Welcome to awareness,
The portal to presence.
The following meditation combines instructions and periods of silence.
The instruction is intended to support your meditation practice and the periods of silence are offerings for you to enjoy as you make intimate contact with your own mind,
Heart,
And body.
Without distraction,
Silence allows you to rest in this receptive awareness.
As awareness is cultivated and as it grows,
Presence becomes more available and you become more available to the life that is yours.
So if you're ready,
Find a comfortable posture,
Whether that be sitting or lying down,
A position in which it's possible to experience both relaxation and wakefulness.
As you settle into this position,
A posture in which you can experience relative stillness with a sense of ease,
Not rigid or restless,
But relaxed and open.
We'll use the sound of three bells to focus your mind,
Bring you into this present moment and begin this meditation.
Ien,
En,
Et,
Sour fort,
En,
En,
Etc.
Whatever position you are in,
The invitation is to begin to bring your attention to the body.
Sitting or lying down,
Taking a moment to bring full awareness into this posture.
Thank you.
And taking a moment to narrow awareness into each place in which your body makes contact with the surface beneath you.
Pausing.
Being with the felt sense of pressure.
Contact.
Touch.
Bringing awareness to the body being held supported.
Neither floating away nor collapsing.
This sense of balance.
A body that is relaxed and a mind that is awake.
And taking a moment to connect with the breath.
Wherever it's most natural for you to place awareness.
Perhaps for some of you it will be at the nostrils.
Or maybe at the chest.
Or deep in the belly.
Wherever it's most natural for you to connect.
Experiencing this connection and expanding awareness to now include the entire breath cycle.
Resting in this wakeful state and allowing awareness to follow the breath.
Breathing in a sense of calm and breathing out a deeper sense of connection between the mind and body.
On the in-breath arousing this wakeful energy.
And on the out-breath connecting deeply with the breath and the body as a whole.
And if the mind is busy hashing over something in the past.
Planning something in the future.
That doesn't have to be a problem.
Bringing awareness to the sense of being momentarily lost and gently turning the mind back to the breath.
Back to the body and back to the present moment.
This awareness of being momentarily lost is also the portal back into the present moment.
Coming back moment by moment.
Sensing this grounded presence.
A sense of being embodied.
Breathing awake and relaxed.
And inviting you now to expand your awareness to include the space around the body.
Opening to the air that makes contact with your skin.
The temperature.
And any sounds in the soundscape.
The sounds closest to you.
Perhaps even inside the body.
And the sounds as far as the ear can hear.
And noticing the rising and the passing of the sounds.
Each sound having a life of its own.
Impersonal.
Impermanent.
And perhaps even noticing the vast variety of sounds near and far.
And as you sit.
Noticing the sounds near and far.
And as you sit.
Noticing the sounds near far rising and passing.
And also noticing the breath as it moves in and out.
Noticing body sensations coming and going.
And this full focus allows you to settle into the experience of being part of the present moment.
Neither needing to control this moment.
Nor needing to push anything away.
Awake and aware of the life that is here.
And even if you get lost again and again.
Simply coming back and opening fully and completely.
Resting in this sky like awareness.
Where everything that is can be known.
And using these six sense doors that we have.
What we see,
What we hear,
What we taste,
What we touch,
What we smell,
And what we experience in the mind.
Using these six sense doors to rest in the presence of life itself.
Noticing now how the nose takes in odors.
Some pleasant,
Some unpleasant.
Some barely detectable.
The body feels sensations deep within the body and as well on the surface of the skin.
Noticing this.
Some pleasant,
Some unpleasant,
And some barely detectable.
And the ear hears.
Some of these sounds arising and passing pleasant,
Others unpleasant,
And some we barely notice.
And the mind bringing awareness here.
Noticing the production of thought.
Some thoughts arise pleasantly,
Others unpleasant.
And awareness can hold all of this.
Present to the full and complex dance of life in this moment.
Allowing yourself to be in the stillness and silence.
Observing,
Relaxing,
And allowing.
And through this practice,
Through this formal meditation sitting,
We learn to be with all of life.
Connected,
Awake,
Relaxed,
And open.
And through this experience,
We begin to meet the fullness of life through the portal of awareness.
Moment by moment.
Moment by moment.
Moment by moment.
Moment by moment.
Moment by moment.
