So taking some time as you settle in to make yourself comfortable,
To sort of really begin to feel into the body.
It might be helpful to take a few deep,
Full,
Even audible breaths with every exhale as you breathe out,
Feeling the body,
And just sort of soften and settle.
You can feel the movement of breath,
Just the breath coming and going in its own rhythm.
Feel the ease of the breath.
The breath comes in,
And the breath goes out.
You might notice sounds as they come and go in awareness.
As you notice sounds around you,
No need to sort of reach out and look for sound or follow it.
But just opening to the sensation of sound,
However it arises,
Noticing just like the breath,
It comes and goes.
You might become aware of any thoughts that might be present.
As you open to the mind,
To the energy of the mind,
To thought,
See if you can do it in that same way.
Noticing how a thought arises,
Is there for a moment,
And then it dissolves.
Thoughts coming in and passing out of awareness,
Just like the breath,
Just like sound.
No need to follow,
Just noticing.
You can turn your awareness toward feeling tone,
Sensing any emotions.
Notice how an emotion arises toward the surface and then passes away,
Dissolves.
You might ask yourself,
What is it that these sounds and sensations and thoughts and feelings are arising and passing away within?
Not to think about it,
But just to drop that inquiry in and notice what's there.
How you experience,
Relate to this awareness,
This presence,
This consciousness,
Whatever it is you choose to call it.
See if you can connect to the vastness of that,
The spaciousness,
The openness.
Sensing yourself as that.
For the rest of the practice today,
Try to stay open.
Noticing as things come and go through awareness,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Sounds,
Sensations,
Whatever it is.
But knowing yourself to be that vastness in which these things come and go.
Knowing as well that from time to time,
Something will hook your awareness and might pull you along into story.
When you notice that's happened,
Simply pause for a moment and then open back up,
Remembering being that space in which it all moves through.
Really feeling the freedom of that.
Freedom to watch and know and experience the fullness of the senses while also remembering that fundamental spaciousness that you actually are.
And those things aren't you.
Sorry.
You can stay with this practice for a while.
You can stay with this practice for as long as you like.
When you feel ready to bring your awareness back into the body,
You can feel into those places where the body connects to the earth.
You can feel the easy free rhythm of the body breathing.
Feeling the fact of the body.
Letting your awareness as you feel ready to expand outward.
Again,
It's not that we turn away from the internal to the external,
But we open the lens a little wider.
So that as we move back into the rest of the day,
Into daily life,
We keep that quality of presence as much as we can.
Just like in our practice sometimes,
We get narrow,
We get hooked.
When you notice that happens,
Simply take a breath and open back up.
Remember yourself as that spacious awareness.
Thank you so much for your kind attention today.
