Good morning. There's a famous saying by a Zen teacher of great note, and the saying is quite simple: "Every day is a good day." It's one of those delicious things that conventional experience contradicts, and in a deeper way, we can experience it as an opportunity to discover the fruits of practice.

Conventionally, some days are good, some days are not so good. Some days make us happy, feel success, and some days don't. But every day presents an opportunity. An opportunity to be present, to wake up and see that within the life we're living, the process of liberation is possible. That the ways the mind and heart can get hooked by thoughts and feelings is not the only way life can happen.

So each time we sit, we encourage ourselves: please take up this practice. It will nourish you in a way that's maybe deeper than we can even hope for. Take up this practice of awareness and see what's going on in the workings of your being, and how to cause yourself less suffering. And in quite a deliberate way, we let that perspective register in our being. Yes, it's a cognitive notion, but it can be a powerful one. It can be instructive.

And then, as we start to engage the sitting, a deliberate and simple giving over to awareness, in as matter-of-fact a manner as we can: What's the state of being right now? What is the state of being of mind and heart and body? And how can it be nourished in a way that enlivens it, that helps it to discover its natural sense of aliveness? And that's the attitude with which we notice the body. How can we enable and nurture its natural aliveness?

Can you bring that inquiry to attending to how you create the posture of meditation? What is your routine for doing just that? Setting a posture that enlivens.

I'll offer some suggestions. Physically noticing: is the body upright? Is it leaning forward or back? Is there a holding, a clenching anywhere? Sometimes it's helpful to think of opening the front of the body the whole way from the groin to the throat, like you're opening up the lungs, the heart, the diaphragm. Softening the abdomen, and then at the back, lengthening the spine. The lower spine gently shifting down, lengthening down into where the spine reaches your point of sitting, making contact with your seat. And then the upper body, like lifting out of the hips and lengthening up the whole way up through the back of the chest, the back of the rib cage, the whole way up through the neck to the crown of the head.

Not a forceful engagement. Inviting something, setting the stage, creating an environment that will allow something to flourish. And that something is awareness, this state of aliveness that has been in the body since it was born.

And then noticing the state of mind, and more subtly noticing right now the inclination of mind. Is it inclining towards drowsiness? Is it inclining towards overactivity, getting caught in thoughts or feelings? It's a very delicate process noticing that mind, so powerful, so influential. Can it be met with a commitment to this simple, deliberate process of being aware? Experiencing, in contrast to an emphasis on creating some preferred outcome.

And reminding ourselves that both shamatha^[1] and vipassanā^[2] are present in this process. Simple as it is, steadying attention, a directed attention, and then greeting whatever arises. And then, as we've been talking about these past couple of weeks, engaging the breath to support that process, that delicate but powerful process of allowing, noticing, and experiencing. And engaging the breath in a way that discovers how it can reflect the subtleties of mind and heart, of thoughts and feelings.

As we engage the breath, start quite deliberately with an extended exhale. Can that exhale empty out from the bottom of the lungs? Sometimes it feels like we're emptying out from the abdomen. And then pause, and then allow. Allow the breath, allow everything and anything that's happening in this moment. This is the very aliveness of being, and it's also the air that keeps the body alive and the mind alive.

And so, making the breath deliberate in that way, extend the exhale and explore how much you can extend the exhale without the inhale being hurried and gasping. It's like we're doing a yoga stretch with the breath, stretching on the exhale, opening up space in the heart, the diaphragm, the lungs to receive the inhale. Rediscovering a new directed attention with the exhale and receptive attention receiving with the inhale.

It teaches the interplay of shamatha and vipassanā. And then tuning into the breath in that way, letting it instruct you. Is it helpful to maintain that deliberateness for a while, or would it be most helpful to resume the natural rhythm of breath in the body? Can you let your body decide? Can you let the way you're tuning into the process of aliveness and awareness decide how to engage the breath?

Okay, then noticing becomes more subtle. Not just a mental activity, but a body and breath and mind activity.

And noticing and acknowledging: how is mind now? Are the thoughts flooding in? Are they becoming spacious and quieter? However it is, so be it^[3]. Attending and experiencing as fully as possible however it is, and letting the effort of engagement be guided by what enlivens attention, what supports awakeness.

Attending to the breath, have a fullness of attention, relinquishing any tendency to keep the narrative going. Very deliberately pausing and bringing full attention to the breath.

Full attention to the exhale. Nothing in this great flow of existence needs to be held onto. And with the inhale, nothing in this boundless sea of existence needs to be resisted.

Full attention to the exhale, releasing, letting go of suffering, letting go of distress, sadness, fears, and anxieties. Like a great act of compassion, a deep caring and nurturing of being. And with the inhale, allowing, receiving the nourishing, enlivening experience of now.

(Bell rings)

And as I ring the bell, receiving the sound of the bell. I'll ring it three times, and then letting the sound of the bell open to all sides, the same way our awareness opens to everything. It teaches us in an inconceivable way how this individual consciousness is part of whole being.