Sit upright, grounded, alert, relaxed. Don’t hold the body up. Relax from the inside.
When the body settles, the mind settles. Balance & let go. Let the ground support you.
Notice the sensations & movements of breathing in & breathing out. Invite the whole body to breathe in & out.
Let all your senses open: touching, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, temperature, balance, location.
Feel the whole spine, from tailbone to skull. Let it move as you breathe. Don’t hold body or mind rigid. Rest in the sitting breathing body. Sit here, in this place.
Notice sensations, feelings, & thoughts. Watch them appear, linger a moment, & disappear on their own.
Appreciate the qualities of each sensation, feeling, thought — the ones you like, the ones you don’t like, the ones you ignore.
Don’t try to control, block, or create certain thoughts & feelings. Resting in the body, include whatever arises.
Just rest, like a great ocean accepting hundreds of streams. (Hongzhi)
Let exhaling be complete. Let whatever you’re holding drop down through your body & release into the ground.
Notice the gap between breaths.
Notice the gap between thoughts.
Don’t fight, fidget, or freeze. Rebalance as needed so you’re resting, alert, settled.
Don’t hold attention tightly. Rest attention intimately, inside the experience of sitting & breathing.
Start anew as needed, again & again. Short sessions, many of them.
Don’t waste time or energy fighting or chasing what arises. Let what arises rise; take care not to follow. (Milarepa)
Form the intention to know & appreciate your actual experience, just as it is. Then practice doing that, again & again. See what is, as it is.
Invite the whole body to sit so no part of the body has to do extra work. Don’t arch, don’t slump, don’t hold. Stack your bones on your seat so the body can rest.
Let awareness ride the breath throughout the whole body, right out into fingers & toes, breathing in & out through the pores of the skin.
Notice moving & stillness in the bodymind as you breathe & sit.
Don’t try to get rid of “distractions.” When you discover your attention has wandered into a maze of thoughts, simply and gently drop back into the breathing body. Return & rest.
Gently open awareness again & again. Whatever arises is fine. Let sensations, feelings, & thoughts as come and go all by themselves. Gently mix experiencing & breathing.
Let awareness expand to include all that is in & around you. Open like the sky. Trust.
Appreciate & enjoy the daily practice of sitting, breathing, attending to the flow of experience as it comes & goes.
See also “Resting in awareness“