Welcome.
This is Alison with Mindful Pause Center,
And I'm so glad to share this practice with you.
So starting to feel the weight of your body as gravity holds you here.
You might even offer a bit of gratitude to gravity.
And just noticing the points of contact between you and your chair,
Your cushion,
Your bed.
Feeling your feet wherever they've landed.
And your hands,
Maybe softening the hands even.
Giving yourself over,
Letting go,
The assistance of gravity.
The same time we're seeking a balance.
So we're relaxed and we're also alert,
Aware,
Interested.
You might support that with the inhalation.
Noticing that as you draw in the breath,
It encourages you to lift and broaden the chest.
And you might notice that on the exhalation,
You get that sense of letting go again.
So even here,
Right in the breath,
We have this balance we're seeking between alertness and relaxation.
So just allowing yourself for a few moments to feel the body breathing,
Wherever that comes most naturally or feels strongest to you.
For some of us,
It's at the nose,
Over the lip.
For some of us,
It's at the chest.
Or maybe the belly.
Or maybe even a sense of the whole body breathing.
And if your mind wanders off into thought,
No big deal.
It's what the mind was designed to do.
The invitation is when you notice.
Come back to breath.
And you can return as many times as you need to.
Noticing the quality of presence that's here.
As we begin,
No particular way,
Anything needs to be.
Just allowing,
This is how it is right now.
Expanding your awareness to include sounds.
Maybe beginning with sounds that are in the room with you.
Just receiving what's here.
It might even be a quality of silence,
Depending on where you are.
Extending to receive sounds that are outside your room.
If your mind drifts off into the past or the future,
You can always bring it back to receiving the sounds that are here right now,
In this moment.
And at any time in the practice today,
You can bring yourself and your awareness back to one of these three anchors.
The body,
Breath,
Or sound.
Invite you now to think back over,
Let's just say the last 24 hours,
And identify something you're grateful for.
Doesn't have to be huge.
And there's no reason that can't be from further back in 24 hours,
If that's helpful.
Just something that you would say,
I'm glad that happened.
And when you've identified this thing that you're glad for,
Try to experience it again in your imagination.
For some of us,
This could be visual and auditory,
Like we're in a movie.
For some of us,
We might need to reconstruct it with our thoughts.
Trying to conjure colors and sounds and tastes,
Sensations,
Maybe smells.
And noticing how you feel re-experiencing this thing for which you're glad.
Maybe even noticing if there's a location for that gratitude in the body.
Does it show up as a sensation?
Maybe in the chest or the belly,
Maybe in the mind.
Just sensing your gratitude for this object,
Experience,
Person.
Really allowing yourself to absorb that sensation that comes for you with gratitude.
Might be quiet.
Might be really loud,
Big expansion at the chest.
However it comes to you.
And then ask yourself,
Who or what helped this come to me?
How did it arrive with me?
Taking one step back to appreciate and offer gratitude in whatever way makes sense.
That person,
Object,
Experience came to you.
And can you take another step and ask how that came to be?
Who else made this possible?
Or what else made this possible?
And offering some gratitude in whatever way makes sense.
And one more time,
Taking another step.
What made that possible?
Who or what else made this happen?
And sensing into the body again for any felt sensation of that gratitude.
Feeling into whether it's the same or if it's changing,
Perhaps moving somewhere within the body or changing in quality or intensity.
What does this gratitude feel like for you?
How does it show up?
Just noticing that we could continue this process of stepping back and asking,
And how did that come to be?
And how did that come to be?
And how did that come to be?
That in that ever-widening process,
There's a deep network of lives and actions,
Explorations,
Imaginations,
And evolutions that made one single moment or experience possible.
And then consider that you began with one moment and how many additional moments could you also say,
I'm glad that happened?
And each of those moments is caught in that network of exchange,
Of give and take.
There's this web within which our life unfolds.
And that can inspire us to play our part in contributing to the lives of others and to all beings.
So letting that exercise go and just resting in the quality of presence that's here now.
Feeling the felt sensation of the body breathing.
Coming back to the rhythm of the inhalation and the exhalation.
The receiving and the giving.
And feeling the weight of your body and the points of contact with the chair,
Cushion,
Ground,
Your hands,
Where they've landed.
Sensing again the way gravity holds you here,
Connects you to your world.
And in a moment,
I'll ring the bell.
So taking these last moments to recognize the time you've spent on this practice,
Regardless of anything that happened or didn't happen.
Took the time and care to be here with yourself,
In whatever way makes sense,
Offering gratitude for your efforts.
