WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:04.799 You can arrive however you are. There is no clean 2 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:08.119 way you were supposed to get here. You do not 3 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.640 have to set anything down before you sit. You do 4 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:14.880 not have to fix your posture or arrange your face, 5 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:18.960 or arrange your day. You can come in with the 6 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:23.120 residue of it all still on you. The undone list, 7 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.559 the half said sentences, the small embarrassments from three hours 8 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:31.719 ago that have no right to still be alive, and 9 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:35.759 are alive. Anyway. You can bring those in. You can 10 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:38.799 leave your shoes on, you can leave your socks on. 11 00:00:39.719 --> 00:00:42.479 You can let your hands stay exactly where they have been. 12 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:46.280 This is the door, and you have walked through it. 13 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:49.880 That is the whole of what I am asking. So 14 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:54.280 here we are, you and me and this room, and 15 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:57.039 whatever time of day it is for you. I do 16 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.640 not know what time it is for you. I do 17 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:02.079 not know if it is early and the light is 18 00:01:02.119 --> 00:01:05.200 the kind of light you cannot trust yet, or if 19 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:08.000 it is late and you have been waiting all day 20 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:11.120 to press play, or if it is somewhere in the middle, 21 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.920 that liminal hour when the day has stopped pretending to 22 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:17.760 be useful. I do not know, and I do not 23 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:21.760 need to know. The time is not the point. The 24 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.719 point is that you have stopped for a little while 25 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:28.560 and you are here. Take a breath. Not the kind 26 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:31.239 of breath you take when someone is watching and you 27 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:34.719 want to seem like you are doing the exercise. The 28 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:37.239 kind of breath your body takes when you forget to 29 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:41.480 supervise it. The kind of breath that happens whether or 30 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:45.439 not you are paying attention. There it is. You might 31 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:51.120 have caught it, you might have missed it. Either way, 32 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:55.599 it was there. Here is what I want to say 33 00:01:55.640 --> 00:02:00.439 to you before we go anywhere. I want to say 34 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.400 something about the title of this The body that has 35 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:07.879 been waiting for you. I did not pick those words 36 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:11.680 by accident, and I did not pick them because they 37 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:15.800 sound gentle. I pick them because they are the truest 38 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:18.919 thing I know how to say. You have been somewhere 39 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:24.159 today or yesterday, or for a long time. You have 40 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:27.400 been somewhere that is not here. You have been in 41 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:31.680 the place where everything is happening before it happens, or 42 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:34.960 after it has happened, or in the place where it 43 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.719 is happening to someone else and you are trying to 44 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:40.520 solve it from across the room. You have been in 45 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:43.960 the place where you are watching yourself from a little distance, 46 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.759 where your own life is happening to you like weather. 47 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:52.439 You have been in your head. That is the phrase, 48 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.879 and it is the right phrase, and I am going 49 00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:59.039 to say it without apology. You have been in your 50 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:02.520 head and your body has been waiting. I want to 51 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.319 slow down here because I believe this is the part 52 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:09.360 that matters, not the breathing exercises, not the body scan 53 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:12.639 that is going to come later. This part, the part 54 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:14.840 where I name the thing that has been true for 55 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:17.719 you for a while, maybe for longer than you have 56 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:21.199 been willing to admit. The part where I say out 57 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:24.240 loud that you have been living somewhere that is not 58 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:27.680 the place where you actually live. Your body is where 59 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:30.800 you live. I know that sounds like a sentence from 60 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:34.080 a book you would not normally pick up. I know 61 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.439 that sounds like the kind of thing you would nod 62 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:39.120 at and then forget by the time you got to 63 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:43.199 your car. But stay with me for a second. Your 64 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:47.240 body is where you live. Your body is the only 65 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:51.680 place you have ever actually lived. Every single thing that 66 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:55.680 has ever happened to you in your whole life happened 67 00:03:55.719 --> 00:04:00.439 to this body. Every meal every cold, every time someone 68 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:02.919 said your name in a way that made you feel 69 