a Guided Meditation: a Posture's Order and Entropy
Introduction
Take a moment to find a comfortable seat, whether on a cushion, a chair, or the floor. Or a comfortable place to stand. A comfortable position. Allow yourself to arrive fully in this space, setting aside any distractions or judgments. This is a great time to turn off any devices. Turn your gaze inward. This is your time to be present, to observe the natural ebb and flow of life through the lens of your posture.
Let us enter this practice with a sense of ease and gentleness, cultivating awareness and appreciation for every sensation. Together, we will embrace a cycle of mindful improvement and natural surrender, finding beauty in both states.
Welcome, dear meditator...
Remember, if at any point it feels wise to suspend this Practice - allow yourself the grace to slip back into ordinarinesss.
During this meditation our posture will be tended to and it will wilt. Let's not stay so focused on the intent that we experience or endure any discomfort. Feel free at any point to slip away.
Let us begin.
First Phase: Attending to and Improving Posture (1 Minute)
Bring your attention to your breath, letting its gentle rhythm guide you. As you inhale, invite length and lightness into your spine. Picture your vertebrae stacking one atop another, like pearls on a string, each aligning in harmony. Soothed and soothing.
Roll your shoulders back softly, opening the chest and creating space for your breath. Imagine your head as a buoy, lightly floating atop your neck, its weight evenly balanced.
With each exhale, release tension - softening the jaw, the hands, the belly. Feel your posture refine itself, not through force, but through care.
Notice the subtle shifts as your body adjusts, each micro-movement deliberate yet effortless. In this minute, savor the act of improving your posture, not as a task, but as an expression of love.
Second Phase: Observing Posture's Entropy (1 Minute)
In this phase, we let go of the effort to maintain perfection. Without judgment, allow your posture to soften and curve. Feel the pull of gravity as your body gently yields. Slightly. Perhaps your shoulders relax forward, or your spine rounds slightly. These shifts are natural, a reminder of the impermanence in all things.
As you observe these changes, continue to breathe with ease. Watch your body's surrender as if witnessing the setting of the sun - beautiful, inevitable, and peaceful. There is no need to intervene, only to notice. Relish the freedom in letting go, just as you embraced the joy of improvement.
Repeating the Cycle (5 More Minutes)
Now let’s flow between these two phases - attending to your posture with loving care for one minute, then releasing into its natural entropy for the next. With each cycle, stay at ease, observing without attachment. Enjoy the dance of effort and surrender, growth and decline, negentropy and entropy.
Feel the breath guiding you, steady and calm. Let each phase be a mirror of life's rhythms, teaching you to cherish both creation and dissolution as equal parts of the whole.
Let's start with the Order and follow with the Entropy. So, the first minute we will continually and only slightly improve our posture. In the second minute we will observe the continual and slight dissolution of posture. So minute one we act, minute two we watch the action. In minute three, and at the start of each minute and to signify the changing of our role, I will ring the chimes so you know, so in minute three we will rebuild. Minute four, we return to overseeing the dissolving posture. The final and fifth minute we will return to rebuilding. Odd minutes we improve, even minutes we oversee entropy. Got it?
Our 1st minute begins now:
Improve posture.
In this minute savor the sense of alignment.
2nd
Observing dissolving posture.
In this minute, savor surrender.
3
Improve posture.
In this minute, savor the growing space afforded by improved posture.
4
Observe dissolving posture.
In this minute, savor the return to Earth that is promised each of us.
5
Improve posture.
In this last minute, savor the cycle of growth and wilting. Savor the blessing to observe without anxiety both growth and death.
Goodbye Section
As our practice comes to a close, allow your posture to settle into its natural state, whatever that may be. No judgment, only all-over comfort. Complete comfort, within the being as well as without. Take a deep inhalation, filling yourself with ease.
This has been a wonderful time of self-awareness and gentle exploration. Exhale softly, letting go of any lingering tension.
Carry the lessons of this meditation with you - an understanding that life is a balance of shaping and yielding, effort and rest, growth and decay. These rhythms, when embraced, bring us closer to harmony.
When you're ready, open your eyes and return to the world. The peace of this moment will always be as close as a considered return to posture - or a keen awareness of surrender to a slouch.
Thank you for sharing this Practice. May you go forth with ease and joy.
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