‘Simply do it…” If you see the value in it, then ‘sit’. Find a time and place that works best for you- for your lifestyle. It doesn’t really matter when you sit- morning, afternoon, or evening- or how long you sit, whether it be 5, 10, 30, or 60 minutes. It’s the quality of attention and intention we bring to the practice that’s most important. Frequency & consistency are also vital to sustainability and to realizing the many benefits (physical, mental, & spiritual) inherently associated with regular meditation practice. Just like strengthening the muscles in the body, the ‘mindfulness muscle’ needs to be exercised often for it to be toned & strengthened.

With skillful ‘sitting’, we need to avoid indulging the ‘events’ arising in our field of awareness as thoughts, feelings, impulses, and sensations of the mind/body experience will come and go like clouds in the sky. In cultivating our practice, we also need to gently allow the space in our awareness to give us observational distance from what’s directly happening in our consciousness. We ‘hold lightly’- with not too much or too little effort- keeping things balanced and clear by staying somewhat ‘detached’ from what we are closely experiencing or ‘awarenessing’.

As we all come to experience with regular practice, the mind and body truly does begin to relax and rest conserving energy as we stay anchored in the expansive space of awareness simply witnessing instead of indulging and reacting to whatever is arising. This is our ‘breathing space’ where we can simply take a break, just sit and be… relax and restore. It is a quiet & still space much larger than ‘what is’, so that we may objectively & non-reactively watch the ‘show’ for whatever may ‘play out’ on the stage of our consciousness.

The objective here is to be relaxed, alert, steady, and receptive to all that we may come to experience- closely & directly- openly & compassionately. There’s nowhere else to be or to go… except right here & now, as we simply notice & acknowledge– accept & release. It is this practice of seeing & letting be… seeing & letting go… over & over again that seeds our inner capacity for ‘clear seeing’ not only on the cushion but in our everyday lives… and as we continue to refine our inner capacities for awareness and ‘clear seeing’, we will also realize the wisdom and insight to be more responsive & discerning in the free choices we make as curious, confident, and caring human beings.

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