Welcome to this session,
Begin by closing your eyes now,
Let your shoulders drop,
Feel the breath as it rises and falls on its own rhythm,
There's nowhere you need to go right now,
There's no role to play,
And there's no identity to carry,
Just breathe and awareness,
And with each exhale imagine stepping away from the surface of life,
And into something deeper,
You're walking into yourself,
Down a narrow stone path that leads to an opening in the earth,
It's a cave,
And this cave has always been there,
It waits for you the way silence waits beneath sound,
So step even closer,
Pause in the threshold,
And notice the cool air drifting out,
Notice how the darkness doesn't feel hostile,
It feels inviting,
Like it wants to take you inward,
Towards something you've forgotten,
And now step inside,
The ground crunches softly under your feet,
And every step makes an echo,
You hear it bounce against the cavern walls,
Repeating and then fading,
Until silence swallows it again,
So take a few breaths here,
And then listen,
Not in the breath,
But in the space that surrounds it,
And every thought that enters your mind also has an echo,
You think it was,
And it bounces,
It repeats,
It lingers,
Before disappearing into the silence,
Notice that now,
And then let a thought come in,
Any thought,
Things like I should be doing more,
I need to remember this,
I wonder if this is working,
Really just whatever arises,
And now listen to it echo through the cave,
And then,
And then hear it lose strength,
Until only silence remains,
And this is the mind's true nature,
Echoes that fade,
And noise that cannot last,
So deeper into the cave you go,
The walls widen,
The ceiling rises,
It feels like a vast cathedral inside your body,
But unlike any cathedral,
This one belongs to silence,
So pause here,
Notice the echo of your own breathing,
Inhale,
And hear a whisper through the cavern,
And then exhale,
And hear the sigh drift into stillness,
Now imagine the old voices that you carry,
You know,
From childhood,
From teachers,
From failures,
And from your own inner critic,
All of them are echoing here,
So let them speak,
Let them bounce around these walls,
And as they do,
Notice how powerless they really are,
They rise,
And they echo,
And then they fall silent,
So you don't need to push them away,
You don't need to fight them,
They can't survive in this cave,
They always fade to stillness,
So stay here,
And just for a few breaths,
And now walk even deeper,
The air grows stiller,
The echoes,
They grow even softer,
And soon you realize the cave itself has no sound,
It is vast,
Ancient,
And unmoving,
It doesn't echo,
It receives,
It holds,
And it swallows everything into stillness,
This cave is not outside of you,
It is you,
It is the awareness beneath every thought,
Silence beneath every sound,
The stillness that was here before you were even born,
And will be here long after,
So just rest in that,
Feel the stillness spread through your body,
Every muscle loosens,
And every breath slows,
And you're no longer chasing echoes,
You're no longer trying to silence them,
You're resting in the awareness that holds them all,
So stay here for as long as you need,
Just being,
Just listening,
And just resting,
And when you're ready now,
Take a slow breath in,
Feel your body once again,
Feel the air in the room,
And know that the cave will never leave you,
You carry it wherever you go,
The world will echo at you all day long,
But you know now where silence lives,
So step out slowly,
And carry the silence with you,
Good work today,
And namaste.
