Building a Meditation Practice from the Ground Up Setting up the conditions for practicing mindfulness

Bill & Susan Morgan

Creating a Holding Environment Settling & Aligning the Body Preliminary Practice--Releasing tension Taking your seat—finding stability, balance & alignment Softening the Breath Releasing tension Finding an easy “sweet” breath Arousing Affect & Clarifying Attention Cultivating warmth & a sense of care Placing attention Noticing & Feeling tensions in body, breath, heart, mind AND caring for them Reset—BEGIN AGAIN as often as needed. Alert, relaxed, caring attention

Preliminary Practice: Releasing Gross Tension Tension Releasing Practices Common places of tension: face & jaw, shoulders, hands, abdomen, buttocks, feet Shake- it-Loose Free-form, moving all the joints, shaking out the limbs and torso, head and face Release tension, stimulates wakefulness, adds playfulness Tensing/ Relaxing of Selected Muscle Groups Release tension, feel tension/ feel relaxation Your own movement practice—Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Gong “Let go, let go, let go”

Preliminary Practice- Shake it Loose Even if you have a formal movement practice, EXPLORE this is free-form practice & USE this method throughout the day to freshen up. This practice lets the body have its way with you. Shake out the tightnesses so the body can move more freely. Open up in a playful, unscripted way. Let it move as it wants, as it is able. Let the breath have its way with you. What gross tension can let go by shaking loose the stiffness? Each time will be different. The Basics: Stand up, move the body, move every joint in the body, shake out the legs and feet, shake out the arms, twist around on the spine, roll up and down the spine, roll the hips around, shrug the shoulders, bobble the head atop the spine, open and close the jaw and mouth, move the tongue and roll the eyes around. Allow the breath to be as free as possible.  HAVE FUN! ENJOY! LET GO! BREATHE!

Taking your Seat Meet yourself where you are… Set up the conditions for practice each time as if for the first time! How is the body today, right now? What props will optimize stability, balance, comfort and ease? Let FELT EXPERIENCE be your guide. Body & Mind are on a journey toward alignment. Encourage this process. Notice misalignments and support them. …and AIM in the direction of alignment.

“Ground, Breathe, Upright and at ease” Taking your Seat Stable Base—Horizontal Axis Feel the lower body settle down onto the ground. Feel for balance between the sits bones. Feel the weight settle into the contact points: the buttocks & knees or feet. Distribute the weight evenly between these points. Upright Spine—Vertical Axis Feel the lengthening of the upper body of the spine from base through the neck to crown of the head. Allow upper body open and broaden; soften & widen “Ground, Breathe, Upright and at ease”

As if a tree, stable, settled, rooted in the ground. Posture Pointers Lower Body (Base)- settled, stable, balanced HIPS higher than knees Feel for ease in the posture of the vertical axis KNEES resting (completely) against floor or place a roll underneath Weight sinks and settles on the GROUND HIP, KNEES, & FEET aligned FEET flat on the floor, hip-width apart Feel for balance As if a tree, stable, settled, rooted in the ground.

Posture Pointers Upper Body ~ Lengthen, Soften & Widen ~ SPINE maintains natural curve, lengthen from base through the back of the neck and up to the crown of the head HEAD is balanced evenly atop the spine CHIN parallel with shoulders FACE gently pulled in toward the neck (helps to balance the weight of the head) LOWER ABDOMEN (between navel & top of pubic bone) has a bit of tone to support the lower back SHOULDERS settle (down in the direction of their sockets) and rest ARMS & HANDS rest at a height that supports the shoulders from pulling out of alignment. Place a blanket roll under the forearms. This supports the upper body, gives it GROUND, a place to settle around, in, and on. PALMS facing up maintains shoulder alignment and orientation As if a tree trunk were growing tall, flexible and wide from its roots.

Attend to comfort, ease and flexibility or mobility. Posture Pointers Alternate seating posture Sitting exactly the same way every time freezes the body in place. Alternate the posture so the body can gradually make its own journey toward alignment. It is a living organism. In stillness the body slowly tightens, compresses down on itself. Change the cross of legs Adjust the height of the hips Straddle the cushion Alternate between cushion, bench, & chair Attend to comfort, ease and flexibility or mobility.

Feel for a natural uncontrived breath Softening the Breath An atmosphere of ease Tension Releasing Practices for Breathing Sighing Holding/ Releasing Breath 3 Deep inhalations, 3 Deep exhalations with an audible ahhhh on the exhalation, then Let b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g find its own rhythm Feel for a natural uncontrived breath “an easy breath”

Arousing Affect & Clarifying Attention Getting the heart involved Place ATTENTION on the settling process. ATTUNE the heart to FEEL the discomforts of tension and the comfort of ease. NOTICE & FEEL tensions as they arise and CARINGLY ATTEND to them. Adjust the posture accordingly. …as if you were attending to a loved one’s comfort or well being. …as if the breath itself were the arms of a benevolent other. Warm, Care and Interest

How is it now? Adjust accordingly, and …begin again. Beginning Again Create a welcoming space to practice in. Feel for Holding and Being held. Ground, Breathe Upright and at Ease are the coordinates for FEELing into a place of being held and of holding. Each time the mind wanders, RESET, begin again, as if for the first time. Where has the body, breath heart or mind gotten tight or lax? Has caring hardened into simply paying attention? How is it now? Adjust accordingly, and …begin again.

Enjoy your practice!