So,
This is a practice where we are using the simple,
Straightforward,
Hopefully,
Acronym SAFE to help us to open to everything as it is,
The emptiness of all phenomena.
And that stands for settling,
Allowing,
And familiarizing ourselves with everything as it is,
Otherwise known as emptiness.
So,
We can start by just taking three deep breaths,
If that's comfortable for you.
And just notice what it's like when you do that,
When you begin to support a deeper connection with the body through the breath.
So,
Three deep breaths can support us to pause,
To slow down,
To find ourselves and our bodies,
But also to find the ground.
So,
With each out breath here,
Inviting the body to drop down just a little bit more into the ground,
With each in breath,
Supporting the whole body to soften into space,
Softening,
Expanding,
Opening to space on the in breath,
And dropping down,
Releasing,
Allowing yourself to trust the ground to hold you on the out breath.
Bring the breath back to a natural rhythm,
If you've been taking some slightly deeper breaths.
And as we feel the contact with the ground here,
There's an invitation to get curious about the sensations here.
What can you actually feel where the body touches the chair,
The cushion,
The bed?
Even at this stage in the practice,
We can notice these sensations and how they're constantly changing.
So,
Isn't that mysterious how the ground is this permanent,
Solid thing throughout our lives we can connect with,
And yet when we go to explore the actual direct experience of that connection,
There's just change,
Pulsing,
Throbbing,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Softness,
Pressure.
And then out of this foundation,
This connection with the earth that holds us all the time,
Rises the body,
Opening into space,
Filling the space.
And here we can take a few breaths to connect with this sense of a body that's held in space,
Feeling the space stretching in all directions infinitely from this body.
You can even imagine you're resting back in space,
Allowing also the space to hold you.
Sensing the integrity of the length of the body as it stretches from ground to sky,
Or if you're laying down,
As it spreads out across the whole of the ground,
Softening into the sky above.
So throughout this practice,
There's an invitation to come back to the ground whenever you need to,
As a resource that can support settling,
And also to come back to space as a resource,
Particularly to bring in a sense of spaciousness in the practice,
Openness.
So as you feel ready,
There's an invitation now to connect with the breath,
Curiously engaging with the sensations coming and going as we breathe.
Another constant in our life that's always here,
And yet as we take a closer look,
Is also always changing.
So resting here in the ever-changing sensations of the breath,
And allowing it to support a deepening into the body.
Feeling the depth and breadth of sensations of breathing in the very core of us and also way out on the edges.
You get distracted by thoughts of past or present,
Or if you find yourself slipping into a bit of vagueness or soupiness.
There's an invitation just to appreciate whatever part of you is trying to protect you,
Whatever that habit is to take you away.
And just use the clarity of that moment of noticing to simply come back to the body and what's here now.
Feel free to stay with the breath as long as that feels supportive and creative.
There's also an invitation now to begin to broaden the awareness,
To include all of what's coming and going in the six senses.
And here we can imagine it's like we're sitting on a beach and we're just looking out over the expanse of the ocean,
Just like our experience with all these different waves coming and going,
Rising,
Passing away.
And we're just watching all of that,
We're just witnessing it,
Taking it in,
And allowing it to be as it is.
Allowing sounds to come and go,
Visual images,
Smells and tastes,
Physical sensations in the body,
The whole body like a cloud of ever-changing sensations,
And thoughts,
Emotions,
Images,
Memories in the mind.
So here,
Even the mind can be related to as just another place where experience arises and passes away.
So just check how much effort's needed here.
Just see if it's possible to rest back a little bit more in awareness,
Trusting in its innate qualities.
And then just seeing what can support you to be here and with what's coming and going.
Doing just enough of whatever it is that can help you to be here.
There's something that's persistently calling for your attention,
Possibly hooking you in.
You could try imagining that it's a bit like a cow in a field,
And you're just going to give that cow a really big,
Wide-open field to play in,
Do whatever it needs to do.
Giving it lots of space.
One thing that might be helpful with objects of the mind is to just bring a curiosity to the quality of what's here rather than its content.
So for example,
You might get interested in where it seems that thoughts are arising from and passing back into the space of awareness.
You might get interested in their direction of travel.
They seem to be coming from one place in space and heading towards another.
Or maybe they have a shape or a color or a way of moving,
Like bubbles or monkeys.
Or elephants.
And then again,
We're just bringing this attitude of allowing,
Resting back on that beach,
Just allowing those formations to come and go,
And just seeing what it's like to attend in this way.
So there's an invitation now,
If you'd like to begin to tune into what's here now with a specific lens of impermanence.
So tuning into and sensing into the quality of impermanence of all of what's coming and going.
As we sit here with everything that's ceaselessly arising and passing in the six senses,
Is there anything that's unchanging,
Anything that can be picked,
Pinned down,
Picked out,
As separate?
Or is it all just one changing,
Ever-changing diaphanous?
Experience.
Nothing to hold on to.
Nothing to make a self out of.
Just seeing what that's like to tune into the impermanence.
And if you have a sense of that,
Just knowing that directly as an experience of emptiness,
Which is also fullness,
Wholeness.
Everything as it is.
Allowing any energy that gets freed up in that seeing to flow through you.
Anything pleasurable about that experience to resource and nourish you.
In a minute I'll be ringing a bell to mark the end of this practice.
The invitation is to just take your time emerging,
Do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself.
Stretching,
Rubbing,
Caressing,
A few deeper breaths.
You might want to start with just opening the eyes,
Maintaining a soft focus.
