Entering The Stream

A 27-minute practice of welcoming everything flowing through awareness right now through the six senses, with a curiosity about whether there is a fixed, unchanging self anywhere to be found in our direct experience. If one (or more) of the senses is impaired, the invitation is to notice minimal or lack of sensation.

Transcript

It will be a meta-based exploration of sensations in the body and particularly getting interested and curious about the changing nature of those sensations. I want to invite us just to begin by welcoming everything that's here just now in the spirit of the radical embrace, Not leaving anything out, Starting with the sensations of the body against the earth. So feeling ourselves held here by the ground, Feeling the contact there between the legs, The buttocks, The back, If you're laying down, And the other parts of the body in touch with what you're sitting or laying on, And just taking a few breaths here to invite a softening into gravity and into the generous gifts that the earth has to offer, Like stillness, Sense of safety, Steadiness, Support. Here we can gradually invite a softening into the ground, Appreciating that the longer we dwell in these places of contact, The more space there is for the body to settle, Appreciating any slow shifts and loosening of tension, Particularly in places where we might habitually hold tension, Shoulders, Belly, Face, Lower back, And anywhere else. Then there's an invitation to just notice how the upper body naturally rises into space. You're laying down, The whole of the front of the body opening and softening into space, And sensing into the vastness of space stretching in all directions, All around us, All above us, And in this vast open space, All of what's here is welcome, However we are just now. Maybe there's physical pain or tiredness, Maybe there's a sense of warmth and softening, Maybe there's grief or doubt, So with each breath, We can maybe just allow a little bit more to be here. Spending a little bit of time particularly focused on the heart center where so much of our emotional life unfolds, Whether we're aware of it or not. Could even place a hand there. Just meeting ourselves with kindness, Friendliness. Spending a bit of time maybe appreciating all the efforts we've made to grow and develop, To heal and transform. Connecting with our deep heart wish to be well and free from suffering, Which we share with all living beings. As we sense into this wish for wellness and this intention to meet ourselves kindly, You can also notice if there's any parts of us that might be hardened a little bit against that wish or a bit shy or not sure. Maybe we can just trust in the power of simply allowing those parts to also be here just as they are. You don't have to try and make them be different than how they are. There's an invitation now if you'd like to begin to broaden the awareness, We're just going to go through the senses and just notice what's here in the direct experience as it's arising in each moment. And just noticing how it's all changing all the time. Starting with sound, It's an invitation to open to the soundscape. This radical inclusivity, Allowing whatever is here to arise and pass in its own time, In its own way. Some sounds we might find pleasant, Others maybe unpleasant, Others a bit neutral, Neither pleasant nor unpleasant. So we can just notice that, How that is for us, Without needing to block anything out or crave anything different than what's happening. Then we might notice here is that we don't choose what we hear. Sounds just come, Just part of being in the world. So what's it like to rest back a bit more into allowing that to be as it is. There's an invitation now to begin to gently transition into a curiosity about what can be smelt right now. It's arising in the sense of smell. It could be quite subtle or no sense there at all. Very connected to smell is also taste. Might swallow to get a sense of what you can taste just now. Each in-breath there's an opportunity to just tune in to the subtle changing sensations of smell. And also noticing what can be sensed in the mouth. Maybe the residue of something you've just been eating or drinking. Or maybe when we tune into this sense, There's a memory of something that we'd like to be eating or drinking. And now I invite you to gently transition to sight. And this can be quite interesting. So if you decide to keep your eyes closed, There can still be quite a lot going on. Or you might play with opening the eyes and just maintaining a soft focus so that everything in the periphery is in the awareness as much as what's just directly in front of you. And then just once again noticing how even things that may appear solid and unchanging when we really look are also changing. So the visual field maybe even just very subtle shifts in light and color. Or the eyes trying to focus in and out. Something moving on the edges. Here you might also get a sense of how different colors have a different effect on the internal landscape. Brain can't help but label things. But I was famously quoted as saying, In the scene, There's only the scene. So we could just play with this for a moment. What would it be like if what was arising just now visually was just raw sense data before any labels, Before any stories, Before any making it me or mine? In the scene, Only the scene. Feel free to hang out in the visual field for as long as you'd like. And there's also an opportunity to broaden the awareness now to include visual, Physical sensations in the body. So opening to all the different comings and goings of tingling, Softness, Warmth, Bubbling, Gurgling, Itchy. Maybe there's tension, Pain, Numbness. Physical body, Dynamic cloud of sensations coming and going. Energy, Stuckness, Movement, Flow, Pulsing, Vibration. So having a sense of the body in space and all these different changing sensations also coming and going in space. Maybe even sometimes felt as beyond the imagined physical boundaries of the body. As we open in this way, You might find that some sensations are easier to be with than others. So we can also notice that. Appreciate the deep sensitivity of the felt sense. In all of this changing dynamic experience, Where is there a fixed sense of self? Where is there a part of you that's not changing? Can you find that part? The little you that's controlling everything? I really do encourage you to go and look and see if you can find that controller. And if you can't find them, Then maybe just rest in the not finding. Rest in the flow. So we'll just do a little bit of opening to the mind here, So as to not leave out this very important sense. So all of what's coming and going in the five senses is received and known directly. And then there's the mind's habitual storytelling about what's here, Along with other streams of thinking, Emotion, Images, Memories. I'd like to just open to that space and see what's here now, Just like sounds coming and going. Objects of the mind also arise and pass. They don't really have anything to do with us. Although they can still feel deeply familiar at times. Last couple minutes here, There's an invitation to just let go of any effort that you've been making. Broadening the awareness to include all of what's coming and going in the six senses. Here, You might even imagine all the pores of the skin completely open, Receptive. All the cells in the body, Totally soft, Open. You might even like the image of being like a little sea anemone floating in a nutrient-rich, Warm tide pool on a summer's day, Swaying in the tide. Just letting life flow through you. In all its rich complexity just now. Just seeing if it's possible to totally love it, However it is right now. Just totally love it. So in a moment, I'll be ringing the bell to end the practice and the invitation is to move and stretch in any way that feels good to you, Taking care as you transition out of this practice.

Reviews

This was great! I particularly appreciated the notion that suffering is what we all have in common! Thank you 🙏🏽💙