Namo Tassa Sammasambuddhassa Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arhato Sammasambuddhassa Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arhato Sammasambuddhassa So,
As always,
We come into a stable posture,
Upright,
Easeful.
You might lengthen the breath,
Or breathe in a way that is most comfortable,
Comforting.
And so the beginning of a meditation oriented toward nourishing and grounding us amid the complexity of our lives.
In a way,
This is what we always do.
But we could foreground the aspects of ease,
Quieting the discursive mind,
Really of coming into the body in the present.
Especially finding any place where there's pleasure or less pain,
Less distress.
And so,
As you feel the body and its posture and the breath coming and going,
If there's a lot going on in the mind and heart,
You might start with your eyes open,
Just allowing,
Seeing the space around you even with a steady or relaxed gaze,
Allowing that to bring you into the here and now.
And so whatever's happening elsewhere,
Earlier in the day,
Elsewhere in the nation or the world,
In some relationship that you're working through,
But that you're not engaged in conversation with at the moment,
All of that can fall into the background.
We really bring ourselves fully to this unfolding moment where we have just enough spaciousness to sit in meditation.
So there's the body,
The breath here in this room,
This space,
This place on the earth.
There's a kind of nourishment that arises or that blossoms in us.
When we feel the fullness of the energy of the body,
The fullness of our heart's knowing,
Which is not the story of the complaint or the worry or the enthusiasm or excitement,
But it's a feeling that's like the tone reverberating in our being.
So if the general tone in your body and your energetic field is pleasant or at least neutral,
If there's some ease or juiciness to it,
Really feeling that,
Feeling for that.
Maybe you expand your breath to breathe into that aspect of your experience that feels the best,
The most juicy,
The most filled out with goodness,
With the goodness of your own being that you can find right now.
But if you find,
As you come into presence with the body and the energetic field,
If you find more discomfort,
Dis-ease,
Non-ease,
You can,
If you choose to,
Engage with that,
Be present with it,
Allow it to move through.
This itself can be nourishing.
But you can also expand your sense of the field of energy around the body and feel for what's more easeful in your field.
Maybe the body's uncomfortable,
But you're happy being in your space.
When there's some activation,
Maybe the breath is a little tight or shallower than you'd prefer,
But it's nice to be sitting together or to be doing this practice or to finally be in stillness after a busy day.
Whatever you can find that has some pleasure in it that you can appreciate,
Give that some attention,
Turn your attention toward whatever is good.
Ideally,
A sensation,
An emotional energy,
Not so much an idea.
This isn't about remembering good things happening in the world,
Which is good,
But that keeps you in the thinking space.
See if you can feel through the body,
The field of the breathing body,
A kind of ease or rightness or pleasure.
If there's a lot of pain,
Feel for the places with less pain.
If it's very neutral,
Feel for the most satisfying kind of neutral there is,
A place you can just rest your attention.
Then whatever you find,
Whatever's the best home for your attention in this moment,
Let attention and breath and presence really come together,
Cohere around this goodness,
Even as it changes.
This is our orientation.
Resting in stillness.
Coming into the body.
Being aware of the good,
The best that's here.
Breathing into that,
Letting it grow,
Inviting it to grow.
This doesn't have to be and usually isn't dramatic.
Just the subtle way that not being distracted or just being here just feels good.
Maybe you let the soft smile curl up the corners of the mouth,
Relaxing through the face.
Practice in this way in silence,
Inviting the good,
Amplifying the easeful,
The good.
Coming back again and again to the body.
The body here and now,
The heart here and now.
Enjoying the moment in whatever way we can.
However much ease we can find in this moment,
It will never be quite like this again.
So we let whatever goodness is here fill the body,
Fill the room,
Fill the universe around,
The tree under which we sit.
For these last few minutes of the meditation,
With the intention that this practice is helpful in the living of our everyday life,
Is there a quality that's present here for you that you could focus on,
Breathe into,
And really remember and be nourished by?
Maybe it's an aspect of stillness.
Maybe it's a kind of self-love that's here.
Maybe it's a kind of compassion or clarity.
Or just a few seconds of the mind not lost in thought,
Lost in worry,
Lost in planning.
Just delighting in the space that this practice creates for us individually and in the field together.
And in whatever way this radiates out from our beings to others we interact with soon,
Over the next hours and days.
If there's something in this practice or in the Dharma or in your life right now to offer a gratitude for,
You might bring that to mind.
Breathing into it,
Letting the gratitude be known through your body,
Through the field of the heart.
Again,
The gentle smile.
We'll close with the homage to the Buddha three times.
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammasambuddhassa Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammasambuddhassa Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammasambuddhassa Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammasambuddhassa