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:06.319 like you were three years old again, every time you 70 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.879 laughed so hard you could not breathe, every time you 71 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:12.759 could not breathe for the other reasons. All of that 72 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:16.240 happened in this body, in this body that is sitting 73 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:20.240 here right now, in whatever chair, in whatever room, with 74 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.600 whatever it is still carrying from the day. And while 75 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.199 all of that was happening, while the whole of your 76 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:29.800 life was being received by this body, you were somewhere else, 77 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:33.560 up here in the place where the sentences are, in 78 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:36.360 the place where you were rehearsing what you should have said, 79 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:39.160 or planning what you are going to say next, or 80 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.839 replaying the thing from two weeks ago that you are 81 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:45.560 still paying interest on. You were there, and your body 82 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:50.279 was here, patient, not complaining, not sending you an invoice, 83 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:54.279 just here doing the work of being alive without you. 84 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:56.800 That is the part that I want you to hear. 85 00:04:57.120 --> 00:04:59.879 Your body has not left. Your body did not go 86 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:02.639 on on strike. Your body did not get tired of 87 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:06.839 waiting and start packing. Your body has been here the 88 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:14.040 whole time, in the chair, in the bed, on the floor, 89 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:19.000 in the car, in the meeting in the shower, in 90 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:26.199 the grocery store line, right here, doing its work, carrying 91 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:31.000 you even when you were not carrying it. I consider 92 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:35.240 this often. I imagine how strange it is that we 93 00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:38.720 treat the body like a vehicle, like it is the 94 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:41.240 thing that gets us to the places where the real 95 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:45.959 life is happening. We treat it like an afterthought. We 96 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:49.439 treat it like the wrapper around the gift, and the 97 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:54.160 gift we believe is up here. The gift is the 98 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:59.519 inner life, the story, the narrative, the person we are becoming. 99 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:04.000 The body is just the way we haul that person around. 100 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.279 But here is the part no one tells you. The 101 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:12.839 body is not the wrapper. The body is the gift. 102 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:16.480 The body is the gift you have been carrying around 103 00:06:16.519 --> 00:06:21.439 this whole time, unopened because you were so busy wondering 104 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:24.959 what was inside it. I want to say that again 105 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.519 because I suspect you might have skimmed it. The body 106 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:32.600 is the gift. Not a problem to be solved, not 107 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.199 a project to be optimized, not a thing that needs 108 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.879 to be fixed before you can get to the real work. 109 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:42.920 The body is the gift. It is the only thing 110 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:45.680 you were ever given that you did not have to earn, 111 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:49.439 and it is the only thing that is stayed. So 112 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:55.839 here we are, you and me and this room and 113 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:59.920 your body, your body which has been here this whole time, 114 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:03.839 and which has been waiting in its quiet weight. You 115 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:07.560 do not have to do anything dramatic. You do not 116 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.920 have to do anything at all, really, But if you can, 117 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:15.519 I would like you to let your feet find the ground, 118 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:21.279 not press into the ground, not grip the ground. Just 119 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:25.480 let them land. Let them remember that there is a floor. 120 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.279 Let them say hello to the floor in their own 121 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:34.199 quiet way. If you are standing, let your weight drop 122 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:38.199 into your feet. Let your heels do some of the work. 123 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:41.560 Let your toes do less of the work than they 124 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:45.959 have been doing all day. If you are sitting, let 125 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:49.920 your thighs feel the chair. Let your sitting bones know 126 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:53.720 they are allowed to be heavy. Let the chair hold 127 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:56.600 some of what you have been holding. There is a 128 00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:00.560 floor under you, There is a chair under you. There 129 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:04.240 is a bed under you, or a couch, or a 130 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:08.560 patch of carpet or a patch of grass. There is 131 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:12.560 something solid, and it has been holding you this whole time, 132 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:15.160 and it is going to keep holding you for the 133 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:18.279 rest of this You do not have to hold yourself up. 134 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.360 Not for the next few minutes. You can let the 135 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:28.040 holding be done by something else. Now, your hands. Let 136 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:31.120 your hands be where they are. If they are in 137 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:34.600 your lap, let them be in your lap. If they 138 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:37.840 are at your sides, let them be at your sides. 