Seated Meditation

Welcome back. This is our final practice, 20 minutes of close placement as well as mixing mind and space on the medium of the breath. Let's begin. Close the eyes. Coming back into the body, bringing your attention into the center of your body, your heart, your lower belly, your seat. Softening any tension in the jaw, in the face, dropping the shoulders, feeling the weight of the arms and the hands resting on the tops of the thighs. Feel your seat, the weight of your legs pressing into the earth, the stability of your sit bones making contact with the cushion. We're going to do 21 grounding breaths, 21 inhale, arching the back, 20 exhale, come back to neutral, inhale arch 19, exhale neutral 18, inhale 17, exhale 16, inhale arch 15, exhale 14, inhale arch 13, exhale 12, inhale arch 11, exhale 10, inhale 9, exhale 8, inhale arch 7, exhale 6, inhale 5, exhale 4, inhale 3, exhale 2, inhale 1, and exhale come back to neutral. Really open the eyes, soft gaze, letting go of any thoughts of the past, letting go of any ideas of the future and releasing any concepts of the present, simply resting our awareness in space.

Close the eyes again and find the sensation of the breath either at the nostrils or the low belly. Taking attention to the inhale, the pause, the exhale, and the pause. Relax in space. If your mind starts to drift, when you notice, simply come back to your breath and your body gently open the eyes, gaze soft a few feet in front of you mouth slightly open releasing the concentration on the breath finding the exhale, merging your mind with the sensation of the exhale as you release into space body like a mountain, breath like the wind, winds like space, like an empty sky, on a cloudless day if your mind starts to drift simply notice and come back to your mind to your body to the breath raise the gaze a little bit higher taking in more of the room opening your peripheral vision hearing any sounds noticing any movement in the room raise your gaze a little bit higher mixing your mind and space and the medium of the breath raise your gaze a little bit higher and move your eyes straight ahead noticing any thoughts any sensations any arising is all part of the environment and close the eyes come back to the body bring your attention into the heart space softening the belly bring your awareness into your breath at the belly gently open the eyes again gently open the eyes gently open the eyes bring your attention to the sensation of the exhale as you mix your mind into space soften the gaze soften the jaw soften the heart feel the tongue on the upper palate raise the gaze a little higher now let all technique fall away simply rest in space releasing any tension in the senses in the body releasing the mind lift the gaze thank you for practicing with me