This is the second part of a three-part guided meditation: Body like a mountain, breath like the sea, mind like the sky.
Breath like the sea (from MSS: Mountain, Sea, Sky 0:28:10.10 - 0:38:04.40)(download into iTunes)
[Bell 3x]
[Silence]
So as you sit, just let your body breathe, let the motion of the body, breathing, be like the waves in the sea. They come and go, on their own, no control on your part, and if anything, it’s just like you're riding the wave. While your body sits, making no effort at all, like a mountain.
[Silence]
Body like a mountain, breath like the sea.
[Silence]
Feel the waves, rising and falling, on their own.
[Silence]
You may, sometimes feel like you are the wave, rising and falling. You may also feel, sometimes you are the mountain.
[Silence]
If you lose track of the breath, this is practice, that’s fine. There comes that moment of recognition, and then you just come back to: body like a mountain, and the wave of your breath.
[Silence]
The breath comes and goes. Let the breath be like the sea, infinitely deep, and this regular pattern of waves, rising and falling.
[Silence]
As you rest this way, you may notice tensions in your body. Don’t try to relax them. Keep attention on the whole of your body, and include the sensation of tension, in your awareness. You may find that something changes, perhaps not right away. One place that many of us hold tension is in the jaw. So what’s happening in your jaw right now. Another place of course is the shoulders. Have you ever seen a mountain hunch its shoulders?
[Silence]
Let yourself rest in the rising and falling of the waves of your breath.
[Silence]
Body like a mountain, breath like the sea.
[Silence]
Body like a mountain, breath like the sea.
Again, if you fall asleep, or you are distracted, you always come back to yourself, that’s the way we are. As soon as you do, don’t bother beating yourself up, this is just practice, and come back to: body like a mountain, breath like the sea.
[Silence]
[Bell 2x]
Note: Thanks to Tracy Ormond for the transcribing.