139 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:41.919 If they are holding something, you can set it down 140 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.679 if you want, but you do not have to. There 141 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:49.320 is no rule. The hands have been busy to day, 142 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:53.320 and they have earned their rest, and they are allowed 143 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:57.000 to just be hands for a while. Hands that are 144 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:02.399 not opening doors or holding phones, or typing, or gripping 145 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:07.080 the steering wheel, or carrying groceries or anything at all. 146 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:14.799 Just hands resting, doing the work of resting your shoulders. 147 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:19.039 I want to say something about your shoulders. Your shoulders 148 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:21.879 have been doing a job today that they were not 149 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:25.919 hired for. Your shoulders have been lifting the day for you. 150 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:30.759 They have been up near your ears holding the weight 151 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:33.879 of whatever you have been carrying, and they have been 152 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:37.080 doing it without being asked, and they have been doing 153 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.360 it without being thanked. So thank them in your own 154 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:46.159 quiet way. Let them drop, Let them fall back and 155 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:50.360 down and away from your ears. Let them remember that 156 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:55.000 they are shoulders, not coat hooks. They do not have 157 00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:58.399 to hang things for you. There is a softening that 158 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:04.519 happens here. You let it. A small softening, not a collapse, 159 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:09.360 not a giving up, just a softening, like a fist 160 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.480 that has been closed for a long time and is 161 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:17.559 now allowed to open finger by finger, Like a jaw 162 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.879 that has been clenched since the meeting and is now 163 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:25.000 allowed to be a jaw again, with space between the teeth, 164 00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:28.799 with the tongue westing somewhere in the middle of the mouth, 165 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:34.120 with the lips soft, with the whole apparatus of your face, 166 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:38.960 remembering that it does not have to hold anything. Your face, 167 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:44.919 your poor, overworked face. It has been making expressions all 168 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.600 day for other people. It has been showing up looking interested, 169 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:54.799 looking concerned, looking like it was following along. It has 170 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:00.120 been performing the social contract. And now it can stop. 171 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:05.399 It can stop performing. It can let the muscles that 172 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.000 have been holding the expression go. It can let your 173 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:12.440 brow be a brew again. It can let your eyes 174 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:16.279 be eyes, not eyes that are watching for the next thing, 175 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.440 just eyes in a face, in a head on a 176 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:23.279 body that is sitting in a room. And the breath. 177 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:27.279 I keep coming back to the breath because the breath 178 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:30.960 is the bridge. The breath is the only thing that 179 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:35.279 belongs to both places. The breath is the only part 180 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.440 of this that lives in the body and in the 181 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:41.679 head at the same time. You can give your breath 182 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:45.559 your attention, and your breath will still be there. You 183 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:48.919 can stop paying attention to your breath, and your breath 184 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:51.840 will still be there. The breath does not need you 185 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.600 to manage it. The breath has been managing itself for 186 00:11:55.639 --> 00:12:00.000 a long time, since before you were born, since before 187 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:02.759 or you had a name, since before you had a 188 00:12:02.759 --> 00:12:05.759 head full of all this stuff. The breath has been 189 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:11.159 doing its job quietly, without complaint. So let it do 190 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:14.320 its job. Let it come in the way it has 191 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:18.279 always come in. Let it go out the way it 192 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:20.799 has always gone out. You do not have to make 193 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:23.960 it deeper. You do not have to make it slower. 