Namaste.
Begin your practice by acknowledging to yourself that you're devoting some of your precious time to meditate.
May you know that this is an act of love.
Maybe sit with an upright and dignified posture,
Shoulders relaxed,
Strong back,
Soft front.
And let your attention find your breath wherever you feel it the most in your body.
And maybe take a few deep breaths to increase your awareness of how your breath feels in your body.
Breathe in through your nose and then let out a long slow exhale through your mouth,
Pursing your lips as if you're blowing air out through a straw.
And as you do this,
Notice that natural feeling of relaxing and releasing a little more with each out breath.
Just simply letting go of all the worries and tensions of the day.
Allow yourself to go from the usual mode of doing to a mode of non-doing,
Of simply being.
Not trying to do anything,
Not trying to get anywhere.
Just simply being in this moment with your breath.
Living life one inhalation and one exhalation at a time.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Watching each breath appear and disappear.
Feeling your chest rise and fall.
And you can use your breath as an anchor throughout this meditation,
Coming back to it anytime.
Now gently bring your attention to the world of your senses.
Start by focusing on your sense of smell.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and notice any smells you may feel in your environment.
Moving to the world of sounds around you.
Noticing all the sounds in your surroundings.
Whether they're coming from a distance or whether you can feel your own heart beating.
Moving to the taste,
Your sense of taste.
Just feeling any and all tastes in your mouth.
And then moving on to your sense of touch.
Feeling the touch of clothes on your body.
And appreciating the support of the earth beneath your feet.
And then moving on to your vision,
Maybe open your eyes for a few seconds.
And take in your surroundings as if you're seeing them for the first time.
Maybe even noticing a few things you have not noticed before.
And then closing your eyes for internal vision.
Into the world of sensations within our body.
Becoming aware of all sensations from your head to your toes.
Just acknowledging and noticing the multitude of varying sensations.
And noticing how they change from moment to moment.
As you do this,
You may find areas of tension,
Tightness.
Maybe allow them to soften and relax with each out-breath.
Now gently shift your attention from your body to the world of your thoughts and emotions.
Again,
Noticing the multitude of varying mental formations from moment to moment.
And observing them from a distance as if you're sitting on the bank of a stream and watching the water flow past you.
As you do this,
Notice how your thoughts and emotions appear and disappear.
It's almost as if the mind has a mind of its own.
It analyzes,
Scrutinizes,
Plans,
Remembers,
Compares and contrasts.
It dreams and fantasizes,
Blames and feels sad or angry or joyful.
It's just constantly busy thinking about this and that.
With thoughts rising,
Forming,
And then quickly receding,
Being replaced by other thoughts.
Appearing and disappearing in this monkey mind of ours.
Maybe acknowledge to yourself that these are just thoughts and emotions that come and go just like your body sensations do.
And they don't define you.
Coming back to your breath,
Feel your whole body as you breathe in and out and keep an open awareness.
Feeling your entire body rising upward and downward with inhalation and exhalation.
Noticing all your thoughts and emotions and feeling your mind and body as a single complete organism connected and whole.
Now expand this awareness to your family,
Your loved ones,
Your extended family.
Maybe bringing their images to your mind.
And acknowledging how much each of you depends on the others.
How loved you feel and how much you love and depend on them.
And now further expanding this awareness to your local community,
Your workplace,
Your colleagues,
And all the people around you who help you,
Who help make your life easier.
Maybe your gardener who tends to your garden.
Or maybe the barista who knows you by name.
Or a colleague who helps you out at your work.
Or somebody who makes you smile and laugh.
And next expanding your awareness to your city,
The state you live in,
And your country.
And further expanding it to all humanity,
People all over this world.
And realizing how much we all depend on each other.
How interconnected we are.
And how we share a common bond,
A humanity.
And feeling grateful for all we share and have in common.
And everything that goes into making your life pleasant and easy.
And then expanding this awareness to all living beings on this earth.
And if you may,
Even to all non-living things on this earth,
On this beautiful and amazing and yet fragile place we call Mother Earth.
What comes to mind are the words by poet and philosopher that I love,
John Lennon.
Imagine there is no countries.
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for and no religion to.
Imagine all the people living life in peace.
Let yourself imagine a world like this.
Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
And namaste.
The spirit within me bows down to the spirit within you.
