts can come as words,
As images,
As body sensations.
And notice how these thoughts are also just like the sounds coming and going,
Passing sensation.
When you notice a thought,
Just label it as thinking and let it go just like any other sound.
It's not good,
It's not bad.
It's just coming and going.
My voice too,
Is just a sound coming and going.
So there's no need to intellectualize it,
Your mind will do that for you.
So just let it be a sensation that arises and passes.
Again,
The ears are open listening for sounds arising and passing.
Thoughts are arising and passing.
My voice is arising and passing.
And then bring your attention to the breath.
No need to change it.
Just noticing the expansiveness of the lungs,
This expansion contraction.
Noticing the temperature at the tip of the nose and through the sinuses,
The nasal passageways.
Down through the back of the throat.
Into the center of the body.
And we often say,
I am breathing.
But really,
Is it we that are breathing or is the breath breathing us?
We don't have to ask it.
It just arrives.
So in this way,
We can say that we are living our life we are doing.
But our life is also living us.
It's already all happening.
We can rest into the trust.
And just notice how the breath is like a bucket of water that just pours into an empty bucket.
That bucket pours back into the other empty bucket.
Back and forth this easy exchange.
As Alan Watts says,
Like falling into a feather bed.
Again and again and again.
We continue to let go of this sensations of the sounds over and over again.
Just falling into this easeful breath that washes in and washes out.
I invite you to stay here and enjoy the sensation of the breath for as long as you'd like.
Thank you.
