The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org. You're going to. It can often be helpful to check in at the beginning, just how are you?

And they're just opening to yourself,

taking stock of what's up.

It's their ease or tension,

a lot of thoughts, sleepiness, restlessness.

Just how are you in this moment?

Feeling into that, not answering of a question of a question. You're going to be here. And then with however you are, it is also often useful to just remind yourself about relaxation, how helpful relaxation is to support our mindfulness practice.

You can do this in a conscious way by gently scanning through the body. Relaxing parts of your body as you scanned through. You're going to see. You're going to And in particular it might be useful to soften areas where we may tend to hold a

habitual tension like the neck and shoulders.

Hips and legs. and also softening the face. You're going to see? And then it can sometimes be interesting to explore a softening or

invitation to relax more deeply inside the body.

Maybe the inside of the throat can relax. Maybe there can be a deep sense of relaxation of all of the organs inside the body. And maybe too the mind can relax. You're going to be here. exploring relaxation.

we are cultivating a way. relaxation.

We are cultivating awareness.

We are cultivating mindfulness.

We are cultivating mindfulness.

Being aware, being mindful while relaxing. So perhaps now there can be a little more attuned to the relaxation itself, to the awareness itself.

The awareness itself.

Are you aware? And awareness will be aware of something.

And awareness will be aware of something quite naturally.

Maybe that is relaxation or maybe it's some other experience.

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