In the Nyi family Taoist tradition,
We begin and end cultivation with nine sounds.
Find a comfortable position.
If you are lying down,
Allow your limbs to relax out from your body,
Not crossed but unfolding so that the rivers of energy can flow.
If you are seated,
Sit at the edge of your seat,
Your spine long like a river.
Allow your tongue to touch the top of your mouth,
Connecting yin and yang.
Notice your breathing in your lower belly.
Noticing what you feel.
Noticing your heart.
What sensations are present for you in your heart space?
Notice the crystal palace,
The point between your eyebrows,
The dwelling place of great light.
And you may begin to perceive light,
Clear and white,
A bridge connecting you specifically to the North Star,
Our spiritual source.
Allow that light to fill,
Bathe,
And permeate your crown from your nose,
Your ears,
The back of your head,
And pouring down your neck,
Through your torso,
Your chest cavity where your heart and lungs are so happy to feel this sweet starlight,
And deeper down to your tummy and belly,
All of your inner organs bathed in this starlight,
Which overflows all the way down your arms and legs.
Uncap your fingertips and toes like the cork in a bottle,
And allow waste chi,
Which is just like compost or manure,
To leave your energetic system.
You may do this on your exhale,
Inhaling and feeling the starlight spread,
Exhaling and allowing the waste chi to float away like smoke.
And as you do this,
Just keep breathing,
Noticing.
Sounds are okay.
If you get distracted,
That's okay.
Wu-wei is a practice of allowing.
We are here in the world,
In our bodies,
And we cultivate amidst all of the cacophony that is here.
Just keep coming back to your practice.
Notice all the parts of your body saying thank you as you let go of tension,
Starting with your feet,
Noticing any muscles in your feet,
Maybe the arch of your feet or your ankles that might be tight,
And letting go.
You don't need to hold on to the tension anymore.
The earth itself is holding you.
Let go of tension in your legs,
In the beautiful calves and shins,
All the way up your thighs,
Noticing all of the sensations that are present for you.
Letting go deeper,
Deeper,
And more deeply.
Allow your tension to come to your buttocks and let go more deeply of any tension in your deep well where your reproductive organs stay,
Noticing if there's any holding on that you can let go of,
Letting all the muscles untie themselves.
Undo the knots in your back,
Lower back and belly and the sides of your body,
In your chest where there could be any clenching,
Let it go.
As the knots in your upper back undo themselves,
Take a little while to notice your shoulders and how you can relax them.
Letting go,
Feeling your forearms and biceps,
Letting go all the way down your arms,
Letting go of the muscles of your hands,
The muscles in your fingers,
And then noticing your neck,
All parts of your neck,
Front and back and side.
Remind those muscles they don't have to hold on right now,
They can relax.
The earth is holding you.
The earth is supporting you.
You don't need to hold yourself up by being strong or being tense.
Notice the muscles of your jaw.
If you can unknot them,
It might make some popping sounds,
Just be gentle.
And notice the muscles of your face and your forehead,
Your eyes,
Maybe from squinting,
Raising your eyebrows,
All the muscles around your mouth.
You can tighten your face up into a pinched up face like you've tasted something sour and then let it out to make those facial muscles really remember that they don't have to be strong and they can let go.
Feel all those muscles in your crown,
On your scalp,
All the way through your hairline,
Relaxing.
As you sink deeper and deeper and deeper,
As if you were actually going into the earth itself,
The best hug,
The most loving embrace you have ever felt,
Sink deeper and deeper and deeper into a sweet darkness where all your needs are met,
The womb itself of the earth where you are suspended and floating,
Provided for and unconditionally loved,
Exactly as you are,
Not for doing anything,
Not for performing,
Not for being anybody else,
But who you are at your deepest core.
And allow yourself simply to float.
