A practice of waking up.
The energy body.
This is a practice that can support us to tap into embodied reserves of energy,
Joy,
Contentment,
And absorption.
It can also be the gateway into subtler experiences of meditative concentration.
In the spirit of the radical embrace,
I invite you to take a few moments before we start this practice.
But just welcome any parts of yourself showing up right now.
And just notice them and allow them to be here as they are.
Maybe even inviting them to join us in this practice.
There's nothing that need be left out here.
So we'll begin by establishing a posture that works for your body.
Make sure that you have at least three points of contact in touch with the ground.
Where the weight of the body is fully supported,
Without straining any other parts,
Particularly your limbs,
Back,
Or neck.
Taking a few deep breaths now and allowing the body to settle into the ground beneath you.
Really spending some time dwelling in the sensations where the body meets the earth.
While also bringing awareness to the sky above.
And the space all around you,
Allowing yourself to soften into that space.
Grounding.
And expanding.
Getting a sense of the inherent dignity.
Of the body in whatever posture you're in here.
Held between earth and sky.
As we allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm.
We can also begin to gently imagine the breath traveling into the heart center.
You could even place a hand here to support the heart to feel held.
And as we connect with the heart center with breath and touch,
We can also bring to mind our own deep heart wish.
For ourselves and others to be free from suffering.
As well as any intentions that you might have set for your practice.
Allowing your heart wish and intentions to be held here in the heart.
Breathing with them,
Into them,
Alongside them.
I'm never seeing any effect this has.
You may also want to call to mind any qualities that can support you to open to joy.
Energy.
Contentment.
Okay,
Then.
Confidence,
Tranquility,
Receptivity.
What qualities can support you.
In waking up the energy body.
When you're ready,
Gently beginning to bring awareness.
To sensations of breathing in the body.
Allowing awareness to naturally find its way to the breath and the breath to find its way to awareness.
Spending a bit of time allowing the breath and awareness to merge.
Feeling the fullness of that.
If at any time you get distracted.
Simply noticing that that's what's happening.
And bringing in just enough effort to redirect and reattend to the breath.
Particularly getting curious about anything pleasant.
That you might experience about the sensations of breathing in the body.
As air comes and goes.
What's pleasant about this?
Here we might allow the breath to support a deeper and deeper embodiment.
Breath as gateway into subtler and subtler levels.
Of embodiment here.
Eventually broadening out the awareness to include the whole body breathing.
From root to crown,
Front to back.
Side to side.
The whole body breathing.
Sensing into the subtle movements of the body as you breathe.
And any pleasant sensations arising in your awareness.
Like softness.
Warmth.
Tingling or a bubbling up of energy.
Sensations like these might be happening.
Way out on the edges of your skin.
But deep in the core of your being.
Or anywhere in between.
As you become aware of these sensations.
The invitation is to do the same as we've been doing with the breath.
Directing the awareness to them.
And spending some time attending to and dwelling within these pleasant sensations,
Enjoying them even.
As they come and go.
What's it like to allow yourself to enjoy the aliveness of the body just now?
Noticing how much absorption there is and adjusting your effort.
So if you feel sufficiently concentrated,
It might be all right to just maintain a broad awareness.
Simply allowing all the myriad sensations arising and passing to move and change in their own way in time,
Enjoying that.
Rich kaleidoscope of sensations flashing in and out of awareness.
If you feel a bit distracted,
You might decide to focus in on one set of sensations and simply attend to those.
So just see what feels the most helpful just now.
You could play around with going in between a more focused awareness and a broader awareness.
See how that changes your experience of what's happening in the body.
Sometimes when we work in this way with the energy body,
It might even feel like there's sensations happening beyond the boundaries of the physical body.
If you notice anything like that,
The instruction is simple.
Just include these sensations as well.
You might imagine the physical boundaries of the body dropping away and the energy body expanding to include.
These sensations that seem to be happening beyond the boundaries of the physical body.
Whatever is happening,
We can notice.
The sensations changing as we attend to them,
They might even seem to be growing and spreading.
So we can simply allow them the space and time to do so without trying to make anything in particular happen.
Attending with curiosity and patience,
And particularly enjoying any freeing up of energy or anything else pleasant in your awareness.
So I'll just leave you for a few minutes to continue to explore pleasant sensations,
Allowing them to move through and enjoying them.
Sometimes as we begin to open to the energy body,
It can feel a little bit unfamiliar and our nervous systems may get overwhelmed.
So if at any point you feel vague,
Checked out,
Distracted,
Overwhelmed,
Agitated,
Anxious,
The invitation is simply to come back.
To the ground.
Back to the breath.
You might even open the eyes and have a little look around,
Maybe do some self-touch.
Anything that supports you to come back to simply being here,
Present to yourself.
And your body.
And then whenever you feel ready,
You can begin to open again.
To the whole body breathing.
Any pleasant sensations coming and going here.
So this is an invitation to pendulate to some resourcing.
And then come back to the practice when you feel ready.
Eventually these sensations that we've been working with,
Tingling,
Softness,
Warmth.
Bubbling energy.
Might begin to quieten.
Revealing a deeper sense of ease,
Contentment.
Okayness,
Even joy.
So there's an invitation now to see if there's something a bit quieter happening.
Maybe a bit more coherent,
A bit more integrated.
And begin to direct your awareness to these sensations.
Attending to any sense of expansion.
Warm.
Flow.
Maybe even a welling up of energy that feels like it's coming from very deep inside.
Moving up and out.
Or maybe it's just a sense of things being a little bit more okay than they were just a few minutes ago.
Whatever is happening,
Simply resting awareness deeply in these sensations.
And in particular,
Allowing yourself to be nourished by them,
Allowing them to resource you.
Feeling any enjoyment within that.
And if nothing like that is happening,
You don't need to worry about it.
Simply being with the breath is enough.
While also maintaining an openness to the possibility of pleasant sensations arising as we deepen into the body with the breath.
I invite you now to notice how the mind is.
So we drop into the energy body and begin to familiarize with the pleasant sensations.
Of tingling,
Warmth,
Softness,
Contentment,
Joy,
Ease.
The heart-mind can become a bit more still,
Clearer.
Tranquil.
Peaceful even and the body might start to feel even more grounded,
Stable,
Present,
Steady.
Within this more steady heart mind.
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Images,
Memories,
Urges,
Impulses.
Continue to come and go,
But they might be just a little bit less sticky.
You might notice you're not as easily distracted by them.
What was previously a problem doesn't seem to be such a big deal anymore.
So just notice what this feels like.
Or the mind and body to be absorbed,
And your energy a bit more integrated,
More coherent.
Feel free to dwell in this embodied absorption for as long as feels good to you.
I'll leave a couple of minutes here to explore.
Hang out here,
Familiarize yourself with it.
Now beginning to deepen the breath gently.
Allowing these deeper breaths to support a resting back in a more broad,
Open awareness.
You might even rest back a bit more in the posture.
Letting go of any effort you've been making.
You may even want to open the eyes,
Maintaining a soft focus.
And place the hands palm up in the left.
Broadening out to include the whole body breathing.
And sensations coming and going in all six senses.
And allowing yourself to enjoy any fruits of this practice.
Dwelling in the fruits of the practice for a little while.
