Hello and welcome into this meditation.
Today I want to invite us to do one thing really,
Which is to relax,
To relax our body,
Noticing any tension wherever we feel it,
And also to relax any resistance we may feel to our life in general.
There may be things that are happening that we are not happy about,
That we don't want to be happening,
And relaxing allows us to accept what is actually happening in reality,
Because any time we resist it,
We suffer.
So to begin,
Let's sit comfortably,
Sit with your back straight,
And feel the point of contact of your feet with the floor.
Just notice how it feels there,
And now notice the point of contact with your seat,
And just let those sensations appear like a changing cloud,
Shifting,
Appearing and disappearing.
And now notice your breath,
Notice the rising and falling of your chest or abdomen,
And rather than aiming your attention at your breath,
Just allow it to appear in consciousness.
Notice that we don't really have to do anything for our breath to appear,
And just let your whole system settle down.
Wherever you feel any tension in your body,
Wherever you feel any discomfort,
Maybe,
Or any traces of agitation,
Just allow it all to relax.
And notice that even on the physical level of sensations,
On some level,
Whatever is happening,
Whatever we are feeling,
We're always accepting it.
There is a part of us that is always accepting whatever sensations are occurring.
It is like the open space in a room that is accepting whatever objects are placed within it.
So,
If you're feeling any discomfort,
Any pain,
Perhaps,
Or any sensation that you would call negative,
Unpleasant in your body,
Just notice how it appears within the space that fully accepts it.
So,
Even if mentally we may think that we don't want this sensation to be there,
Notice that on our immediate experience,
We are accepting it every moment.
And so,
The experience of that sensation is different from our preference about it.
So,
Wherever you feel any discomfort or tightness in your body,
Just allow it to relax.
Just allow it to soften.
To mellow.
And notice how it feels when we do that.
Notice that when we resist a sensation,
When we label it as unpleasant,
When we want it to go away,
It feels like work.
It feels like we are adding a layer of resistance,
Of non-acceptance on top of that acceptance that is always happening.
So,
In a way,
When we accept it,
When we relax,
When we relax our body,
When we allow that sensation to mellow,
We return back to our natural state of peace and acceptance.
So,
In a way,
When we relax any tension,
Any tightness,
Any resistance we feel in the body,
We are stopping to do something rather than doing something.
We return back to our natural state.
And it feels good.
It feels good to return back to what is actually always true,
Which is that we are always on some level accepting whatever is happening,
Whether or not it's pleasant or unpleasant,
Whether or not we want it to be happening or don't want it to be happening.
When it's happening,
We have already accepted it.
So,
Even if we don't really notice this or even if we don't really think that way.
So,
Now that our body is more relaxed and more soft and supple,
Now we can do the same thing with our life situation.
So,
We all have things in our life that we would prefer not to be happening or that we actively oppose,
Maybe.
And notice that the same thing is happening,
That we are on some level already accepting them.
They're already happening.
So,
The reality of them is already unfolding and then we add a layer of resistance on top of that.
We add a layer of our preferences.
And when we believe those preferences,
When we believe that those things shouldn't be happening,
When we believe that thought,
That's when we suffer.
So,
We can do the same thing with our life situation and just allow ourselves to relax,
Allow our preferences,
Allow our opinion,
Allow our resistance to just soften.
So,
That just as with physical sensations in the body,
When we became more accepting of them and they became less unpleasant,
Perhaps,
We can become more accepting of whatever is happening currently in our life situation.
The same thing applies here.
We are not doing something.
Rather,
We're ceasing to do something that we have been doing,
Which is resisting.
On some level,
We're always accepting reality.
We have no choice but to accept reality.
And then on top of that,
We add a layer of preferences and expectations and judgments and resistance,
Which can make us suffer.
So,
We're stopping to do that.
And it feels good.
So,
I want to conclude this meditation with a question of why do we do that?
Why do we oppose the reality?
And by doing that,
We suffer.
And I found that often it's because we don't really believe in the benevolence of reality.
We don't believe that reality has a plan,
Call it reality or life or God or the universe.
When we believe that it is random or it is hostile or that we have to make our own way in this world,
That's when we try to stir our life in one direction and we oppose what we think shouldn't be happening.
And that makes us suffer.
But when we believe that the reality is benevolent,
When we believe that it has a plan and that plan unfolds with utmost perfection,
Even in the moments when we don't see it or when we don't accept it,
When we believe that,
We do not have to manage or control or stir our life as much.
And naturally,
Gradually,
The resistance to whatever is happening lessens.
And we suffer less.
So,
I want to invite you today,
As you go throughout your day,
Just notice the instances when you resist,
When something happens and you resist it.
You wish it wasn't happening or you think it shouldn't be happening.
And notice,
First of all,
How that makes you feel.
Notice any tightness in your body,
Notice that resistance.
And then just for a moment consider letting it be happening.
Consider allowing and accepting it.
And notice how that makes you feel.
Because it is already happening.
And just throughout your day,
Whenever you notice yourself feeling tense or tight or agitated,
Just notice that and relax your body and also relax your mind.
Relax any resistance you feel to an event or a physical sensation or anything somebody did or said to you.
Just relax.
And if you want to meditate longer,
Please feel free to do so.
And if you're ready to conclude,
Stretch your body,
Open your eyes.
And thank you for meditating with me today and have a nice day.
Until next time.
Bye.
