We'll begin stabilizing the body and the attention with posture and breath,
Presence through the whole body.
And then we'll open into working a little bit with this challenging quality of doubt and the cultivation of its counterpart of confidence.
We'll begin just with the felt sense,
The aliveness of the body and the here and now.
If the mind or heart feel busy or anxious or spun,
You might begin with eyes open,
Taking in your space,
Orienting to the space around you.
What's here?
The colors,
The light,
This time of day.
The beautiful things that your eyes may catch on in the space.
We can think of orientation in relation to confidence as a kind of marker of knowing,
Of certainty.
Here is where I am.
There's no doubt about where I am.
In the most simple way,
I'm here in this room,
This moment.
See what it's like to know where you are in space and time.
And as you sense that,
See if you can feel it.
What does knowing where you are in physical space and in temporal space,
What happens when you know that?
What's it feel like?
As you land into the here and now,
You might notice your mood,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Happy,
Sad,
Troubled,
At ease.
And again,
You can keep it simple enough that you can be very confident that your assessment is correct.
If you feel good,
Know that you feel good.
If you don't feel good,
Just know that you don't feel good.
Knowing the mood.
Here's where I am in time and space,
And here's how I feel.
And you might do the same with the body,
Knowing the energy of the body,
The state of the body,
In a very simple way.
Oh,
I'm tired.
Oh,
I'm energized.
Tense,
Or I'm relaxed.
Keep it as simple as you need to keep it to be completely confident that what you're sensing is what's true.
If you're tired,
Know that you're tired.
It's important with all of this orientation to not get into why.
It's not why I'm tired,
And there's no right or wrong.
It's not that it would be better to be awake than tired.
This is really just knowing what's true in a way that can't really be argued with.
I'm here,
I'm queer,
Get used to it,
As they used to say.
I'm here,
I'm tired.
Accept it,
You might say.
It's not quite as catchy.
But you're here to be awake to what's actually true,
Actually happening.
I'm beginning by sensing body,
Sensing energy,
Sensing presence.
And then we'll just take a few minutes to land with the breathing body.
Feeling the in-breath,
Knowing that it's the in-breath,
Feeling the out-breath,
Knowing that it's the out-breath.
Begin stringing the breaths together like beads on a string.
One in-breath,
One out-breath.
Stay with the body.
Another in-breath,
Another out-breath.
String three together without wandering away,
Without losing the thread.
And then three more.
After a few,
It gets easier to just stay in a very simple way with feeling the breath,
Knowing the breath.
When the breath is long,
Know that it's long.
When the breath is short,
Know that it's short.
Don't worry about it.
Let it be long or short.
Breathing in,
Knowing,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Knowing,
Breathing out.
And then as we breathe,
Relaxing the body,
Breathing in,
Relaxing the body,
Breathing out,
Relaxing the body.
Just receiving the full breath without much effort or strain,
Relaxing around the breathing body.
To whatever degree the mind gathers or settles,
Recognize that and enjoy that,
Stretch it out or deepen it further by knowing that the breath is long.
Oh,
I've breathed three breaths or five or 10 without losing the thread and my state has shifted.
Feel the shifted state of the attention being more stable,
The senses being more at rest.
And then as an experiment here around confidence,
The opposite of doubt,
Feel the result of these first few minutes of meditation.
Notice the shift in the quality of your attention or a shift in the emotional field and the energetic field.
Notice that it's easier to stay with the breath if you've stayed with a few breaths already,
Attention is getting warmed up,
Connecting and sustaining more easily and for longer.
Notice any change that's positive that you can notice in these first few minutes and trust it.
Or if you don't quite trust it yet,
At least notice it and consider the possibility of trusting it.
And the confidence that we are building here is that we can apply the practice and experience the result directly,
Immediately,
In a way that's obvious,
That we can feel.
Even just a tiny bit,
You have the power in your practice to change your state in a wholesome direction,
Just by the way that you direct your attention.
We'll continue with the breath,
Breathing in,
Knowing,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Knowing,
Breathing out,
Knowing the long breath,
Knowing the short breath when they come.
As you ride the rising and falling breath,
Let the breath be experienced through the whole body.
Don't abandon your arms and legs,
But include the whole body,
Toes to fingers,
To the top of the head,
Base of the tail,
Front and back.
Include the whole body in the experience of breathing.
Not by bringing in further effort,
But by bringing in a broader awareness.
Hold the whole body in attention,
In the awareness,
In the sense field.
And then we just relax through the whole body.
These are the first grounding steps in meditation with breathing.
We'll continue in silence together,
Either working just with the breath and body for continuity,
Or every once in a while,
Recognizing that we know what's happening and the conditions behind it,
What we are doing to support what's happening.
And even in a tiny way,
We know directly that this practice has an effect,
That the choices we are making have an effect.
And we invite a kind of bright confidence in ourselves,
But also just in the path.
But also just in the path,
And we'll sit together.
