Finding a posture that's going to be supportive for you.
And then let's just take three deep breaths together.
Connecting back with your core,
Your center in the belly,
Navel.
And using these deeper breaths to also support a dropping of the awareness down into the points of contact with the floor,
So we'll be starting here in the meditation.
The ground.
And then allowing your breath to return to its natural rhythm,
While continuing with this intention,
Particularly with the out-breath,
You know,
Really feeling the whole weight of the body,
Sinking more and more into the support of the ground.
Feeling the contact,
Feeling the touch of the earth against the body.
The holding quality of gravity.
And through this contact,
We can get a sense of our own physicality,
Our own here-ness just as a physical body moving through space,
Connected to the earth.
Having a sense of the weight and density of the body.
The shape and size,
Length of the physical body.
Having a sense of the musculature and the bones,
The hardness and softness,
The skin.
This amazing container,
Coarse yet containing outer layer of the body.
Feeling into the boundaries of the physical body,
Beneath,
Above,
Side to side,
Front to back.
And one way we can connect here is through beginning to just notice any places of tension or contraction in the physicality.
You may be aware of places that you naturally tend to hold tension,
Like the jaw,
Shoulders,
Belly,
Hips.
So here the intention is to simply notice without needing to change or correct anything.
Notice that this is part of our shaping as we're showing up right now.
We are shaped by these folding patterns and they also provide us a rich working ground.
And then we can also get curious about how a natural attention to the breath without forcing anything,
But just a light,
Curious,
Open attending can begin to support a further softening and opening in these places of tension.
Breath energy like the ocean's waves coming and going ceaselessly,
Supporting the aliveness of the body.
So one of the things that breath can support us to begin to tune into is any sense of flow.
So energy can both be contracted and pooled in certain areas of the body and also be flowing,
Moving,
Shifting,
Changing.
So just beginning to notice places where you also feel that movement,
That flow.
We have the solidity,
The strong foundation of the physical body,
Body like a mountain.
And then we have the breath constantly coming and going.
There's always movement.
Breath energy like the ocean's waves.
Solidity,
Flow,
Stillness,
Movement,
Side by side,
Interpenetrating,
Co-arising,
Simultaneous.
The breath can also support us to descend even more deeply into the subtle energy body where we can begin to awaken to sensations.
So within the flow,
There's this constant arising and passing of infinite sensations in the six senses.
Sounds,
Visual sensations,
Smells and tastes,
And physical sensations in the body.
Pulsing,
Vibration,
Numbness,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Throbbing,
Tension.
So without losing touch with the ground,
We can also begin to open to all this flowing through us.
Some of it pleasant,
Some of it unpleasant,
Some of it neutral.
Just seeing how it is,
Be open to all of it.
You might notice subtle pushing and pulling or engagement suppression of some aspects of your sensational experience.
So that can also be known in awareness.
The habitual response to what's here,
Which begins to show up in the mind,
The heart mind,
As thoughts,
Emotions,
Memories,
Images.
So we can also allow all of that to flow through us as energy.
Heart,
Mind,
Like the sky.
All of what could be known in awareness passing through like clouds in a bright blue luminous open sky,
Boundless,
Deeply sensitive.
So there's an invitation now to just begin to sense into the collective experience of ground and sky.
Of embodiment,
Flow,
Sensations.
So all of this,
All of this ground that we're sensing into both as the ground but also the ground of awareness,
What knows is shared by all living things.
And by sensing into the porousness of our own embodiment,
We can begin to sense into the collective body,
Which we are deeply shaped by and which we also shape through our own thoughts,
Words and actions.
And all beings also share this fundamental ground of the heart,
Mind,
This awareness that's not tainted by anything,
The unconditioned.
So the invitation here is to drop down below the conceptual understanding of this into a felt sense.
How is it now to be embodied with other bodies on a planet that we share intimately,
That supports us all,
That receives us all.
This heart mind that also connects us all intimately.
And you might want to use self-touch here with the intention of supporting connecting with your own experience as a way to connect with the collective experience.
So placing my hand on my heart,
Which helps me feel into the truth of deeply interconnected nature of sensations and emotions,
Particularly emotions.
You might want to place your hand somewhere else on the body that helps you connect with the collective in some other way.
It may not even be something that you rationally understand.
You might just want to put your hand on your elbow and notice how that feels.
Collective also includes enlightened energies,
The Arya Sangha,
Of which we're also not separate.
So even though we might have a little bit more waking up to do,
We also have the seed of awakening inherent within us.
So we can also connect with those energies,
Receive the blessings of all of what we've been given,
Which is a lot in our Dharma practice,
And our own qualities.
Our own skillfulness.
Our own capacity for love,
Compassion,
Joy,
Equanimity.
Even if you're not in touch with any of those emotions just now,
Just sensing into the potentiality of that within yourself.
Just the fact that you're here points to a deep desire for awakening,
Which includes all of these qualities.
For ourselves and others to be free.
Last couple minutes here,
Maybe taking a few deeper breaths,
Letting go of any effort you're making.
Then just coming back very simply to ground,
Breath,
Sensations.
Just sitting.
You might even open the eyes.
You might want to put the hands palm up on the lap.
I like the image of the sea anemone in a tide pool.
Just sort of soft,
Open,
Swaying in the tide.
Absorbing all the rich nutrients in the water.
Safe,
At ease.
