Let me invite you to take these moments to close your eyes.

Let's feel your own intention for this evening.

Whatever language works for you, the intention to arrive in presence, to open your heart,

to discover more fully who you are, to listen inwardly, just to sense your sincerity

in being here, for waking up, and just to invite yourself in these moments to relax,

and to feel yourself right here, aware of the experience of bodily sensations,

aware of whatever mood or emotions might be predominant, kind of thoughts that have been

moving through.

Okay, so welcome.

We are continuing together on this exploration, the art and science of meditation, really

how to bring a mindful presence to all the different dimensions of our life.

And we began with what's called the first foundation of mindfulness, and the first foundation

of mindfulness is really this awareness of this aliveness that's right here, and even

as I say the words, you might sense what it means to be mindful of sensation, mindful

of the breath.

And what we discover as we explore the first foundation of awareness is that it's only

if we're awake in our body that we can really touch what matters to us in our lives.

I mean, everything that is really important, whether it be wisdom or creativity or love,

requires that we're here in a very immediate way, and you can think about love, I mean,

just have thoughts about love, and that is in some sense a whole world apart from the

visceral tenderness when our hearts are feeling that warmth and that openness.

So the first foundation is this training and coming back and really living in this body

...