And start to close your eyes or soften your gaze.
You don't necessarily have to completely close your eyes.
Whatever you feel comfortable with and however you feel safe is how I want you to drop into this moment.
And I want you to now just start to bring awareness to the surroundings that you're in,
Feeling the support beneath you,
Noticing the air on your skin,
Maybe the texture of the fabric of the clothing you're wearing.
Just bringing that relaxed awareness into your physical body here and now.
And the first thing I'd like you to do is to internally thank yourself for giving you this time,
A gift of presence.
And then the next thing I'd like you to do is to release yourself of any expectation of how you think this should look,
Any expectation of the experience that you think you should have as we sit.
Allowing yourself to move into the space of non-judgment.
And then I invite you to take a moment to run through the day in your mind.
Anything that is heavy or dense,
Anything that may just be taking up mental real estate.
Allow yourself to just say thank you and acknowledge and leave it at the door.
Come back to you soon.
This is time for me.
And then dropping in more fully now,
Bringing the awareness,
Starting to scan the body,
Starting from the top of the head,
Gently begin to move your awareness down,
Scanning and noticing any areas of tension or tightness and not trying to shift,
Change or alter.
Allow yourself to just have an awareness of what is in this moment with your physical body.
Now bringing an awareness to the temples,
The jaw.
And if you notice any tension there,
Allow that to soften and release.
Letting the tongue fall into the bottom of the mouth,
Just relaxing the jaw.
Then begin to notice the weight of the hands and where they rest.
Touch those other points of contact on your body.
See if you can allow the muscles in the fingertips to even soften.
Then bringing the awareness down to the feet,
Feeling the soles of the feet and just realizing any sensation that may be there.
So many of our body parts that do so much for us that go unnoticed.
Could even take a moment to quietly think.
Your fingers and your toes and your feet for providing you with stability.
All they do,
All the work that they do,
How they carry us through our day and our experiences.
And now start to bring the awareness to the breath.
The inhale and the exhale.
Just start to notice its natural rhythm and cadence.
Not trying to force or change.
Just have an awareness of how it moves.
Involuntarily,
You can notice if where you feel the breath the most.
Is it the rise and fall of the chest?
Or is it the softening and the expansion of the diaphragm and the belly?
Perhaps you notice it the most at the tip of the nose as the air moves through the tip of the nose and the nostrils.
Whatever point in your body is most prominent where you notice the breath,
Whether that's a physical sensation or if it's the movement of air through the nostrils.
Bring your awareness there now and we're going to create an anchor here.
We're just going to follow the inhale and the exhale and how we notice that.
So just watching the breath without trying to force or change it.
Just become a conscious observer of the breath.
If you notice that your mind has wandered away from that point of awareness,
Just gently return it back to that anchor without judgment.
Very gently bring your awareness back to the breath.
And you want to do it in such a way that you would imagine a feather falling onto a pillow.
Just coming back to the breath,
Focusing on the inhale and the exhale,
Wherever you notice it the most,
However you notice it the most.
If any thoughts start to arise,
Just acknowledge them.
Let them be.
Let them come.
Let them go.
They're like clouds passing in the sky.
We don't have to follow the story.
And then we just gently bring the awareness back to the breath,
Back to your anchor.
You may find that your awareness is drawn to the sound of the music.
That's okay.
Just gently bring your awareness back to the point of the breath.
If any bodily sensations arise,
Just acknowledge them.
Don't try to change or fix.
Just becoming aware,
Acknowledging the feeling or sensation.
And if you can,
Then bring the awareness back to the breath.
Perhaps maybe even sending the breath into that space.
And then now I'd like you to begin to expand your awareness now from the breath.
Start to expand it out into the body,
Gently scanning the body once again,
Noticing any areas of tension or tightness,
And just being present with what is here and now.
You may even notice that you sense how the breath is able to be felt in distal parts of the body,
Not just the rise and fall of the chest or the belly.
Perhaps maybe you feel a pulsing in the fingers.
Just have a mindful awareness of your physical body here and now.
Is there anything that stands out to you?
And just making a mental note of that.
And then slowly start to bring your awareness back into the room with which you sit,
Noticing the chair or the support that you're sitting on,
Having a wider awareness now.
And then if you wish,
You can start to bring some physical movement into your body by wiggling the fingers or the toes,
Maybe even taking some deeper breaths and bringing the awareness back into the fullness of your physical experience now.
And then when you're ready,
Start to begin to open your eyes and come back fully into the space.