194 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.360 You do not have to make it anything. You can 195 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:29.519 just let it be the breath of a body that 196 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:32.240 is alive in a room. Here is the part I 197 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:35.240 want to be careful with the day you spent in 198 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:38.240 your head. I want to talk about this, but I 199 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.279 want to talk about it gently because I know that 200 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:44.120 you know, you already know you have been in your 201 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.240 head all day. You do not need me to tell 202 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:50.480 you that. You do not need me to point at 203 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:54.000 the screen of your own awareness and say, see, look, 204 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:59.000 you have been up there again. You already know. You 205 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:02.799 knew when you press play, you knew when you sat down, 206 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:06.000 you knew when you looked for a meditation. This one 207 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:10.200 specifically because something in the title pulled at you the 208 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:13.440 body that has been waiting for you. You felt that 209 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.240 title in your body before you read it with your eyes. 210 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:19.639 That is how I know you already know. So I 211 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.320 am not going to lecture you about being in your head. 212 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:25.120 I am not going to tell you that you should stop. 213 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:27.320 I am not even going to tell you that you 214 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:31.480 can stop. You cannot by force stop being in your head. 215 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:35.799 You have tried. You know how that goes. You try 216 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:38.399 to stop, and the trying is the thing you are 217 00:13:38.440 --> 00:13:41.360 doing up there. You try to be present, and the 218 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:43.720 trying is the thing that is keeping you out of 219 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:46.799 the present. It is one of those little cruelties of 220 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.320 being a person. So instead, I am going to say this, 221 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:53.919 the day you spent in your head is over, not 222 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:57.799 the day. Maybe the day might still be going. There 223 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:01.240 might be things on the calendar might be a morning coming. 224 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:04.080 But the part of the day where you were somewhere else, 225 00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:07.120 the part where you were up there doing all of that, 226 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.039 the part where you were carrying the whole thing on 227 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.440 your own in the place where it cannot actually be carried, 228 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.919 that part is done. You are not in it anymore. 229 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:21.000 You are here. The fact that you are here means 230 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:26.080 you have already come back, and your body knew. Your 231 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:30.200 body knew before you did. Your body started the welcome 232 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.399 before you even made the decision to come back. Your 233 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:39.600 body started softening the jaw, dropping the shoulders, lengthening the 234 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:44.000 breath before your mind caught up. Your body has been 235 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.000 doing the work of bringing you home this whole time. 236 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:51.399 It has been sending you signals. Tightness in the chest, 237 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:55.799 a sigh that came from nowhere, a sudden urge to 238 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:59.080 put your hand on your own arm, a sudden urge 239 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:02.600 to lie down on the floor. Your body has been 240 00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:06.039 calling you, and you have been answering, even when you 241 00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:09.639 did not know you were answering. So let me offer 242 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:13.039 you this. The welcome your body has been keeping for 243 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.639 you is already in progress. It has been going on 244 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:20.759 all day. It is going on right now. You do 245 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:23.279 not have to earn it. You do not have to 246 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:26.440 do the right thing to receive it. You are receiving 247 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.919 it by being here. The welcome is the breath you 248 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:34.039 just took. The welcome is the shoulder that just dropped. 249 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:38.120 The welcome is the foot on the floor. The welcome 250 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.879 is this moment right now, where you are in your body, 251 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.399 and your body is in a room, and the room 252 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.799 is being held by a building, and the building is 253 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:51.919 being held by the earth, and the earth does not 254 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:55.840 have anywhere else to be. Let me say something about 255 00:15:55.879 --> 00:16:00.120 the skin. I know that is an unusual sentence. Let 256 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.200 me say something about the skin. The skin is the 257 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:06.519 quiet door. I do not know why I know this, 258 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:10.840 but I know it. The skin is the quiet door 259 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:14.240 between the part of you that is you and the 260 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:17.799 part of you that is the world. The skin is 261 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:22.799 where the inside ends and the outside begins. And the 262 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:28.240 skin is porous. The skin is not a wall. It 263 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:33.039 is more like a conversation. The skin lets some things 264 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.919 in and some things out, and it does it without 265 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.799 asking your permission. The skin is doing the work of 266 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.759 being a boundary and a bridge at the same time, 267 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:47.120 and it has been doing it all day and it 268 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:50.960 has been