The beginning of any meditation,
Three deep breaths can really support us to allow whatever's come before to drop away.
You don't have to remember or hold on to anything just now.
And to begin to come back to here and particularly come back to the ground.
So your body will be in some kind of relationship with the ground just now,
Whether you're sitting or laying down,
Feeling that contact and with each out breath really inviting a little bit more releasing into the support there.
Noticing the sensations where the body meets the earth.
Strangely,
There's something solid here and the sensations are always changing as we open to them.
So the ground offers up this mysterious teaching on something that's always here and yet is changing.
So can we trust that,
Can we trust that we can rest here even as things are changing?
What would it be like to really belong to the very small part of the earth that you currently sit on and lie on?
And can we be here with as much confidence as the Buddha had when he sat under the Bodhi tree with the conviction to not move until he'd awakened?
This is your own personal diamond throne and you are also connected through the ground to all of life.
So here as we allow the body to surrender a little bit more to gravity and the felt sense of ground,
We can also feel that connection.
It's a bit like plugging in to something greater.
Remembering the ground connecting us to all of life just now and also the ancestors,
Everyone who's come before,
Who we are also inseparable from.
So feel free to hang out with the contact of the ground for as long as you'd like.
There's also an invitation to begin to notice the rest of the body rising up into space or if you're laying down,
The whole front of the body softening into space.
So just like a tree,
We're connected,
We're rooted and we fill space.
We take up a certain amount of space while we're here.
So we can notice with the out-breath continuing to drop down and with the in-breath beginning to feel into taking up the space that your body is in,
Really filling the space,
Expanding towards the sky and into the space stretching in all directions.
Breathing in spaciousness,
Breathing out,
Coming back to the stillness of the ground.
Breathing in,
Expanding,
Opening,
Softening,
Breathing out,
Dropping down,
Releasing,
Feeling into the stillness that's holding you here,
Steady,
Stable,
Solid,
Rising,
Open,
Expansive.
So we can just spend a little bit of time here sensing into space,
Stretching in all directions,
Behind us,
In front,
Out to the sides,
Above,
Even below the earth itself at the molecular level,
Made of space as well,
Our bodies full of space.
And into this space,
Beginning to notice sensations of breathing,
Again,
Something that's always here and also changing.
Each breath for a short moment,
Belonging to us,
Intimate,
Deep within.
And then on the exhale,
We give it back.
What's it like to be with the breath,
Be present and available to this process,
Be with the body as it knows how to keep us alive?
It knows exactly what to do.
So maybe that as we descend more and more deeply into the embodiment,
The here-ness of now,
The with-ness,
We also notice habits of distraction,
Vagueness,
Dissociation,
Perhaps,
Delusions,
Rumination,
Fantasy.
So there's an invitation here to recognize that whatever you might notice there that feels that it's taking you away from the body,
The breath,
The ground,
The space,
It's probably coming from a part of you that longs to be well,
And is just in a habit of getting distracted.
That's one way you resource yourself,
Maybe when things feel a bit hard or confusing.
And we want more options,
So we can be a bit more present and available to ourselves and others.
So just notice the awareness of all of that.
Whatever's happening,
There's an awareness of it and an intention to come back to ourselves.
And then it may be that you know for yourself what supports a return to presence,
So it could be coming back to the ground for a little while.
Maybe some self-touch can help,
Hand on heart,
Hand on belly,
Somewhere else.
Maybe opening the eyes and having a little look around for a minute,
Taking a few deeper breaths,
Making some micro-movements,
Wiggling fingers and toes,
Maybe even giving the whole body a little shake.
And then when you're ready,
Coming back,
Coming back to the breath,
Coming back to sensations,
What it's like to be here,
And then just checking how much capacity there is within the nervous system,
Within the body,
Within the heart-mind,
To drop into here just a little bit more,
Open to the fullness of now,
Just a little bit more fully,
Creating as warm,
Hospitable,
Friendly,
Welcoming environment as possible for whatever's here,
Sensations,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Urges,
Impulses,
Memories,
Images,
What if it all belonged here,
Just as it is,
Even the less perfect or even unwanted parts,
Feeling into here-ness,
Body like a mountain,
Solid,
Present here,
With the breath,
Breath energy like the ocean's waves,
Coming and going,
Allowing all of what's here to come and go,
And heart-mind like the sky,
Completely open,
Receptive,
Luminous,
Boundless,
Deeply sensitive.
In a moment,
I'll ring a bell to mark the end of this practice,
And the invitation is just to do whatever you know helps you to transition out of the meditation.
