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Lodro: Today, we’re going to do a basic goodness meditation in two parts. We’ll start with mindfulness of the breath, which may feel familiar, but we’ll place an emphasis on noticing when we feel into our basic goodness as part of that practice.

Then we’ll transition into an emotions practice. We’ll acknowledge some of the goodness occurring right alongside the emotions we experience.

Settle into your meditation posture

If you want to join me, take a meditation posture that feels right to you. Place your feet firmly on the ground if you’re in a chair, or sit centered on your cushion if you’re cross-legged.

Take a breath and feel into the ground, feeling rooted.

From this strong base, lift up through the top of the spine, elongating upward. Relax the shoulders, relax the arms.

You can place your palms down on your thighs.

Relax the muscles around the face, unclench the jaw, and make a conscious decision to either close the eyes or leave them open.

Notice the breath

Take a moment to notice how the body is breathing. There’s no need to change the breath or do anything. This is about resting. However your breathing is, it’s fine—just notice.

When we find that the mind has drifted off—and it will, that’s what the mind does—we don’t treat that as a problem. We gently acknowledge it.

We can say “thinking” to note what’s happening, and then come back to the breath, bringing attention home to the in-breath and out-breath as they move through us.

As you rest with the body breathing, is there a sense that you’re okay in this moment?

That you don’t need to fix anything, change anything, or judge anything? Can you just rest here?

In this moment, as we rest, we might even have an experience of basic goodness. Then we might think, “Oh, is this it?”—and we’re out of it.

Just come back to the breath. Notice the body breathing.

Notice what you’re feeling

Now we’ll move into the second practice. I’m going to ask you to shift your attention from the breath to your emotional landscape. Notice what you’re feeling right now.

Maybe you feel relaxed. Maybe you feel annoyed, anxious, or heartbroken. Acknowledge whatever emotions are present.

We’ll also expand awareness into the environment—a “yes, and” approach. Notice how you’re feeling, and say silently: “I am feeling…” Acknowledge it, and then add “and.”

For example: “I am feeling frustrated, and the birds are chirping.” Just acknowledging the goodness happening alongside the strong emotions. “I am feeling heartbroken, and my puppy is snoring at my feet.” “I am feeling excited, and there’s a cool breeze on my skin.”

It doesn’t have to be only what we consider negative emotions—just notice what you’re feeling and widen the scope to realize we are more than the emotions.

Dropping the stories, dropping the words, let’s once more notice how we’re feeling.

When you’re ready, you can emerge from the meditation, bringing some movement back into the body, maybe taking a few breaths.

It’s been said that with emotions, we can ride the energy of the emotion, or it will ride us. Simply looking at it and expanding our lens to include the goodness happening alongside our emotions is very important.

Thank you for practicing with me.

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