If you're already in your posture,
There's an invitation to take a few deep breaths if that's comfortable for you.
I love this practice of three deep breaths or more.
Three is just a placeholder.
Often I start to do three and I end up doing like six or seven because my body really responds well to taking in and nourishing long in-breath and letting out a nourishing long out-breath.
On your next out-breath,
Allowing the awareness to drop down to where you're in touch with the ground,
Those points of contact we were exploring earlier in the arriving practice.
And even at this point,
The very start of the practice,
We can get interested in what it's like to open to sensations here.
Very simply,
How much effort is needed to become aware of this contact with the ground?
We might even drop the idea that we're doing anything with awareness.
Instead,
There's simply an allowing for sensations to emerge into awareness,
A bit like flowers blooming or bubbles popping,
Ceaseless display.
And then from here,
We can begin to open to the rest of the body,
Noticing how it is to be in the shape you're in now,
Situated in space,
Space stretching infinitely in all directions from this point that we call the body.
We'll just spend a little bit of time welcoming whatever's here right now at the start of the practice in the spirit of the radical embrace.
So welcoming the tiredness,
The energy,
The planning,
The ruminating,
Sadness,
The excitement,
The anxiety,
The boredom,
Or whatever else is here.
And throughout this practice,
We're invited to come back to anything that can provide us with a sense of safety and support,
Anything that we find resourcing,
Nourishing,
Supportive.
That could be the breath,
Could be the ground,
Space,
Might be the softness of something nearby,
Like a blanket or sweater,
Jumper,
Or just somewhere in the body that feels good where there's pleasant sensation.
So that's there anytime you can play with that when you need it.
So I wanna invite us now to begin to get curious about what can be felt and known directly in sound,
The sense of hearing,
Just allowing sounds to be here as they are.
Just noticing what the mind does with this invitation.
So it may be that there's sounds that are pleasant and you think,
Oh,
I'd like some more of that.
There might be sounds that are unpleasant,
There's a bit of contraction or resistance,
Or maybe there's a neutrality,
Not a lot of sound,
And there's a part of you that wants something more exciting to be happening,
Or maybe you're enjoying the quiet.
So just notice how that is while staying open to what's here,
Noticing the awareness within which sounds are coming and going,
Seeing if we can rest a little bit back,
Further back into that awareness.
You might even lean back in the posture but embody this resting back attitude.
Feel free to hang out with sounds for as long as you'd like,
And there's also an invitation to shift awareness to smell.
So with the in-breath,
Just noticing what's here,
Smells coming and going with the breath.
And then with the sound,
This is a sense we can't choose to turn on or off,
It's just here,
It picks up what's here,
Sometimes quite subtle.
And then very closely connected to smell is taste,
What we can taste just now.
Maybe the residue of something you've just eaten or had a drink of.
All too familiar taste of the inside of the mouth.
Again,
Could be quite neutral.
What's it like to be with neutrality as sensation?
And then on your own time,
There's an invitation to open the eyes and begin to explore sight.
So in the just sitting practice,
The instruction is to look directly ahead of you,
But with a soft focus.
So we're not focusing in on any one particular thing,
But instead we're aware of everything from the center to the periphery of our vision.
And then just allowing the eyes to really rest here aware of colors,
Shapes,
Light,
Shadow,
Form,
Movement.
It's a bit like being at the ocean and looking out across the great expanse of water or the kind of gaze you might stare up into the sky with.
Sometimes we can get worried that we're gonna get distracted with the eyes open.
But again,
The invitations here is just to notice the awareness with which we're able to rest in sight.
Knowing part of us holding this experience alive to it.
So you can continue to do the rest of the practice with the eyes open.
Or you can close them again,
It's up to you.
There is an invitation now to begin to expand to include the whole of the physical body and sensations coming and going here.
Sensing into the physicality as it's showing up in each moment.
This temperature,
Pressure,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Bubbling,
Pulsing,
Aching,
Vibration,
Humming,
Throbbing.
This ever-changing cloud of sensations we call the body allowing it to emerge in awareness.
And if you find yourself getting a bit lost,
Going into vagueness or distraction,
You can get curious here about what supports a return to presence.
So just doing something that you know can help you to be here now.
Might be taking a few deeper breaths,
Maybe moving the body a little bit,
Giving yourself a little shake.
Feeling the ground.
Sensing into a part of the body that's maybe a bit easier to be with than other parts.
And now I invite us to bring the same curiosity to the thinking,
Feeling mind,
Heart-mind.
So just like sounds,
Just like physical sensations,
We can sense thoughts,
Images,
Memories,
Emotions.
So what's it like to open now to this channel and simply allow mental objects to come and go in awareness?
How much effort's needed for this allowing?
Helpful tip here is to see if we can divest from the content of our thoughts and maybe just get a little bit curious about their qualities.
So everything that can be sensed by the mind also has qualities like how it moves through,
Maybe a shape it takes or a color or a weight or density to it,
A resonance somewhere in the body.
Some thoughts might bring a sense of heaviness,
Others might bring lightness.
Some are a bit stickier than others.
Wanting to draw us into them,
Perhaps more intoxicating.
So here we can play with what it's like to allow for a big open field of awareness where whatever the thought's doing,
However it is,
It can simply come along,
Hang out for a while and carry on.
Going to invite us now to let go of any effort you might be making and really rest back in awareness,
In a broad open awareness.
Opening now to all six senses,
Sound,
Smell,
Taste,
Sight,
Touch and the heart,
Mind.
You could imagine all the pores of your skin are totally open and receptive.
All the orifices open,
Sensitive,
Just sitting in this moment that you'll never have again.
How amazing.
