It's coming into stillness.
Just collecting the attention,
Closing the eyes.
We open in the most simple way of breathing together consciously.
So we'll start by inhaling and please let this be a very long deep in-breath,
Extending it some,
Filling the lungs.
And then the out-breath slow so you can feel the sensations of letting go,
Letting go.
Again,
A full deep in-breath.
And then a slow out-breath,
Just aware of the sensations of relaxing,
Releasing,
Letting go.
And then once again inhaling,
Expanding,
Opening to the breath,
Filling the lungs,
Perhaps holding for a moment when you're full.
And then a slow out-breath,
Softening down the length of the body as you let go,
Let go,
Let go,
Letting the breath resume its natural cycle,
Relaxing with the inflow,
Relaxing with the outflow,
And noticing the degree of presence that's here,
A bit more here.
Senses awake so you're aware of the sounds around you.
And an inner listening,
Listening to and feeling the sensations of this sitting posture,
Just what it's like to be here right now.
And listening to your heart,
Sensing the state of your heart right now.
It might have been a while since you've really checked in with this simple inquiry,
You know,
Really,
How is my heart right now?
You might notice if there is a quality of openness or close,
Tender,
Numb,
Fearful,
Soft.
As you listen and feel into the heart,
Sense really most deeply what is the heart wanting,
What's the longing of the heart,
What it is that brings you here tonight,
What's your aspiration.
It's helpful to intentionally relax wherever you notice obvious places of tension,
Of holding.
And often I begin with the eyes just to soften the eyes,
Let the brow be smooth.
We carry so much tension from agitated thinking,
Right,
In that brow area.
So just to let the eyes be receptive as if you could receive the photons of light through the lids.
You might even sense a smiling into the eyes.
Receptive,
Easy.
You might feel the root of the tongue and let that area be relaxed,
Letting the tongue top of it press slightly against the upper roof of the mouth so the jaw is unhinged.
A slight smile at the mouth.
This way with the eyes soft and a slight smile at the mouth the many facial muscles,
Those tiny muscles in the face can relax.
You might smile into the heart area.
Imagine and sense a smile spreading through the heart.
And just to make room for whatever is there.
Just letting a sense of space and openness fill the heart,
The chest,
Widening out so that the shoulders are free to relax back and down a little bit.
See if that happens naturally.
And then just feeling the shoulders from the inside out.
See if you can sense a soft awareness inside the shoulders that makes room for some untangling,
Some loosening there.
See a sense of melting or dissolving.
Let the hands rest in an easy,
Effortless way.
And see if you soften the hands how much you can feel from the inside out.
So softening and then just receptive presence,
Feeling the hands from the inside out.
And the chest wide open,
Relaxed,
Loosening down the torso so that you can relax the belly.
And you might sense that this next in-breath can be received in a softening belly.
Okay,
This breath right now.
And then this one.
And now this one.
Just as a glass can be filled with water,
This whole body can be filled with awareness,
Placing the space and the aliveness deep in the torso.
Placing the awareness inside the legs,
Feeling the upper legs,
The muscles there,
Down the legs,
The shins,
The calves.
Feeling the places of pressure and contact and warmth where your feet are on the floor.
And then feeling inside the feet the tingling,
The vibrating.
And opening the attention to sense the body as a field of aliveness,
Of sensation,
All at once.
Not opposing anything,
Not controlling.
Just interested,
Open attention.
Aware of this dance.
Continue to open by including sounds.
This is receptivity that notices the sounds appearing,
Disappearing.
The spaces between sounds.
Resting to the silence.
Feeling in that openness that listens to and feels sounds,
Sensations.
So there is an attentiveness to this changing river of phenomena.
Sensing that in the foreground and sensing in the background this awakeness,
That which knows,
This pure and formless awareness that is always here.
If you can notice in the foreground the changing sounds and sensations and then relax back and sense this alertness,
This stillness that is right here.
And you're resting in a wholeness of being.
So there is an attentiveness to this changing river of phenomena.
The conditioning of our minds is to contract away from that wholeness and go into thought forms,
Into the future,
Into the past.
So with real patience,
Real curiosity,
Just notice when you've drifted off.
Let that be a kind of wake-up call to pause.
And with some curiosity rediscover what's right here.
And it doesn't matter how many times that happens,
You're building a habit of arriving in presence that will carry into your life.
So just waking up from thoughts,
Oh,
So what's actually right here?
Aware of the sounds,
Aware of this whole play of sensation,
Aware of the presence,
That which knows,
The silence that's listening.
For some,
During the remainder of the sitting,
If it's helpful to stabilize presence,
You might find in the foreground just resting with the breath as a way to help you know that you're here.
Or for others it might be just listening to the sounds.
Or still for others,
Feeling the sensations throughout the body.
Whatever helps you to know that you're right here,
Coming home again and again to this searness,
To this beingness.
Nek Witch Roll Hold.
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