Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the Deep Relaxation Form and its origins?
Welcome back.
Chapter 2: Why is deep relaxation essential for meditation?
In our meditation session today, we're going to recover a little of what we've done so far. There's been quite a bit already, and it's important for us to get these basics, these foundational practices right, so that we can build towards deeper meditation, greater mindful awareness, and eventually good contemplation.
Chapter 3: How can posture enhance the practice of deep relaxation?
These are the basic practices that in the monastic tradition would have taken people years to accomplish. Indeed, in the deserts of Egypt, where this monastic meditative form began, it was considered very dangerous to let the person move on before they had mastered these basic forms. So, from time to time, we will come back to these basic forms again and again and again.
Think of it as the basic training that allows all of the advanced stuff to happen later. So far in our work together, we have looked at the body, the breath, the present moment, and we've begun to talk about the thoughts. But we'll have a lot to say about the thoughts as we go on.
Chapter 4: What mantra can be used to promote spacious awareness?
For now, though, in this meditation session, we're going to move back into recovering the deep relaxation form that gives us the stillness from which our meditation arises. This is particularly important today when people find it very difficult to find still, quiet, reflective spaces, either in themselves or in their lives.
Chapter 5: How does breathing affect relaxation and awareness?
And so we need to spend a little bit of time recovering this and making it so natural that we can fall into it easily. So, let's begin.
Chapter 6: What steps can I take to integrate deep relaxation into daily life?
We make our intention to enter into deep stillness, to open ourselves to divine presence and love. We make our ritual gesture to begin, perhaps a bow, a candle lit, an icon or image in front of us, blessing ourselves, placing our hands in prayer posture, or whatever simple gesture we have chosen. And then we sit, and we allow the bell to invite us into beginning.
Gently, deliberately taking our seat. Doing everything slowly with attention. Bringing the quality of awareness to even the simplest of these gestures now. Placing our feet calmly and deliberately upon the floor. feeling the contact of the floor against the soles of our feet or through our shoes.
Perhaps imagining, as we did in the first session, a little cord emerging from the crown of the head that begins to draw us up so that the spine is stretched. that the pelvis comes into balance beneath the spine, that the shoulders loosen and hang from the neck, that the solar plexus and belly are opened, not compressed, so that the breath can dwell there gently and deeply.
our hands resting on our laps, our eyes closed, or if open, our gaze lowered towards the ground. Feeling the familiarity of this position, but also treating it with reverence and awareness. It is special to be here. It is a gift to take this time. We are grateful for the body that supports us, for the breath that dwells within us, for the divine presence enfolding us.
And gently now, proceeding from that original intention, we check in with the body. How am I in my body in this moment? Slowly, gently, bringing the awareness from the soles of our feet to the crown of our head. As we do so, we may like to be thankful for the health of our body. Or if we're experiencing illness or pain or stress,
Simply coming into an awareness of it, but recognizing that it does not define us completely. Gently bringing in the practice now of breathing through the body. Breathing out all tension, all stress, all anxiety, all pain, all sickness. Breathing it out like a fog of breath on a winter's morning that dissolves into the air and is gone. Breathing in peace, light, warmth, calm, healing.
Breathing out through every pore of our skin, Breathing out from the soles of our feet to the crown of our head. From the tips of the fingers on one hand to the tips of the fingers on the other. Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out. Aware of the body from the soles of the feet to the crown of the head.
Grateful for our body and for its inherent goodness. But also gently inwardly saying, I have a body, but I am more than my body. I have a body, but I am more than my body. All the while just breathing in and breathing out. And as we breathe gently, we take a few moments just to stand back and be aware of our thoughts. The constant background bubble of thought.
Again, we can begin this awareness by simply asking, what have I given mental time to today? And answering without judgment, just simply noticing. Aware of the thoughts as they pass before the mind's eye. Not clinging to them, not grasping them, simply noticing, but always anchored in the awareness of the breath as we breathe in and breathe out.
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