Hello and welcome.
Today's practice will be one of getting curious about the second foundation of mindfulness.
In this foundation,
We explore feeling tones,
The immediate sensation of pleasantry,
Unpleasantry,
And neutrality that arises when anything comes in and touches the sense organs.
We'll also cultivate just a subtle intention here to play with the experiencing,
The direct sensing of equanimity,
Allowing everything to be just as it is moment by moment.
So as you arrive for your practice,
Taking a moment to find whatever looks like a comfortable seat for you here in this moment.
Finding a gentle upliftedness in the spine and unfurrowing through the eyebrows,
Softening in the forehead,
And a melting of the shoulders down and away from the ears.
If it feels good to you today,
Maybe allowing the eyes to softly close or letting your gaze rest just a few feet down on the floor in front of you.
And we'll begin by dripping the mind into the body.
Fall awake into the sense of touch.
Finding what's alive from your body from the inside out.
Perhaps seeing as you arrive here,
If you can invite the body to be a little more heavy feeling that gentle pull of gravity down towards the earth beneath you.
Grounding,
Rooting yourself right here in this present moment aliveness.
5Do.
And perhaps as you ground yourself right here,
There's already a connection,
An awareness to the feeling of the body breathing.
Noticing where the breath feels alive for you right here.
Bringing your fullness of attention into the rhythm of the body breathing.
Noticing where the breath feels alive for you right here.
Noticing where the breath feels alive for you right here.
For this practice,
We'll let breath and body be your anchors to presence.
If at any point you find yourself lost or the mind whimsically awry away from the aliveness of this moment,
With the gentleness,
Simply return back to breath to the visceral,
Sensate experiences of touch in the body.
As we begin to explore this second foundation of mindfulness,
The mindfulness of feeling,
The invitation is to begin opening to all the senses all at once.
Now it's time to take a safeili have a seat.
Noticing those sounds that are close by,
As well as those that feel distant and far away.
Noticing those sounds that are close by,
As well as those that feel distant and far away.
Opening to sight,
Even with eyes closed,
To smells and tastes,
To emotions,
And even to the stream of thought in the thinking mind.
Opening to this dance of aliveness,
And see if you can simply notice as something new comes in and touches awareness.
The moment where attention is drawn to something new in the space of experience.
This dance from a sensation in the body to a sound in the room,
To ah,
A thought arising in the mind,
Back to a sound.
And remembering that if you find yourself feeling lost in this dance,
Simply come back to the breath,
Ground again into the body,
And then reopen.
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Is naturally drawn somewhere else.
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And as you feel ready,
We'll begin to add an element of curiosity here.
In Pali,
The word vedna means the feeling tone,
The subtle judgment of liking,
Disliking,
Or ignorance,
Of pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral that arises for every single thing that touches awareness.
So here,
As soon as you notice a new experience,
Something comes in and touches awareness,
Attention is drawn to it.
Get curious and label your experience pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
And again,
Rest until something new comes in.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
And this practice is a beautiful opportunity.
Not just to know what's happening moment by moment.
But also to begin forming a relationship.
To know more deeply how you react and respond to the world around you.
To the subtle feeling tones.
The vedanas that drive our every action and choice,
Whether we're aware of it or not.
Maybe you notice the subtle reactivity that occurs in the mind for things that feel pleasant.
The shift for those that feel unpleasant,
The reactivity there.
And the way we tend to easily move on from that which we label neutral.
Coming to see and fully experience this piece of being human.
Of how we relate to our world moment by moment.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Letting this be your dance.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness to whatever is coming and going.
That there's a soft tendency towards each experience falling more into the category of neutral.
But maybe with a soft undertone of meaningfulness,
Neutrality with joy,
Or openness.
And as you open to everything that's coming and going without attaching to the pleasant,
Or pushing away at the unpleasant,
We have the possibility of connecting to that space of equanimity of the calmness and peace at the center of your being.
Open to everything just as it is.
And without striving or reaching,
If you can open to this space.
Being spacious enough to hold whatever arises and dissipates,
Comes and goes.
With an openness,
The softness,
Maybe even a subtle joy.
Letting this be your dance.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Letting this be your dance.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Letting this be your dance.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Letting this be your dance.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Perhaps you find the more you rest here in this openness.
Letting this be your dance.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I accept this moment just as it is.
May my heart and mind be open and balanced.
These are the wishes of equanimity.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
May I embrace change with calmness and peace.
As you feel ready,
Begin bringing awareness,
Attention,
Back into the shape of the body and space.
Into the feeling of your breath moving in the body.
You're welcome to continue sitting here for as long as it feels good to you.
Or to take your time,
Gently beginning to find movement.
To softly blink the eyes open and return to the space of the room around you.
Maybe staying curious about moving forward into these next pieces of your day.
From this space of an equanimous heart.
Thank you for taking the time to be here today.
Namaste.
