Awakening awareness in the body is the portal to resting in boundless and dynamic presence. This guided practice scans the body from feet up, and helps us inhabit all parts of our body. As we open to the aliveness and space inside the body, we discover a permeability that allows us to inhabit the universe of aliveness and space, form and formlessness. With this homecoming to whole beingness is an intrinsic experience of freedom.

An exploration of the balance between effort and enjoyment, bringing awareness to some common biases in the practice and some ways to increase enjoyment (A talk given on-line to the Bellingham Insight Meditation Society, Washington)

This meditation focuses on the breath as an anchor for homecoming. We begin with an intentional breath (coherence breathing) and then establish the natural breath as a home base. The instructions are to rest in the breath, offering a relaxed, intimate intention. Other waves of sensation or emotion are included when they ask for attention as we cultivate an open and full mindful presence. Our freedom arises as we recognize the formless awareness that is our home, and the natural and ever-changing waves that live through us. Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life. by Wu Men Hui-k’ai English version by Stephen Mitchell

(10 m silence) Intentions move from the heart out into the world. Greed moves from the heart and reaches out; hatred moves from the heart and fights with things. We can us the brahmavihāras to cultivate wholesome movements from the heart that offer, nourish, protect and uplift. This will keep our energy clean and clear of disturbance.

We arrive in presence by deepening attention in the body; relaxing and awakening through a body scan. That presence deepens as we bring our attention to the space of awareness that includes the changing flow of sounds, sensations and feelings. In that wholeness of formlessness and form, we discover our natural being - open, awake and tender.