doing it without complaint. Your skin is the 269 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:54.840 door that your body has been waiting behind. Your skin 270 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:58.720 is the threshold across which you are now standing. On 271 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:04.359 one side, the inside, the heart, the lungs, the gut, 272 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:08.799 the long slow rivers of your blood, the place where 273 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.000 you keep the things you do not show anyone, the 274 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:15.599 place where the day is still being digested. On the 275 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:21.519 other side, the outside, the air, the light, the temperature 276 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:25.559 of the room, the sounds, the fabric of whatever you 277 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:29.640 are sitting on the world, and your skin is the 278 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:34.119 door between them. And your skin is closed and your 279 00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:38.319 skin is open both at once, the way a door 280 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.640 can be closed and still left the light through underneath. 281 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:46.960 Right now, your skin is doing something. Your skin is 282 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:51.279 touching things. Your skin is touching the air, and the 283 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:54.799 air is touching your skin, and neither of you is 284 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:59.240 asking for anything in return. Your skin is touching the 285 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:04.720 chair or the floor or the bed, and it is 286 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:09.200 receiving that touch, and it is sending that touch back, 287 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:13.440 and the exchange is happening whether or not you are 288 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:18.000 paying attention to it. I want you to notice, if 289 00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:22.240 you can, where your skin is touching something right now. 290 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:27.119 The backs of your hands, the soles of your feet, 291 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:33.279 the small of your back against the chair, the back 292 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.720 of your head against whatever your head is leaning on, 293 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:44.000 if anything, your face in the air. Notice the touch, 294 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:50.079 Notice that the touch is being received. Notice that you 295 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:54.440 are not alone in this room. Even if you are 296 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:58.119 alone in this room, you are in the company of 297 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:04.680 all the surfaces that are There is a quietness to 298 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:11.799 the skin. The skin is not dramatic. The skin does 299 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:18.720 not announce itself. The skin does not say, hey, I 300 00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:24.480 am here, pay attention to me. The skin just does 301 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:28.240 its work. The skin is the part of you that 302 00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:32.599 is most generous, because the skin is the part of 303 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:37.880 you that is most in contact with everything else. The 304 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:42.039 skin is the part of you that says yes to 305 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:47.000 the world over and over in a voice that is 306 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:51.559 too quiet for the head to hear. So let me 307 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:56.160 offer you this for the next little while. Let your 308 00:19:56.200 --> 00:20:01.480 awareness move to the skin, not to fix, not to 309 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:06.640 scan it, not to evaluate it, just to notice it, 310 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:10.160 just to let it be the place where you are 311 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:17.160 for a few breaths. The quiet door, the threshold, the 312 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:21.519 place where you end and the world begins, and where 313 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:25.440 the world ends and you begin, and where it is 314 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:31.079 not clear actually where the boundary is and where the 315 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:34.599 boundary does not need to be clear, because the boundary 316 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:38.039 is doing its work and the door is open enough 317 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:41.359 for the breath to come through. Now, what your body 318 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.960 has been carrying for you? I want to pause here 319 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:49.240 because this is the part that requires some honesty, and 320 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:51.880 I want to be careful with you. I do not 321 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:55.079 want to ask you to inventory your day. I do 322 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:57.680 not want to ask you to make a list. I 323 00:20:57.720 --> 00:20:59.960 do not want to turn this into a review session. 324 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.920 The day is over or the day is in progress, 325 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.880 and either way you do not need to revisit it. 326 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:12.480 The day is already in the body. It is already recorded. 327 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:17.079 It is already in the muscles, in the gut, in 328 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:20.079 the way you are sitting, in the way you are breathing. 