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Guided Meditation: Exhale and Relax

Good morning and good day. Happy to be here. I'll begin with a little Buddhist saying that I will repeat later: if you want to be wise, cultivate tranquility. If you want to be wise, be calm. There's something about tranquility and calm that creates room, or the ideal conditions, for creativity, intelligence, understanding, and intuition—all the sources connected to wisdom.

There's a very, very strong wind outside here in Redwood City, so we'll see how it unfolds today. Now you see the whole show here, what goes on here. Let's see if I can get the camera lined up here. Oh, I see what's happening. I'm looking at the wrong thing here, so there's a 15-second delay. Let's see if we can get it in now. I think that'll do. Every Tuesday morning, I need to adjust the camera, and this morning I didn't quite get it. That was maybe interesting for you to see what the studio looks like. It used to be our meditation hall, and now we have these two umbrella lights and a picnic table for my office, and different things.

One of the emphases this morning is a piece of Buddhist wisdom: if you want to be wise, cultivate tranquility. If you want wisdom, relax. Relaxation, calm, and tranquility—which are such an important part of meditation practice—are not at the expense of our alertness or a certain kind of clarity of energy. We're looking for a balance of a certain kind of energy and alertness, and a certain kind of deep relaxation. We ride that edge back and forth, sometimes more on one side and more on the other.

One of the reasons in Anapanasati^[1], this mindfulness of breathing practice, that we focus on being aware of the whole body is that the more we're aware of the body, the more we can relax the body, and the more we can discover the tranquility of the body. One of the principles is that tranquility supports tranquility. Relaxation supports relaxation. The more you can access the capacity for relaxation in the body, the more you can settle and develop even more tranquility. We will talk more about that, but for now, please assume a meditation posture.

The emphasis in this meditation will be on relaxation, or calming the body, and tranquility. If you can, gently close your eyes and take a few moments to feel your body, whatever global experience you have of your body. Maybe make small adjustments in your posture. Maybe adjust how your hands are resting so that it allows the elbows and the shoulders to relax a bit; you're not being pulled forward by your hands.

Take a few long, slow, deep breaths. As you exhale, relax and settle into your body. Take one more deep inhale, and when you exhale, a full exhale. Hold your breath at the end of the exhale. Pause. Don't breathe in. And feel your global body, not to the point of being challenged. But for a few times now, at the end of the exhale, hold your breath. As the body is not breathing, feel the body. And maybe in feeling it, you can relax deeper.

And breathing normally a little bit again. Just breathing. As you exhale, continue this process of softening, relaxing, and releasing. And with a normal breath, you might also try pausing before you exhale. Just using that pause to once again feel your body. Have an intimacy exploring the tensions, the holdings, the softness, and the openness of your body. Don't pause too long, but just pause a little bit, so that you are more attuned and interested in your body and your bodily experience.

Then, letting your breathing return to normal without any intentional pause, bring the attention to the top of your head, the crown of your head, and feel whatever sensations are there. Maybe there are no sensations, but just hold the attention in the area of your scalp. As you exhale, relax or soften that area, even if that softening is just softening the space or the awareness around it.

Bring your attention to your forehead. Feeling your forehead as you inhale. And on the exhale, softening, relaxing the forehead. On the inhale, feeling the area around your eyes. And on the exhale, softening around the eyes. On the inhale, feeling your nose and cheeks. And on the exhale, softening, relaxing. On the inhale, feeling your jaws. And on the exhale, relaxing the jaws. Maybe letting the teeth fall slightly apart—maybe still touching, but not clenching. On the inhale, feeling your neck and your shoulders. On the exhale, relaxing, softening the shoulders.

On the inhale, feeling your shoulder blade area, the top of the spine. Exhaling, relaxing. On the inhale, feeling the arms, elbows, and hands. Exhaling, relaxing. On the inhale, feeling the chest. On the exhale, releasing the chest. On the inhale, feeling the diaphragm area, the solar plexus. Exhaling, softening, relaxing. Inhaling and feeling the belly. Exhaling, relaxing the belly. Inhaling and feeling the small of the back. Exhaling, relaxing the small of the back. Inhaling and feeling the hips, the hip joints. Exhaling, relaxing, releasing.

Inhaling and feeling the upper legs. Exhaling, softening the legs. Inhaling and feeling the knees and the lower legs. Exhaling, relaxing. Inhaling and feeling the feet. Exhaling, softening the feet.

And then inhaling and feeling the thinking mind. Maybe inside your skull behind the forehead, between the ears. And as you exhale, soften and relax the thinking mind, the energy of thinking.

And then feeling your body globally. Are there any ways in which, in a global way, you're braced against life, holding yourself back? Agitated. Feeling that as you inhale, and softening the whole body as you exhale. Releasing. As you exhale, there is no need to hold yourself together. It's okay to let go.

So, feeling now your body. Feeling whatever tranquility or calm there might be. Even if you are agitated or tense, notice what calm or tranquility there might be. And as you exhale, see if you can relax with that calm to spread it, to expand it through the body.

And now, sitting in this body of yours, within the body, as part of the body, settle in with your breathing. Feeling the breath in whatever way is easy for you to feel it. Maybe the whole breath body. Feeling the breathing. Breathing occurring in the context of the calm and quiet stillness of the body. A contentment just to be here, breathing.

Letting go of your thoughts, so you can better feel and sense your body. Relaxing the tensions of the body. Relaxing as you exhale. And feeling the calm body as you breathe in.

Reflections

And then coming to the end of this sitting, appreciating whatever calm or relaxation you have. Remembering a time that you were calm or relaxed. Perhaps you can understand or see how being relaxed and calm can allow you to be more caring and loving, more compassionate, considerate of others, more available to be present and to listen to others. Take them in.

And to sit here for a few moments to take in the people of your life. Family, friends, neighbors, people in your community, the mail carriers and trash collectors, storekeepers—see if in your calm state you can gaze upon them kindly. There can be a generosity of spirit, a generosity of heart for your fellow travelers in this life, in this shared life that we have with others.

And to end this sitting with the hope, the aspiration, that whatever goodness has come from this meditation be shared with others. That whatever goodness has come from this practice, we don't keep it for ourselves, but we enact it for the welfare and happiness of others. May it be that this practice we're doing today will benefit people near and far.

May all beings be deeply peaceful and settled and feeling safe. May all beings be happy and joyful, contented, delighted. May all beings be free, liberated from oppression, subjugation, tensions, and obligations that are burdens. May all beings be free, happy, and safe. And may we live our lives in small ways and big ways to support that to happen.