Welcome to this practice of just sitting.
Starting with a few deep breaths,
Just to help us to arrive more fully on the ground,
In space and in our bodies,
With each out breath really supporting the body to trust in the earth a little bit more to hold you here.
With each in breath,
Noticing how the body naturally expands and softens into space.
Filling the space with the body dropping down into the ground with the out breath.
Beginning with settling,
So here the ground can be a wonderful resource to help the whole body to settle.
Without trying to force anything to happen,
We can simply notice places of ease,
Softening,
Release.
As we familiarize more and more with the sensations of contact with the ground and the stillness that the ground offers us here.
As we breathe out,
Settling into the stillness.
As we breathe in,
Creating just a little bit more space for whatever's here.
Sensations,
Thoughts,
Emotions.
Welcoming all of it as it is.
Can also use the breath if that's comfortable for you to support settling.
Gently attending with curiosity to each breath and allowing the breath to draw our awareness more and more deeply into the body and into what's here.
Tuning into the rhythmic quality which can be calming,
Settling.
And remembering that the breath is what connects us to all of life.
So in this very simple act of drawing in air,
We're also remembering our deep interconnectivity with all of life,
All beings everywhere,
And the whole phenomenal universe.
So feel free to do anything else here that can support you to settle and maybe some self-touch like hand on heart or belly or anywhere else that feels supportive.
You might also find it helpful to open the eyes and have a little look around that might help you to settle.
And when you're ready,
You can just begin to very gently open to the six senses,
Sounds,
Smells and tastes,
Visual sensations.
You might have the eyes open here with a soft focus.
All the different physical sensations in the body,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Vibration,
Aches,
Numbness,
Contraction,
Softness.
And finally,
The sixth sense of the mind where we perceive thoughts,
Emotions,
Images,
Memories.
So here we're opening to everything that can be perceived in this moment,
The ever-changing flow of sensations.
And if you'd like,
You could imagine it's like you're sitting on a beach watching a expanse of water,
Gazing out and just taking in all the different changing waves as they come and go.
So just like waves,
These sensations form and dissolve,
Form and dissolve,
And we can simply allow all of that to happen within awareness as we breathe.
Resting back in awareness,
Simply allowing the whole magical display to be as it is.
Nothing to control or fix or change here.
Just resting,
Allowing.
If you find yourself getting caught up in habits of indulgence or suppression,
Getting drawn into thinking or trying to keep something at bay,
You could just imagine you've got a pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer and you can just snip and cut loose the clinging to whatever it is that you're pushing away or getting drawn into.
So Tilopa said,
Perceptions don't bind,
Clinging binds,
So cut your clinging.
And then rest back again.
Letting the part that was caught up in wanting and not wanting to have a break,
Take a holiday.
As we rest here in awareness,
You might start to notice that there's nothing that's coming and going in experience that can be pinned down or held on to.
It's more like a torrent of sensations just rushing through,
So there's an invitation to familiarize yourself with what it's like to be more in the awareness than in what's coming and going in the awareness.
Stepping more into the knowing part,
The sensing part that can simply be with all of what's here and know its emptiness.
Know more and more deeply at the felt sense as a direct embodied experience that there's nothing here that can be held on to,
Not even for a second,
Allowing ourselves to be held by the emptiness and the warmth of that awareness that receives everything without bias.
It's completely open and limitless,
Like the sky,
Where all things are allowed to come and go clearly,
Just as they are.
So here,
We're just getting a little flavor of that kind of freedom when we rest back and trust in the awareness.
At any point it all starts to get sort of vague or rigid,
You can always just give yourself a little shake,
Make any sounds that feel good to you,
Bring in some energy,
And then when you feel ready,
Beginning again,
Maybe take a few deeper breaths here,
And then open like a sea anemone in a very warm,
Nutrient-rich tide pool,
Simply swaying in the water,
Soaking up all that goodness,
Totally open,
Receptive,
Supple,
Soft.
Finally for the last couple minutes here,
We can just play around with the possibility that even the awareness and the forms aren't separate,
So from a non-dual perspective,
All of what's coming and going in awareness is also of the nature of that awareness,
It's the activity of awareness,
Of reality,
To keep throwing up all these displays,
Appearances,
Just like waves on the surface of the sea,
Luminous,
Unbounded,
All part of the same fabric of reality,
Woven in,
There's no separation,
And there never was,
Just seeing what it's like to allow yourself,
Even just 10%,
5%,
.
01%,
To just rest back a little bit more,
Trust a little bit more in this unbounded,
Limitless awareness that can hold all of it.
This stage,
You might even want to open the eyes if they've been closed,
Maybe putting the hands palm up in the lap,
Letting go of any even slight tinge of effort you might have been making there,
Simply allowing life to live through you just now,
Just this.
In a moment I'll ring a bell to mark the end of this practice,
And the invitation is to really take your time,
Gently coming out,
Feel free to move,
Stretch,
Rub,
Caress,
Scratch,
Rotate,
Anything,
In any way you want to,
To support the body to come out of the practice.
