We arrive in presence through the gateway of the body, scanning through with awareness, and then resting with the breath and body sensations. As we include whatever arises with a gentle and kind attention, our inner refuge becomes increasingly stable and openhearted. This meditation ends with a brief lovingkindness prayer.

We awaken a present heart by relaxing with the breath, and bringing the kindness of a smile into our bodily experience. This meditation ends with offering blessings to our inner life and all beings.

This meditation guides us in relaxing through the body, then opening to the changing river of experience. By continually relaxing back and letting go into what is unfolding, we discover the natural vastness, wakefulness and vitality of our essential Being. The poet Danna Faulds writes: In the shared quiet, an invitation arises like a white dove lifting from a limb and taking flight. Come and live in truth. Take your place in the flow of grace. Draw aside the veil you thought would always separate your heart from love. All you ever longed for is before you in this moment, if you dare draw in a breath and whisper “yes.”

In this meditation instruction Shaila Catherine shares a Discourse of the Buddha (AN 3:101) in which he employs the simile of a goldsmith to teach skillful ways to deepen concentration. From time to time meditators adjust the quality of attention to periodically increase calmness, intensify energetic effort, or observe with a relaxed and non-interfering quality of mindfulness. This meditation instruction offers practical meditation skills for strengthening concentration.

Introduction of vedana or feeling-tone