Hi.
This is going to be a meditation on presence and being present.
And let me say before we start,
As I usually do here,
That we'll spend as much time coming out of the meditation as we do going in.
That's because coming out properly allows us to absorb the full benefits that we may have had during the meditation.
And it also empowers us to take the joyful,
Peaceful presence that we find in meditation out into the real world.
Let's begin.
Take a deep breath.
Slowly inhale.
And slowly exhale.
Slowly inhale.
Slowly exhale.
All the way.
Take another deep breath.
And exhale.
Now take a comfortable breath.
Maybe three quarters.
And another comfortable breath.
Relax.
Relax.
Close your eyes.
Notice the sights,
Sounds,
The feelings,
The thoughts,
The memories that come to you.
Witness them come.
Witness them go.
And notice that you are present here before they come and after they go.
You are present whether these things come or whether they don't come.
And notice the space around you and the space within you.
And notice that this is all the same space,
Unencumbered,
Unbroken.
And notice that you are not an observed object at all.
But you are this open,
Spacious,
Brilliant clarity in which these objects arise.
You can't grasp or hold this clarity,
For it is the very spaciousness in which the grasping arises.
Enjoy it.
Be at peace here,
For its very nature is peace.
Enjoy.
Watch your breath in and out.
Its flow is continuous,
Just like this space.
It is a flow without containment.
Its contents are peace,
Love,
Consciousness.
You can rock gently with your breath.
Just be rocked by the breath,
In and out,
Like being rocked by your mother.
There's no objective,
No agency here.
Just this peace,
This presence,
This joy.
Notice again,
There are no walls to this clarity.
There are no edges to you.
You are borderless,
Not contained by anything.
You are limitless.
Enjoy this presence,
Which is more fundamental than those things that come at you from your senses or your mind.
Feel and know that you are peace.
Feel and know that,
And find it all around you.
Feel and know that you are part of this infinite happiness and peace that's all around you.
That peace,
That space,
That being,
That awareness,
Is the same outside and inside of you.
It is all one.
Feel yourself part of that one.
Relax.
Notice your breathing again.
Take a long breath.
In,
In,
And out.
Now,
Change your focus from inside to outside.
Feel your body.
Open your eyes and look around you.
See and feel the room in which you are present.
Move a little.
Straighten yourself.
Rub your hands together.
Create a tingling sensation.
Maybe rub your eyes.
Take a relaxed breath.
In and out.
Express your gratitude for this meditation,
For this peace,
For this oneness.
Another relaxed breath as you decide whether you're going to leave this meditation and join others,
Or maybe stay in this place for a while.
Make that decision as you inhale and exhale.
Welcome back.
