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Guided Meditation: Upwelling Pleasure

In doing breath meditation over these weeks, from one perspective, we're going through it slowly; from another perspective, we're going through it quickly. I'm sure there are people who feel it one way or the other. From the slow perspective, we're slowly putting together, piece by piece, the alphabet for breath meditation—all the basic elements. Once you learn the alphabet, it gives you access to a tremendous wealth of knowledge, potential for communication, reading, writing, and understanding. All kinds of things come alive with reading and writing. In the same way, we're learning the basic elements—the alphabet, in the sense of all the little things to notice and be aware of as we're breathing. Slowly over time, these begin to be put together, and after a while, you can read the book pretty quickly and easily. After a while, we get a sense of all the little elements, how they come together to create the grammar of meditation, and create the sentences of spirituality and freedom. We're going to continue with our education in the elements of breathing in meditation.

Assume a meditation posture and take a few moments to settle into it. Maybe sway a little bit front and back, forward and sideways. Maybe twist a little bit, or make small adjustments so that your weight and the way your body is organized can be settling for you, allowing certain things to settle. Taking your meditation posture is a little bit of a homecoming, coming to a place where you have some modicum of contentment. Take the time to feel that. Try not to be in a hurry in meditation and overlook the basics of establishing your posture. In doing so, establish a mindfulness of the body; establish a degree of embodiment in this posture.

Then, close your eyes and take a few moments to feel this body. Sense what's happening and all the different kinds of sensations that come alive in the body. Don't focus on any particular one; just let your attention roam around, taking it all in. If, in doing so, there are still some small adjustments to make in the posture, it can be a good thing to do.

Then, ever so gently, ever so lightly, bring your awareness close to your breathing. Don't go headlong into it; just be on the edges of it, and begin feeling the experience of the body breathing. Maybe come to the breathing through your back, and from there move towards the front, lightly and slowly. Take a few moments to familiarize yourself with how the body is breathing. Let your attention quietly roam around the various places in the body where the movements, pressures, and release of pressures appear that are associated with breathing.

Perhaps as you exhale, there are some places in your body that can relax more. Release as you exhale. Perhaps as you exhale, there can be a softening in the breathing body. Feel more fully the experience of inhaling. Ever so gently, as you inhale, inhale more fully, taking a longer inhale. As you inhale, the chest expands more fully; maybe there's a lifting of the shoulders. Do this in a relaxed way, not breathing in so fully or deeply that you get winded.

As you inhale, see if you can notice any upwelling feelings—the way in which energy in your body has a lightening feel. Notice that feeling of lightness, or a feeling of movement that lifts upward through your torso and towards the head, a little movement that is energizing. Perhaps as you breathe in a little deeper than usual, there's a movement towards greater clarity, especially if you let the thinking mind get quiet as you feel it more fully. Notice an energetics that moves in the direction of waking you up, awakening a clarity and a lightness.

If you breathe just slightly deeper, is there anything that feels pleasant in doing so? In the upwelling, is there an upwelling that brings pleasure, pleasantness, or maybe even delight? Some people might feel things get brighter, or there's a little bit more light in the mind. Let your breathing return to normal. Still, on the inhale, are there any upwelling feelings that occur in your body? Notice any ever so slight movement which lifts and straightens the spine.

As you exhale, ride the exhale with a very simple, quiet ah to feel the releasing and the relaxing. Then, on the inhale, receive and allow the upwelling of energy, brightness, and lightness. Receive it with the receiving of the in-breath. Experience a releasing as you exhale that softens the edges of your body and releases tension in your body. Do you release into a tingling vibration, warmth, or softness in the body? Then, receive and allow the upwelling of the in-breath. The exhale tends to be more for relaxation; the inhale is more for energizing or brightening.

As you're breathing, are there any feelings of pleasure, pleasantness, or joy that come along with the body breathing in and the body exhaling? Allow that pleasure to flow through your body as you inhale. Maybe it flows in an upward direction, or outwards. Maybe it flows downwards as you exhale. Receive it and let it spread through the inhale, and ride on it in the exhale. Let it flow. It could be a very subtle tingling, warmth, or a feeling of goodness and pleasure.

As you breathe with a quiet mind, let your thinking become very quiet and sensitive, so you're sensitive to feeling the pleasure that might be here with your in-breaths and out-breaths, breathing in and breathing out. There may also be unpleasant sensations as you're sitting here. Don't ignore that they're there, but don't give them any real attention. Let your attention go with the pleasant sensations of breathing and the pleasant sensations of just sitting here in your body, as if they are big enough to hold what's unpleasant, as if they are tenderly caring for what's difficult.

If the mind wanders off in thought, let yourself have a homecoming into what's pleasant, enjoyable, and contentful in your body as you breathe.

As we come to the end of the sitting, perhaps maintain this light touch with the breathing. As the breathing moves through your body, let it have a light touch on whatever is tender or difficult in your body. Very tenderly touch it with your breathing. Touch it with your light awareness. Offer just a light touch of recognition and accompaniment, so that whatever pleasantness, joy, and contentment there is, shares itself tenderly with what is difficult or not so pleasant.

In our capacity to sit here quietly, contentedly, openly, and maybe softly—there are many different ways you might feel at the end of a meditation—can you now lightly and tenderly open to the suffering of the world? Just touch the edges of it. There is no need to go into the middle of the challenges of people you know and don't know around the world. Allow a gentle, soft touch on the edges of their suffering to arise out of your soft, light awareness and soft, light breathing, so their suffering doesn't disturb you, and you don't disturb them. But you're there to accompany, to recognize, and to clearly see that the world suffers.

Then, perhaps from whatever tenderness you have towards the suffering world—a tenderness that is seeded in a place of meditative contentment, ease, or subtleness—allow your compassion, care, and goodwill to take the form of wishing well for others. Wish them happiness and freedom from suffering. Wish them health and well-being.

May all beings be happy.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be free.
And may all beings live together in goodwill.