Brother Richard

We allow the spine to uncurl

the shoulders to drop, the eyes to close or at least the gaze to be lowered, arms and hands resting on the lap.

We feel our contact with the ground and with the earth beneath the ground.

Entering this time of meditation now, we follow the path of breath.

really becoming as aware as possible of the ebb and flow of the breath, its rise and fall.

And feeling the movement in our body of our breath, we try and find that tiny moment where the cycle of breath begins again each time.

What are the first, smallest, tiniest movements of the body for you as you breathe?

Finding those moments, checking in with ourselves with open-hearted curiosity.

Every time we meditate, we come to know the breath a little more deeply, a little more fully.

So sitting in this time of meditation, we sit now with the fullness of awareness of the breath.

Breathing out, I breathe out all tension, stress or worry.

Breathing in, I breathe in peace, calm, light.

breathing out especially from any point of tension, from any point of old injury or pain or sickness.

As we breathe, we rest in the cycle of the breath, really feeling the movement from in-breath to out-breath, from out-breath to in-breath.

And as we breathe, sitting stable in the present moment, we can bring to mind any of the tasks that we have yet to accomplish today.

We do so from a place of absolute stability and peace.

Just simply noticing the ordinary activities of the day that still await us.

This might be as simple and as basic as washing our hands, using the bathroom, eating and drinking, doing whatever our work might be, or simply relaxing.

All of the ordinary elements of the day that still await us.

and then gently still connected to the breath in absolute stability and peace, we can ask ourselves, what would it be like to bring meditative awareness to all of these activities?