You may want to sway the body just a little bit from side to side just so that we can find the balance point,
The middle point,
Like a pendulum coming to rest in the middle.
You're upright,
Aligned,
Balanced.
Your chin is slightly down as if you're holding an orange or a cricket ball or a baseball or something into your chest.
The back of the neck is long.
Your eyes are lowered.
We're looking down towards the floor.
You can either keep your eyes slightly open or you can have them closed.
Come to a point of reasonable stillness so that we can really focus the attention within.
So we've been working with this quality of the autumn time,
The quality of the organs of the lungs,
Large intestine,
The energy channels and the energy characteristics of these organs.
So let's continue with that.
So I'd like you to bring your attention into your chest,
To your lungs.
That's quite difficult to feel your lungs.
The lungs don't have sensory neurons in them,
But we have lots of sensory feeling around the lungs in the ribs and the pleura,
The fascial wrapping around the lungs.
And we can feel or get a sense of the gentle expansion release of the lungs.
When we're soft and relaxed,
What tends to happen is the musculature of the ribs releases and we feel the movement more in the belly.
As we breathe,
The diaphragm is moving up and down and it causes the organs in the belly to swell and release and we feel the movement in the belly,
But nevertheless the air is still coming into the lungs.
So I wonder if you can just notice or track the air that's moving in and out,
Ideally through your nose or if you have to,
Through the mouth.
So air moving in,
Moving out.
Traditionally in the Chinese system,
The lungs have the colour white.
So the air is moving in and out of this very pure white space,
Like two upside down trees.
The air moves in through the trunk and then spreads out to all the branches of the lungs and then it comes out back through the trunk and your nose.
This these two beautiful bright white,
Pure white lungs on either side of the chest.
And it's almost like the lungs encase or enfold the heart in the centre.
And just like the heart,
The lungs are very sensitive to our emotional state.
In fact the breath is a very sensitive indicator of what's going on with us emotionally.
Sometimes it's short,
Sharp,
Ragged,
Irregular.
Sometimes it's smooth,
Quiet,
Slow.
That all gives us a very nice amount of information about what's going on.
And if we're unable to let go,
Which is the quality of the lungs,
This letting go,
What tends to happen is we get a bit bunged up emotionally.
We start holding on to things.
So really focusing on the letting go,
The breathing out,
The release.
So now if you bring your attention down a little bit below your diaphragm into your guts,
Into your belly,
We have this large intestine organ.
It runs up one side of the belly,
Along the top,
Down the other.
So your food has been digested and all the nutrients absorbed out in the small intestine and the waste products end up in the large intestine.
Large intestine does a lot of absorption of water,
Of the leftover water.
And then of course it's processing the waste products.
And again,
It's connected to this bright white.
So maybe it's helpful to you to imagine the large intestine in your belly in this color,
This white color.
Very sensitive area.
Very important.
We need deep respect for our digestive system.
It needs a great deal of care and attention in our life for it to function optimally.
And again,
Our guts very sensitive to our emotional state.
Now we've been sitting here for a little bit.
If you prefer to come to lie down on the ground just for the last few minutes and just rest lying down,
Then please just go right ahead.
Just moving quietly,
Slowly,
Going to lie down.
If you'd rather stay sitting,
No worries,
Of course.
Every breath a chance to let go just a little bit more.
Letting go around the eyes,
Around the mouth,
The jaw,
The lips,
The hands,
The fingers.
Letting go in your belly,
In your pelvic floor,
In your feet,
Toes.
When we let go,
We can let be.
That's really one of the main points of Zen practice.
We're coming more and more closer to our true selves,
Our true nature.
Letting things be just as they are right now.
Enjoying,
Immersing yourself in this moment.
And as we come towards the end of this class,
If there's anyone or anything that you want to dedicate your practice to today,
Just maybe bring that to mind.
I always get a strong sense of gratitude right now that you've been willing to practice today,
To come along to join,
Been willing to spend some time with yourself.
So if you've been joining us with Insight Timer,
Then I'd very much appreciate it if you were willing to express that gratitude with a donation,
Just if you wish,
Towards this class.
So if you've been lying down,
Then you may want to just take your time,
Have a little wiggle.
Maybe we can all take a deeper breath.
And then making your way up into sitting.
If you're still sitting,
Maybe just a little sway from side to side.
We'll all join together in our sitting position.
Taking the hands together in front of your forehead,
Take a little bow to honor your own practice today.
Coming up here,
Making this diamond shape on top of the head,
We're going to lay that down on top.
We come out to the side,
We scoop up some of the space or energy in front,
And here we're going to bow to all of us practicing together in all our different places joining online.
And then from the chest,
We go forwards and down,
Bowing and saying thank you to our teachers and all the people in history who have passed things down for us to learn today.
