Choosing a posture that's going to be supportive at this time of the day and given how your heart-mind is.
So let's start with a few deep breaths here.
We're going to be focusing on settling.
So even with these deep breaths at the start of the practice,
We can begin to tune into how we are doing just now,
The sensations,
Emotions,
Thoughts that are here.
And we can invite with each breath an expansion of the space within which all of that can be known and felt.
So welcoming whatever's here in the spirit of the radical embrace.
However we are is welcome here in the space of our heart-minds.
And then just allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm.
And we'll spend a little bit of time now just exploring sensations where the body meets the ground,
Opening to places of pressure,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Softness,
Numbness,
Tension,
Achiness,
Whatever else is here.
And through these sensations beginning to open to the qualities of the ground,
What the ground has to offer to our system that can support us to settle.
So these are qualities like stillness,
Stability,
Safety,
Support,
Holding,
Resilience,
Support,
Perceiving,
With each out-breath really allowing the body to soften into the ground,
Surrender to gravity,
Allow itself to be held,
Feeling into the connection with the ground here,
The fact that we're never separate from this earth that holds us,
Feeds us,
Gives us life,
And also connects us with all of life.
So out of this foundation,
This connection with the ground,
We can also begin to now open to the rest of the body,
Rising up into space,
Or if you're laying down,
The whole of the front of the body opening to space.
And there's an invitation here to really tune into the dignity of the posture,
Connecting with the uprightness.
Even when we're laying down,
We can sense into uprightness as a orientation and attitude.
One thing that can help us here is beginning to connect with the central channel,
This channel of energy connecting belly,
Heart,
Throat,
And crown,
Deep blue in color,
Resting just in front of the spine,
Imagining breathing up and down the central channel,
Smoothing out any wrinkles or rough edges with each breath,
Feeling the openness at the very core of your being,
Like a deep blue sky full of space,
Deeply sensitive,
Full of light.
In this center,
A whole of infinite space stretches in all directions.
So the invitation is to really allow the body to fill that space,
Stretch into the space all around you,
To take your place.
So there's an invitation as we settle into our seat,
And seat is just a symbol for whatever posture you're in,
As we settle into being here,
To just notice and appreciate all of the conditions that have supported you to be here right now,
Including all of the practitioners who have come before,
Those teachings we have inherited,
Could even imagine those teachings raining down on us right now as blessings that we can absorb into our being,
Allow to shape and change us.
And then when you feel ready,
When you feel sufficiently settled,
Just beginning to open to all of what's here and experience from this steady,
Settled,
Blessed place,
See what it's like to just open,
A bit like a hay bale whose string's been cut,
So it just flops open,
The ears open to sound,
The eyes open to light and color,
Maintaining a soft focus,
Open nose and mouth,
All the pores of the skin,
Every cell of the body open,
Receptive,
And the mind,
A vast open sea,
Ceaselessly arising and passing waves,
Coming and going.
So I'll stop talking now and we'll just sit in this openness,
A bit like sitting on a beach and just watching the expanse of the water in front of you,
As it's constantly changing.
And if at any time you begin to go into vagueness or feel you've gotten caught up,
Lost in thought,
Just come back to anything that supports settling again,
Sound,
Breath,
Space,
Central channel,
Movement,
Self-touch,
Metta,
And then when you feel ready,
Opening again.
In a minute,
I will be ringing a bell to mark the end of this formal period of practice,
At which point,
Do anything that supports you to transition,
Moving,
Stretching,
Rubbing,
Caressing.
