Take a moment to find a comfortable position.
Either seated or lying down,
Whatever feels right for you.
Allow your body to be relatively symmetrical so that your spine feels straight and long.
Allowing your shoulders to drop away from your ears.
Letting your jaw soften.
Gently resting your hands on your lap or by your sides in whatever way feels comfortable for you.
Know that at any time during the meditation you can move or adjust your posture as needed.
Closing down your eyes if comfortable,
Lowering and softening your gaze.
Begin to turn your attention inwards.
Noticing what is going on inside your body.
Perhaps taking a few deeper breaths in.
And as you exhale,
Letting go of everything that has come before you today.
Allowing yourself to arrive at this moment to reset and to be still.
Allowing your breath now to resume its natural rhythm.
Bringing your attention to any sounds that you can hear.
Can you hear any far away sounds?
Sounds outside the room.
Listen with a gentle curiosity.
And let the sounds come and go.
Notice how the sounds arrive at your ears and then leave without you needing to do anything.
Perhaps beginning to notice any sounds inside the room,
Sounds that are nearby.
And you hear the sound of your own breathing.
Shifting your attention to the sense of contact with the surface beneath you.
Pressure as gravity pulls you toward the earth.
Noticing the weight of your body.
Letting go of thoughts about the experience and feeling the direct sensations in your body.
Noticing the feeling of your clothes touching your skin.
You might notice the air as it brushes against the exposed parts of your skin.
Letting go of those thoughts and bringing your attention down to your feet.
Feel into your feet.
Noticing any sensations in your feet.
You might notice tingling or tightness,
Noticing whatever is there for you.
That subtle sense of aliveness that makes you know your feet are there.
Moving your awareness from your feet up through your body.
Noticing any sensations that you feel without trying to change anything.
Notice the subtle rise and fall of your belly as you breathe.
Bringing your attention to your shoulders,
Noticing how your shoulders feel.
Feeling into your shoulder blades and the space between them.
Perhaps dropping your shoulders a little further.
Sinking deeper into the surface supporting you.
Starting to bring your awareness now to your thinking mind.
Beginning to pay attention to your thoughts as they arise in your mind.
Without intending to think of anything,
Simply allow any thoughts to come when they are ready.
Perhaps you might notice a small space before the next thought arises.
When the next thought comes into your mind,
You might like to label it.
If a thought comes up from the past,
You might mentally label it as remembering.
If you think about something you need to do later,
You might note planning.
As best you can,
Imagine looking at your thoughts rather than from them.
Seeing them arise and letting go of the need to attach to them.
All the stories they create.
Allowing your mind to move from one thought to the next.
Now bring the image of a sky into your mind.
Fast blue sky with clouds drifting by.
Some are light and passing by quickly.
Others might be heavy,
Dark and slow moving.
Each cloud is like a thought.
If you can simply watch them.
Just letting them pass by.
I need to react.
Come and they go.
Notice how the sky never resists the clouds.
No matter how many clouds appear.
The sky itself remains unchanged.
Like a background that the clouds travel past.
Thoughts are just passing through as well.
They're not who you are.
They're just mental events.
Stories of your mind.
Remembering that when your thoughts feel overwhelming.
You can step back.
Create some space and watch them like clouds in the sky.
Perhaps you might shift your attention from the clouds to the sky.
Resting for a few moments in that sense of spaciousness.
Noticing the space between your thoughts.
Freedom of simply watching without needing to react.
From one thought to the next.
Spending the next few moments just watching what arises.
Letting go of your thoughts now,
Begin to feel into your body.
Noticing how it feels having created this mental space.
Just noticing whatever there is to notice.
Feel your body supported by the surface beneath you.
Notice the subtle movement of your belly as you breathe.
Connecting in with the full experience of being in your body in this moment.
Noticing any sounds that you can hear.
And when you are ready,
Gently opening your eyes.
