I welcome you to your time of stillness.
This is Derek Hawkins.
I thank you for taking some time to be with yourself,
To settle in,
To tune out,
To be out,
The day,
To appreciate the stillness,
And to just breathe.
And I want to encourage you to take a few moments to just connect with your breath,
To just observe,
To just feel your lungs expanding and releasing,
Settle in,
Any surface that you may be on,
Whether you be sitting or laying down.
Just take a few moments to allow yourself to settle down.
Don't get caught up in the initial cacophony of thoughts that might come when we sit in stillness.
Just understand this is normal.
Just as a snow globe being set down,
It takes a little time to settle.
So use this time instead of fighting the settling.
Just check in with your body.
Maybe see if you can make yourself a little bit more comfortable.
See if you can allow yourself to be supported just a little bit more.
See if you can connect with that breath,
That expansive inhale,
That elongated exhale.
That breath is the key.
Your own breath within your own body,
Your own natural rhythm.
This is the key to your practice,
To your spiritual progression,
To your path.
Your breath is yours,
Yours alone.
This is the key to going within.
The key to having your experience outside of anyone else's influence.
Your breath,
Your journey,
Your space,
Your healing.
For many of us,
We utilize external sources.
It's our source of mental concentration.
Focus on objects,
Sounds,
Mantras,
Movements,
Deities,
Trinkets and tools,
All sorts of external cues.
All these tools are great at concentrating the mind,
At giving the mind a focal point.
They can only stop there.
In my experiences in the physical therapy world,
When working with Parkinson's patients,
The main focus was internal calibration.
We could put devices on their walkers.
We could put stickers on the ground.
We could verbally and tactically tell them to take larger steps or bigger movements.
We could move their legs ourself.
But the problem with that is that they'll never get to the point of internalizing it,
Taking it and making it their own,
Being able to walk without those external cues.
So they are limited as far as those external cues can come with them.
So the purpose of our therapeutic process was aimed at training our patients how to internally understand where my steps need to be,
How my movements need to go.
This was the goal.
This is the goal as well when we sit for our meditations.
Maybe mental concentration is as far as we get right now.
Maybe focusing on the guided meditations and the sounds and the other sensory input.
Maybe that's as far as we get.
This is good training the mind to focus.
After a certain point,
You want to continue to draw inward.
Let that focal point come from within.
Let that focal point emanate from within the one having the experience.
Continue to settle into our breath now.
Allow for any last minute adjustments.
Allow yourself to be fully supported.
Allow yourself to release anything that's not required to keep you up,
Keep you supported.
If you're laying down,
Just allow yourself to be fully supported.
Allow your legs to splay out.
Allow your arms to fall to the side,
Your head to sink into whatever is supporting it.
If you're sitting up,
Allow your spine to be upright.
Allow your hands to rest where they may.
Start with the external world,
With your eyes open.
Look around.
You don't have to move your head.
Just look around.
And don't just look,
But see.
Look for the curiosity.
See any objects.
See any lack of objects.
Maybe there's a sign,
A poster,
A knick-knack,
A statue.
Maybe there's a blank wall.
Are there shadows?
Maybe there's a cord.
Just see the space in which you're in.
As if you're seeing it for the first time.
Be curious about any of those objects.
There's a cord twisted at an interesting angle.
Why is it twisted like that?
Is there a shadow,
A particular shape?
What shape is it?
Are there any sounds perceivable to your ears?
Do you hear a clock?
Do you hear rain?
Maybe leaves in the wind.
Maybe chimes.
A candle.
Maybe you have an animal.
A pet.
Maybe you hear a family member,
Dog barking.
Yet again,
Don't just listen,
But hear.
Hear with a curiosity.
Can you envision what kind of dog is making that sound?
Can you envision the flickering of the candle?
Utilize that amazing imagination in which we've been given.
Utilize in your mind's eye these various sounds that you're receiving.
Imagine them without judgment,
Without adding stories.
We can start to draw ourself further within.
What can you feel?
What are you able to touch?
What's touching you?
You feel the surface in which you sit.
You feel any material touching your body.
You wearing a watch?
You feel your hair laying a particular way?
Do you feel the way your arms are resting?
Do you feel the way your legs are resting?
We continue to draw further within.
Where is your breaths?
Where do you feel it?
You feel your belly rising and falling?
Do you feel it in your chest?
Do you feel your breath in one nostril or the other?
Maybe there's a shallow nature to the breath.
Maybe there's a deep nature.
Our goal is not to change any of these experiences,
Just to observe them,
Notice them,
Experience them.
We don't experience by controlling.
We experience by feeling.
You feel any particular sensations attached to your breath?
You feel a temperature change?
Do you feel the pressure on the inside of one nostril or both nostrils?
The airflow across your upper lip.
When we observe sensations,
We get to experience.
We experience free from the judgments and labeling of the mind.
We'll continue to narrow the scope of our focus.
We'll bring our focus just to the nostrils.
Just to the tiny little area around the nose,
Around the nostrils,
Across the upper lip.
We further our focus by observing any sensations in this area,
In this area alone.
We notice any itchy sensation or tingling.
Maybe we notice sweat.
Maybe we notice no sensation.
We continue to train our mind.
To observe this space,
A space of equanimity,
Observing any sensations with no judgment,
No criticism,
Just awareness.
When we notice we've gone off track,
We return to the breath,
The bare breath,
Always the breath.
