This week we've been considering how from our inception that our growth is a function of receiving.
From the umbilical cord we receive nourishment from our mother in the womb.
Then when we emerge from the womb we receive the life force in the form of the breath.
We receive shelter.
We receive perhaps love,
Guidance,
Direction.
We receive our own thoughts,
Our emotions,
That our natural capacity is to receive.
But then in the process we also learn what is not useful to receive.
That which impairs our growth.
That which is harmful to the physical body,
To the mental body,
To the emotional body.
But in these times especially we've been quite attentive as to what not to receive.
In an attempt to secure our very survival.
Not to receive friends.
Not to receive family members.
Not to receive a handshake.
Not to receive a hug.
Not to receive anyone in close proximity.
And in the meantime we've been trying to figure out,
Collect information,
Collect data,
Read articles,
Listen to the experts,
Listen to the science.
On when and how it might be okay and safe again to receive.
All the while feeling ourselves cut off from something that is intrinsic,
Essential to our being.
So then as we wait for when it might be the right time for us to open ourselves up again to receive.
Can we in the meantime continue to receive that which is always here?
And that which is never endangered by anything we receive.
Find a comfortable seat.
Exhale all the air out.
Inhale a breath.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Allow your attention to move inward.
And notice how with your attention moving inward,
Some aspect of your energy moves inward.
To inhabit an inner space.
An inner atmosphere.
One that is not necessarily delineated.
From the outside world.
But a sense of being that is much deeper than that.
Intricately interwoven.
With that which is outside the body.
Rather,
With your attention going inward.
Feel your awareness moving into.
An experience that is not informed.
By the senses.
Especially by what the physical eyes.
See and perceive.
With the windows of the physical eyes,
Retreating.
Allow yourself to turn to your breath.
Allow the breath to become the eyes.
The means by which you see.
You perceive.
You sense.
You roam.
The corridors.
The hallways.
The halls.
The majestic spaces.
Of your inner being.
Allow your attention to become sensitive along the rims of the nostrils.
Feeling the flow of the breath in and out of the nostrils.
While equally feeling the breath rising.
From the base of the spine.
Moving up through the front of the body.
Filling up the balloon that is the chest cavity.
And then the exhale descending.
Draping the back of the body.
Spreading your sit bones down.
Lying the groin to soften.
Legs energetically spreading.
And feel the breath as much as it is moving in you,
Through you.
Equally surrounding you.
Enveloping you.
This huge embrace.
Allow yourself to receive.
The huge embrace.
And that is the life force.
In the form of the breath.
As the breath moves through the body.
Notice.
The response of the body.
Different parts of the body.
When the breath is openly received.
When there is some resistance.
Notice.
What arises.
When the breath comes into contact.
With various surfaces of the body.
What intelligence is revealed.
What hesitation is revealed.
What unhealed wounds are revealed.
And when the urge arises to distract yourself.
To look away.
From what the breath is revealing.
Notice any tensing up in the body.
When the breath comes into contact.
With something that feels endangered.
Notice any shifts in your heart rate.
Heartbeat.
And just allow yourself to soften.
Rather than take flight.
Even in the form of thoughts.
Rather than trying to wander off.
Allow yourself to settle in.
With tenderness,
Allow your attention to open.
And then open some more.
And then some more.
And see in this moment.
What is endangered.
In this moment.
What is actually endangered.
And here uncover.
That which has never been endangered.
And that which remains untouched.
Intact.
Whole.
Whatever harm may have come to the body.
To the mind.
To your emotions.
See also that which remains unharmed.
In our hyper vigilance.
Allow yourself to look both ways.
Allow yourself to receive.
That which is at the source of the mind.
At the source of all emotions.
At the source of this physical body.
And the silence.
That is at the source of existence.
Relax all the hyper vigilance.
And take rest.
In the silence that is at the source of your being.
Drop all language all words.
All words.
Eyes closed.
Tilt the head towards the heart.
All the way from the base of the neck.
To us just in heart center.
Leg slightly.
Extend the legs out.
And lie down on your back.
Arms move away from the body.
Palms face up.
Feet fall out to the side.
That even as you come back into contact with the body.
In a way that feels more direct.
Feel the body alive.
With the subtlety.
Animated.
With the suppleness of your being.
That which is usually.
In the backdrop.
Feel it more at the forefront.
Of your experience of yourself.
And all of its magnificence.
Fold the arms to the torso.
Resting the hands alongside of the chest cavity.
Rib cage.
Bend one leg then the other.
Roll to your right side.
Pause there.
When you're ready come to sit up.
Allow the palms to join.
Exhale all the air out.
Inhale a breath.
Namaste.