329 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:24.880 What I want to do is just notice with you 330 00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:29.400 that the body has been carrying things, not just the 331 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:34.759 physical things, not just the bag or the laptop or 332 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:39.960 the child, the other things. The conversation that went sideways, 333 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:44.000 the decision you have not made yet, the grief that 334 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:47.319 has been sitting in your chest for six months or 335 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:51.359 six years, or since you were a kid, the worry 336 00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:54.759 about the person you love, the worry about the person 337 00:21:54.799 --> 00:22:00.400 you cannot quite forgive, the small daily anxieties that pup 338 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:03.880 like the laundry you keep meaning to fault, the way 339 00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:06.920 your shoulders have been holding the meeting you had at 340 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:10.759 two o'clock, even though it is now nine o'clock at 341 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:15.160 night and the meeting is over, and the other people 342 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:18.920 in the meeting have forgotten about it, but your shoulders 343 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:23.559 have not. Your body has been carrying all of it 344 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:32.119 for you, without being asked, without being thanked, without being 345 00:22:32.119 --> 00:22:36.000 given a single day off. I am not going to 346 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:39.839 ask you to put any of it down. I am 347 00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:43.880 not going to ask you to release, or to let go, 348 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:48.759 or to surrender. Those words are easy to say and 349 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:53.079 very hard to do, and they can feel like another 350 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:56.880 thing you are failing at, and you do not need 351 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:02.559 another thing you are failing at. So instead, I am 352 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:06.839 just going to invite you to notice. To notice that 353 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:11.480 the body is carrying, To notice that the carrying has 354 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:14.720 been happening. To notice that the body has been patient 355 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:20.119 with you, has been generous with you, has been willing 356 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:23.680 to do the work even when you were not aware 357 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:27.240 that the work was being done. Notice if you can 358 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:32.240 where in the body you are carrying, just one place, 359 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:37.839 just the place that is loudest right now. It might 360 00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:42.440 be the chest. It might be the throat. It might 361 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:46.200 be the jaw or the belly, or the low back, 362 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.519 or the space between the shoulder blades. It might be 363 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:53.799 the hands, It might be the feet. It might be 364 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:57.759 somewhere you cannot name but you can feel. Find that place. 365 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:02.160 Just find it. You do not have to do anything 366 00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:06.319 about it. You do not have to fix it. You 367 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:09.880 do not have to understand it. You do not have 368 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.799 to talk to it. You do not have to scent 369 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:19.079 it love or light or forgiveness. You just have to 370 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.680 notice that it is there. You just have to let 371 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:28.119 it be there with you in the room. And then, 372 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:32.359 if you can, I want you to say, in your 373 00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:36.279 own quiet way, in the way that only you know how, 374 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:41.440 thank you, not out loud. Necessarily, you do not have 375 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.000 to say it out loud. You can say it under 376 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:47.079 your breath, or in the back of your mind, or 377 00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:50.880 just in the body itself. Thank you for carrying this, 378 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:55.160 thank you for staying with this, thank you for being 379 00:24:55.240 --> 00:24:59.960 patient with this. You are not behind, you are not fail. 380 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:04.119 I want to say this clearly because I know you, 381 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.680 not you specifically, I do not know you. But I 382 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.359 know the kind of person who would press play on 383 00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:15.680 a meditation called the Body that has been waiting for you. 384 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:19.640 I know the kind of person who would, at the 385 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:22.920 end of a long day in their head go looking 386 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:26.440 for something like this. I know the kind of person 387 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:29.640 who would be listening to this and wondering if they 388 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:33.079 are doing it right, and whether they should be somewhere else, 389 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:36.559 and whether they are falling behind on something while they 390 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:41.079 sit here. You are not behind. You are not failing. 391 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.799 This is not a failure. This is not laziness. This 392 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.200 is you coming home. This is you remembering that you 393 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:54.799 have a body. This is you taking the small, ordinary, 394 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:59.599 revolutionary step of being in the place where you actually live. 395 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:04.480 You are not behind on your meditation practice. You are 396 00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:08.720 not behind on your morning routine. You are not behind 397 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:14.599 on your goals or your resolutions or your plans. You 398 00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:18.279 are not behind on being a good person or a 399 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.799 good partner, or a good parent, or a good friend 400 00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:27.079 or a good worker. You are not behind on healing. 401 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:31.799