I am so grateful you're here.
What if you are so much more than who or what you think of yourself as?
What if you are an unbounded ocean and your thoughts and emotions and even your physical sensations are just like the waves on the surface of the ocean.
Sometimes they're still.
Sometimes they're strong.
Sometimes they're big.
Sometimes they're small.
They are temporary.
They pass.
They are experiences that come and go.
Meanwhile the ocean,
This unbounded ocean,
The deeper and deeper we go,
The more we find ourselves in a space of stillness,
Silence,
A place where when the outer world becomes quiet we might even have a profound sense that all is well,
Right now and in every moment.
I invite you to find a comfortable seated position if possible.
Sit tall.
Relax the shoulders,
The jaw.
Take a few moments to get settled.
Feel your lower body becoming more relaxed and at ease.
Feel one shoulder up,
Back and down and then the other shoulder up,
Back and down.
Feel your tailbone relaxing down and this openness in the chest.
Close the eyes if that's comfortable.
Take a slow deep breath in.
Exhale through the mouth.
Inhale deeply.
Feel your belly and your ribcage expanding.
Exhale completely.
Inhale.
Exhale.
If you wish,
Gently touch the tongue to the roof of the mouth just behind the upper teeth.
Feel how that invites the jaw to soften.
This particular placement of the tongue supports the movement,
The flow of energy through the central channel.
Moving all the way down to the base of the pelvis,
All the way back up to the crown.
For these next few moments,
Focus on your breath and as much as you can consciously set aside any thoughts that are reaching for your attention.
You might imagine literally setting them to the side of you or maybe envisioning an ornate box that you can open,
Place all of these thoughts inside,
Then close and set the box to the side.
You can always come back to your mind,
Give yourself this gift of being.
What if you are an eternal being?
What if you have no bounds?
You are free.
And in this freedom,
You are also intimately connected,
One with all of life.
As you breathe,
Imagine this is the same breath of the trees,
The birds,
The people in your life.
You are this breath of life.
No beginning,
No end.
You are infinite.
And you are eternal.
Even with all of the changes in this creation,
You have been here since the beginning.
You might find yourself at times longing in your life,
Longing for a loving relationship,
Longing for more money,
Longing for a different body,
A different job,
A different life.
What if this longing has nothing to do with the outer world,
But is a longing to remember?
A deep knowingness that there is more,
There is something more.
What if you don't need to climb a mountain,
Or disappear into meditation,
Or go to a retreat to find yourself?
What if you have been waiting here all along,
With the remembrance that you have never been alone?
You could never be separate.
And inside of you,
You possess everything beautiful that has ever existed through all time and space.
What if more beautiful than the sunrise or the sunset,
The Taj Mahal,
The Sistine Chapel?
What if the thing that is more beautiful than any of these exquisite sights or experiences in life is you,
The self that is you?
Become aware of your breath.
As you inhale,
Silently repeat the sound SO in your mind.
And as you exhale,
Silently repeat HUM,
SO,
HUM,
SO,
HUM,
I AM.
I am presence.
I am the self.
Sense this vibration of remembrance waking up in your whole being.
Notice the repetition of SO HUM.
Sense your body breathing,
And your body supported,
With the witness awareness that this body is not who you are.
You are the one observing the body in this moment.
You are the one having experiences through the sensations of the body.
As you slowly begin to move fingers and toes,
Become aware.
I am.
Allow the movement to travel anywhere in the body that feels nourishing,
The shoulders,
The neck,
The spine.
Sense the space around you.
And as you slowly open your eyes,
Maintain awareness of the space within you.
Thank you for sharing your practice.
I love you so.
