And if you'd like to start by adjusting into a comfortable sitting position for yourself,
Whether you're sitting on a chair or on a meditation mat on the floor,
Just set aside a little bit of time to make sure your body is adjusted to be as comfortable as possible.
So try to keep your back fairly straight,
Adjust your posture so that you're in a position by which you feel you could sit for a long,
Long time without needing to move around too much.
So whatever posture you choose,
You can rest your right hand over your left hand,
The index finger of the right hand touching gently against the thumb of the left hand,
With your hands resting palm upwards on your lap.
We join our hands together in this way because if the index finger slips away from the thumb,
It will give us advance warning of napping on the job.
And we breathe deeply to ourselves.
We allow ourselves to feel the breath softly making its way through our nostrils,
Through our airways,
To the space within our belly.
Breathing deeply to ourselves,
We may feel the air filling our lungs slowly,
Expanding our chest,
Leveling our shoulders.
From there we exhale slowly and gently.
And as we breathe out,
We may feel that our entire body is becoming settled,
Relaxed,
And content.
And we may regard meditation as the opportunity for our mind to make its way back to its true home,
To the place where it belongs,
The source in effect of our own inner peace.
So we close our eyes as gently as possible,
In the same way we'd close our eyes to go to sleep.
The way we close our eyes should be in such a way that we don't close our eyes too tightly,
With no pressure on our eyelids,
Never squeezing our eyes shut.
In effect,
We allow our eyelids just to droop.
And this is the very first step on the journey of homecoming for the mind.
From there we bring our attention back to become aware of the sensations within our body,
Simply by observing our sitting posture,
Taking a little bit of time to adjust it to perfection.
Just in case any part of us is feeling blocked,
Tense,
Or tight,
We continue to adjust our body until our circulation is unimpeded from top to toe.
And once we find ourselves in a relaxed sitting posture,
We can relax further by releasing tension in every single muscle of our body.
And to this end,
We scan down through the whole of our body,
Starting at the top of our head.
So we bring our attention back to relax it there,
Moving our attention down to relax our forehead,
Down to our eyes,
Nose,
Through both of our cheeks,
All the way down to our chin,
Feeling the muscles of our entire face have become relaxed.
We allow that tide of relaxation to move down through the back of our head and into our neck.
We allow the relaxation to spread down through both shoulders,
Along both arms,
To our hands,
Until we feel any tension dissipated from our fingertips.
We continue on down by turning our attention to relax our chest.
We allow the stream of relaxation to move down through our abdomen,
Through our legs,
All the way down to the tips of our toes,
Until we feel satisfied that our entire body feels as relaxed as it can be,
With every muscle loosened up completely and feeling at ease.
We'll be able to tell when our body is truly comfortable,
Because it'll feel spacious on the inside.
It'll feel as if the boundaries of our body have gradually disappeared,
And everything seems to become alive,
Spacious and refreshed.
And in the same way our body needs to become relaxed for meditation,
We so need to free the mind of any worries,
Frustration,
Irritation,
Or any of the problems that we might be keeping suppressed.
By shedding all of them,
Unburdening our mind,
And letting go of whatever negativity may still be lurking in our mind,
We allow ourselves to become free of all of it completely,
Because the real origin of freedom in the mind is unburdening ourselves as far as possible from any residual negativity.
It's almost like spring cleaning our mind one step at a time,
And as the negativity disappears little by little,
There will be increasingly a space within the mind for peace,
Purity,
Happiness,
And wisdom to arise.
So for the moment we let ourselves become as free as possible from any potential disturbance,
Letting it go completely as a second step in the mind's homecoming,
On its journey toward inner peace.
We might conjure up in the mind a feeling that we are filling up every single cell of our body with a feeling of joy,
Serenity,
And happiness,
Until that feeling seems to pervade every last cell of our body.
At the same time we empty our mind of all thoughts,
Engaging instead with our feelings,
Our sensations,
And our awareness.
Then we gently gather together all our awareness,
Sensation,
Or consciousness,
In an area somewhere around the center of our abdomen,
In keeping with our intention to engage with that sense of comfort.
And if we ever lose touch with that sense of comfort,
We can gently make an adjustment at any time to return ourselves to the best state of relaxation that we can manage.
Again regarding this as a homecoming for the mind,
You may imagine that you're sitting alone high on a mountain with an uninterrupted view to the horizon,
Although you're sitting alone but you don't feel lonely.
Alone but content,
On top of a mountain,
Free from any interference,
Completely carefree,
Perhaps with a gentle breeze blowing right through your body.
To the extent that your body feels light in weight,
Soft,
Almost as if it's floating weightlessly,
Melting away into the atmosphere around you,
Until the sense of relaxation from the inside seems to be continuous,
With the worry-free surroundings that extend all the way to the horizon,
And you can allow yourself to be in the very middle of that space,
Space in which there's no disturbance,
No intrusion,
Just our private haven of peace,
Where we can be entirely ourselves,
And in essence this is a space in which we can continue to free our mind of any residual negativity,
Feeling that we're becoming one with nature around us,
And the more we can let go,
The lighter and more spacious our own mind will become,
Until we can feel the center of that space within ourselves as the true home of the mind.
