Just bringing the body into a clear upright posture.
And inviting the in-breath to pour into the body like a vase filling with water,
Breath pouring down through the nose and throat into the bowl of the hips and filling through the belly,
Low ribs and upper ribs.
The in-breath can be relaxed,
But full drawing in brightness and energy as we breathe in.
Now breath even more relaxed,
Lengthening the out-breath just a little to relax as we breathe out,
Emptying the vase,
Shoulders dropping.
At the end of the breath,
Belly dropping inward to empty completely.
Maybe a few full breaths in this way.
Inhaling,
Pouring the breath in,
Filling the vase of the body.
Exhaling,
Pouring the breath up and out,
Emptying completely.
As we breathe,
Letting the whole body blossom in awareness so we can feel or invite ourselves to feel the breath through the arms and legs,
Hands and feet,
Neck and head,
Down to the root of the body.
As if the in-breath pouring in could be felt at the pelvic floor,
Like the bottom of the vase,
The breath pouring in to fill from the bottom up,
All the way up through the chest.
And you might pause at the top of the breath for a few moments,
Just enough to feel the body filled with brightness and then releasing.
Beginning in this way,
We draw in or draw up or tend our energies,
Rooting down with the breath as it pours in,
Releasing out in all directions as the breath pours out.
And then as we continue into our sitting practice,
You can let the breath relax further and let go of intentionally lengthening the in and out breath,
But just receive a natural full breath as it comes.
If the breath gets shorter or quieter,
That's fine.
If it stays long,
That's fine.
Allowing body and breath to settle into something that's comfortable,
Useful as much as possible.
As a basic meditation instruction for tonight,
We can just stay with the sense of the breath filling the whole body,
Connecting again and again with the breath as it moves in the body,
Sustaining attention there.
Very often,
Instructions in meditation are given for working with thought to observe thought as if it's not really ourself,
To observe thoughts like clouds going by or like sounds arising and passing.
I wanna suggest a variation of that tonight that we have as our primary meditation to stay grounded with the body and breath and that we see or witness thoughts as they arise and move through and change and pass as not really ourself,
But as not just an image like clouds,
But that thoughts are actually the thoughts of the world around us.
There's a way that the world,
As it expresses through cultures,
As it expresses through language,
Through conversations that we have with each other,
Large and small,
As individuals,
As communities,
As nations,
As heritages,
That our thoughts are actually part of these vast conversations.
And so we can view them,
Even the most personal thought,
As part of the stream of the world thinking,
Not so much something that we own or that identifies us,
But that is evidence of our proximity to the world,
Our presence in the world.
I was sitting in meditation with the body and the breath,
Grounding into the body and breath.
And when thoughts appear,
Sensing them as if we have the radio on and there's something playing,
Some indication of what folks out there in the world,
What the world itself in a certain way is thinking right now.
One little piece of the world conversation right now is happening in our own minds.
See what it's like to hold the body and breath as the thing that is really ours to directly work with and the thoughts and images that come through.
Like we're looking through a window or listening through a radio to the conversation of the world,
Whatever way,
The words that we think or the images that pass through or the bits of story about our own life that show up in the mind,
You can see them as one voice among many in the conversation of the world.
Just hear them appear and disappear like traffic going by or songs on the radio,
Someone talking and breathing without losing the embodied sense,
The felt sense of just being here with the breath,
The breathing body.
And if that's too abstract or not the right reflection for this meditation,
Drop it and just rest with the body sitting and breathing.
And we'll sit together in silence in this way.
