Hello everyone,

I have gotten behind in my recording schedule and I am working on getting back in the groove.  So here is a guided meditation that I wrote for our Summer Retreat in the Uinta Mountains. This meditation was inspired by a book written by Hideo Yonezawa where he talks about when we breathe we have no control over it - we just breathe and with each breath, we touch the inconceivable. 

So the idea behind this meditation is to help cultivate our awareness of our interconnectedness to all things and through that awareness realize how much we are supported every day by the world around us. And this awareness opens us up to a profound and transformative gratitude. 

Transcript

In this practice, we’ll be cultivating awareness of our interdependence –

“During quietness, you breathe together with the whole world. We breathe as one.” – Gyomay Kubose Sensei

GUIDED MEDITATION

Breathing in, Breathing out

Feel the air filling your lungs

as you breathe in and out feeling the air fill your lungs,

Honor them for allowing you to breathe.

Now think the of trees and plants and all the processes that make breathing possible.

Acknowledging your utter dependence on them for being here right now

Breathing in, Breathing out – be aware of your breath, aware that you are breathing in unison with all living brings –

Now say to yourself,

With each breath I become awarethat the very air I receive into my lungs has been shared

by trees, and flowers,

by bees and bears,

by wolves and whales.

Let us now sit together in this awareness

Now be aware of your breath

feel it fill your lungs

notice the wave-like motion of your breathing

Be aware of how your very life has been, gifted to you,

by the stars that make up the very elements of your body,

by the earth's ocean,

that lives in your in your blood,

gifted to you by soil,

moss and light.

Now sit gently in this awareness.

Breathing in

Breathing out

Feel the air coming into your lungs

Now say to yourself

I am so grateful for all the causes and conditions

allowing me to breathe and share breath with all living things,

in this very moment

Now while centering your attention on your breathing

opening your heart

Say thank you to the stars,

the sea, to the moss and light.

For each inhale and exhale.

Now Breathe in,

Breathe out

Feel the air coming through your nose past your lips,

feel it filling your lungs.

Bring to your awareness of how your very life has been, gifted to you,

by all your ancestors.

Acknowledging that you are breathing in the very same air, that all your ancestors both

human and non-human down through the lineage of time

– each sharing the same breath,

their first breath, and their last breath.

Now with each breath say to your self,

“I am breathing in the first and last breath of my grandparents,

Great-grandparents, even back 100 generations,

The same air that filled their lungs is now filling mine.

Their first breath and their last breath gifted to me.

I now sit in that awareness.”

Now with each breath be aware that the earth.

You are breathing in the same air of the lineage of all our teachers even back to the

Buddha himself, breathing in and out, first and the last breath of the Buddha –

With each inhale and exhale the Buddha breathes through you

Now – In this still moment as your breath in and out

feel the whole world breathing with you breathing as one.

Feel that endless connection that supports your existence.

Sit in that awareness.

Now slowly open your eyes