So we bring the mind back home by gathering our attention and letting it gently rest in our center space within the body,
The center space for the time being is any place inside us that feels tender and comfortable,
We can place the attention there as gently as we can,
Once our mind finds its way to where it needs to be,
There will be an automatic arising of joyfulness and contentment in the mind,
It doesn't require anything more,
It is replete in and of itself,
Our internal sensations will be ones of satisfaction,
And all we need to do is maintain our awareness of that comfort,
It's the sense of inner peace which gradually emanates from within and continues to evolve as our own mind embraces our sense of consciousness with a light and gentle feeling that this is where the mind truly belongs,
This is where true peace and purity can arise,
And our job as a meditator is simply to maintain our mind,
Our awareness,
At this point allowing our true nature to become full of peace and positivity,
The feeling it gives us will be one of being unblemished and pristine,
Of clarity and purity,
And all we need to do is maintain our awareness within this center space,
Letting it merge with that inner space,
If you feel that you need some sort of anchor for the mind,
You might like to slowly visualize some sort of bright inner image,
Perhaps something as light as a bubble within yourself,
A bubble that is crystal clear,
Floating free,
And weightlessly at the center of yourself,
And you might imagine that a similar such bubble settles at the center of your body,
Delicate and fragile,
All we need to do is maintain that picture of the bubble inside ourselves,
With the gentlest possible attention,
We might imagine the bubble remains motionless or perhaps shimmering at the center of our abdomen,
Soft,
Delicate,
Gentle,
We may discover that the bubble has its own illumination from the inside,
Or that it becomes gradually brighter,
Perhaps even as bright as the sun in the morning or at midday,
But with a white light,
A brightness that is cool and soothing,
Perhaps more similar to the light of the full moon at night,
And it's a brightness that comes with a sense of peace,
A feeling of ease,
With a sense of illumination from the inside,
From the center of ourselves,
And all we need to do is maintain our awareness,
The feeling and sensation at the center of that inner bubble,
Just slightly touching that feeling within the bubble of our awareness,
While keeping our mind calm,
Still,
Relaxed,
In the mind focused in stillness,
Softly and gently,
The mind should wander or get tangled up in thought,
We don't need to try to stop ourselves from thinking,
We just slowly guide our feeling,
The focus of our attention back to the bubble again,
Always softly and gently,
However many times it takes for the mind to start to stay centered,
Almost by second nature,
And at this point in our meditation all the thoughts and distractions will seem further away,
As if in the distance,
And all we have to do is simply observe the true nature of peace and tranquility,
The sense of the depthening of the mind,
That is awareness so still,
So soft,
So gentle,
At this point all we need to do is observe,
We continue to keep our mind on track at the center of the body the whole of the time,
Always feeling the connection with our sense of inner peace,
For a few more moments in silence until we come to the appropriate time for some loving kindness meditation,
Continue to keep our mind on track at the center of the body the whole of the time,
Resting at a standstill at the center of whatever inner experience we have built up for ourselves,
For some people it will be like a bright clear sphere of crystal at the center of the body,
For others it may be like a pinpoint of light at the center of the body,
For others still it may be like a feeling of warmth or well-being at the center of the body,
Whatever sort of inner experience we have attained for ourselves,
We place our attention very gently at the center of that experience,
The very center of the inner experience within ourselves,
Touching gently,
The same lightness of a feather,
Floating down to touch upon the surface of some water,
So lightly that the feather doesn't even break the surface of the water,
In the same way we touch our attention at the center of an inner experience within ourselves,
We touch our mind at the center with just the right amount of attention,
What we'll find is that the inner experience and the mind will gradually expand outwards,
Expanding gradually outwards until it is the same size as the whole of our body,
As if we were sitting inside a sphere of our own well-being or a sphere of our own life,
And we make the wish to ourselves that maybe be well and happy,
Maybe be free of all suffering,
And touching our mind again at the center of the body,
The sphere of well-being or the sphere of light,
That inner experience will extend outwards beyond our body,
Spreading outwards in all directions just like the moonlight shines outwards from the full moon in the sky,
Or just as a block of ice sends forth the coolness in all directions around itself,
Into the atmosphere around it,
In the same way we spread our loving-kindness outwards in all directions around ourselves,
Spreading the sphere of loving-kindness outwards,
To encapsulate the whole room in which we're sitting for meditation,
While making the wish that may all living beings here in this room be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering,
We spread our loving-kindness further outwards,
Still spreading outwards from the center of our body,
To encapsulate the whole building in which we are sitting for meditation,
Again with a wish that may all living beings here in this building be well and happy,
Free from all suffering,
We spread our loving-kindness further outwards beyond the building,
Outwards in all directions around us,
Into the neighborhood,
Neighborhood around us with the wish that may every living being here in the neighborhood be well and happy,
Free from all suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony,
Spread our loving-kindness further outwards,
Still to the whole city,
Whole county,
Wider still to the whole country,
Extending loving-kindness to all beings without exception,
To the very borders of the country,
In all directions all around,
Again with a wish that may every living being here in the country be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering,
Extend loving-kindness to neighboring countries,
Extending loving-kindness in all directions to living beings without exception,
Every continent of the world,
Spreading our loving-kindness outwards,
Till our loving-kindness extends across the whole of the face of this planet,
With the wish that all living beings without exception on this planet be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony to allow world peace to become a reality within our own lifetimes,
Emanate loving-kindness outwards into the universe around us in all the great directions,
And having spread loving-kindness in this way we can condense our awareness back down to the center of our body again,
Taking careful note of the brightness,
The clarity,
The feeling of peace and joy at the center of ourselves,
And in particular taking note of the feeling of well-being at the center of ourselves,
Remembering the feeling as well as we can,
Because this feeling of well-being is very important for us,
It represents the state of progress in meditation that we have reached up until this point,
If we can remember the feeling as well as we can,
The next time we come to meditate again,
We can pick up from where we left off with this feeling and continue to make an uninterrupted journey with the homecoming of the mind each time we meditate,
But for now we continue to meditate for the last few moments of our practice,
Noting the state of progress in meditation and remembering the feeling as well as we can,
For a few more moments in silence.
