Welcome to this meditation with me,

Henry Shookman. In this little set of

meditations so far, we've looked at

doing a body scan. We've explored the

practice of doing less or even not doing

anything at all as a fantastic way to

reset the nervous system. We've also

explored how to be with stress in a way

that we're not kind of opposing it and

fighting it, but we're including it. and

how helpful that can actually be in

bringing us to a more patient and

compassionate

uh approach to our own stresses. In this

meditation, we're going to be exploring

an old Zen teaching which runs like

this. Take the backwards step that

shines the light inward. So, what on

earth do what on earth does this really

mean? It means finding a way to rest

back into the sort of heart of our

experience into the very condition of

our own awareness as it were into the

fabric of awareness that underlies all

our experience. that that that's a bit

of a mouthful, but I'm going to be

guiding us through the use of this

little uh directive from Zen and I think

showing how useful and helpful it can be

in the midst of any ordinary life. Just

taking a moment to disengage to come

back into an intrinsic well-being, a

kind of unconditional well-being that

the great traditions of meditation such

as Zen know is available to us. Okay,

let's get into a comfortable seated

position.

Close your eyes or lower your gaze. Have

your hands where feels good for you.

Could be in the lap, could be on the

thighs.

Let your arms go completely slack.

Let them just kind of dangle like old

ropes

and

actually let the whole body

become floppy.

It doesn't matter if you're sitting

upright with with no support other than

the seat. As long as you're somewhat

balanced, you can still go floppy.

And of course, if you're reclining or

your back is supported, it might be

easier.

Just let everything

become like a rag doll.

Head, throat,

shoulders, arms, hands floppy. Chest,

belly, seat,

legs

floppy.

So the whole body is kind of doing

nothing

really releasing

any need to activate any part of the

body.

Rest

coming into bodywide

rest.

Now it's a a a hidden secret of rest

actually that in rest

a different quality of awareness

can emerge

by itself.

It's a akin to the deeply creative

possibilities of rest.

That within

rest and restfulness,

another flavor of awareness

can emerge by itself where we're simply

aware

of being here.

aware of our surroundings.

And we might find that there's a quality

of quiet and stillness

in the space around us

that we might not have noticed.

So Zen says, "Take the backwards step.

Just give yourself a little

window of time right now when you can

disengage."

So so much of our life we're kind of

forwardfacing, engaging with the world

before us.

That's just fine. But we can have a

break from that that can be profoundly

restorative.

We just take a little micro step

backward,

disengage

from the world, from activities, from

your life just for a moment.

Recede

just a little bit.

from the world before you

come back into yourself.

And this backwards step

can, as it were, illuminate

a quality of awareness,

a peaceful nature

in ourselves

that's always

here.

A wider

sense of peace,

of calm,

ease

that almost seems to spread through our

life

when we give ourselves a chance

to notice it.

Simply by disengaging, taking

this half step backwards,

this a little bit of a a falling back,

receding

back into ourselves

into

some part of us,

some part of our nature

that's always been here.

as if it's really always been present

throughout our lives,

somehow almost holding

our life experience.

A broader

awareness,

a a wider lens

wider

aperture,

wider field of vision.

It's not some special accomplishment to

find this. It's simply always been with

us.

a restful

awareness.

Just allow yourself to rest with it, to

be in it

just a moment more.

Highly restorative,

very refreshing

this awareness

can be for us.

Both a state of rest and a condition of

awareness

at once.

Almost like there's a a different

perspective on life here, a different

vantage, a broader view.

somehow a little less bound by time.

A little taste of a certain flavor of

timelessness

might show up

as if we've just stepped back from the

stream of time

just for a moment from the stream of

clock time.

Being with ourselves more intimately.

Yeah. Thank you. So let's gently come

out of the meditation. and let yourself

move a little bit. Perhaps swaying the

upper body, wiggling fingers and toes,

opening the eyes, raising

the gaze. Have a deeper inhale

and exhale. And look around you. And

let's yeah close this meditation now.

I hope you find this or any of the other

meditations a really helpful

intervention to deploy at any time in

the course of your daily life at the

beginning of the day at the end of the

day or any point in the course of the

day. Thank you very very much indeed for

joining me and I wish you a very fine

rest of your day. Thank you.