Welcome.
I invite you to find a position that allows your body to feel supported,
Lying down or seated with your spine gently upright.
You do not need to change anything about how you feel right now.
You are simply arriving exactly as you are.
If it feels comfortable,
Allow your eyes to close.
Closing your eyes does not feel safe or comfortable today.
You can soften your gaze downward or rest your attention on one steady object in the room.
There's no wrong way to practice.
And if focusing inward becomes uncomfortable at any point,
You are welcome to open your eyes,
Look around the room,
Shift your posture,
Or pause this practice.
You are in control.
Let us take a moment to notice the surface beneath you.
The chair,
The floor.
The bed,
Or the earth.
Whatever is supporting you.
Allow yourself to feel the places where your body meets that support.
That surface holding you.
Allowing yourself to receive its support.
Even just a little.
Let us begin with breath.
You do not need to force anything.
But offer your body a gentle cue of support.
Breathe in gently through your nose for a count of four.
2 3 4 And if a brief pause feels comfortable,
Rest for a moment.
And then release slowly through your mouth for 6,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
If counting and holding the breath or breathing through the mouth does not feel comfortable today,
Simply allow your breath to move naturally.
I invite you to take one more breath together.
Inhaling gently through the nose.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pausing if that feels right.
And then exhaling slowly out through the mouth.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Now let your breathing return to its own natural rhythm.
No need to keep counting.
With each exhale,
Imagine your body becoming just slightly heavier.
Settling a little more deeply into whatever is holding you.
There's nowhere else you need to be for these next few moments.
Nothing you need to solve.
Simply breathe.
This body.
This moment.
I invite you to bring your attention to the top of your head.
Simply notice what is here.
No need for judgment or to change anything.
If you discover tension.
See whether it can soften.
Even by one percent.
Bringing awareness down into your forehead.
Your eyes.
Your job.
Allowing the muscles around your eyes to become a little easier.
Allowing your jaw to soften.
Letting your tongue rest comfortably in your mouth.
Noticing your neck and shoulders.
If your shoulders are near your ears.
Allow them to move down slightly.
They do not have to hold everything right now.
Bring awareness to your chest.
Noticing the quiet rise and fall of breathing.
Notice your heartbeat.
Doing its quiet work without needing your effort.
Bring awareness down through your arms.
Your hands.
Your belly.
EPS.
Your legs.
All the way to your feet.
Feeling the whole weight of your body.
Notice the places where you are supported.
You are here.
You are breathing.
It is enough for this moment.
I invite you to take one gentle breath in.
And a slow easy breath out.
As you rest here,
You may notice thoughts arriving.
That's alright.
That's simply what minds do.
Sometimes one thought comes and another follows it.
Where we know it,
We may be several thoughts deep into a story.
A worry,
An old memory.
Or a fear about tomorrow.
It can feel as though each thought pulls us further away from this breath.
This body,
And this moment.
Ear is something worth remembering.
Gently and without force.
A thought is not always found.
And it is not always a command.
Thought may be information.
It may be a memory.
It may be a prediction.
It may be a worry.
But it is not automatically the whole truth.
Thought arising in the mind can be like a cloud passing through the sky.
It may look enormous.
It may look dark.
For a moment,
It may seem as though it is the whole sky.
But it is only one part of what is here.
The sky has room for the cloud.
And perhaps there is something spacious in you that can make room for this thought too.
When you notice yourself following a thought into a spiral,
You do not have to fight it or push it away.
You might simply notice.
Hmm.
A thought.
And then gently return to the next breath.
You do not have to believe every story your mind tells you.
You can allow a thought to be a visitor rather than allowing it to take over the whole room.
Taking a breath in.
And a breath out.
Now,
Feel supportive.
Imagine a small point of light just above you,
Or perhaps in front of your heart.
Let it be whatever color feels calming to you.
Perhaps a soft gold or a gentle blue.
Warm Road.
White green like early spring.
Or another color entirely,
You decide.
There is no right color.
Let your body choose.
And then watch this light begin to grow slowly and gently.
Not with force.
But like dawn expanding across the sky.
Unhurried.
Quiet.
And sock.
As this light grows.
Imagine it surrounding you.
Let it rest around your shoulders like a shawl.
Allowing it to move down your arms.
Gently over your chest and belly.
You may experience it as warmth.
A softness as weight.
Or simply as a sense of being held in this moment.
The light does not ask you to be different than you are.
It does not ask you to stop having anxious thoughts.
It does not ask you to be calm on command.
It is simply here,
Making room for what is present.
Like the sky holding clouds,
This light can hold a thought without needing to become the thought.
If a worry arises now,
An old fear or the beginning of a familiar spiral.
Imagine it entering the light.
Not being punished.
Not pushed away.
Simply being held.
Perhaps the light meets the thought the way warm water meets a clenched hand.
Slowly,
Without force,
The grip begins to loosen.
You are breathing here.
Inside this light.
Supported in this moment.
Whole,
Even as thoughts and feelings move through.
Continue breathing slow and easy.
Allow the light to remain patient and unhurried.
It is asking nothing of you but your presence.
I invite you to allow the light to settle into your chest.
Gathering there like a small steady flame.
Does not need to grow any larger.
It simply rests there,
Glowing quietly.
You may remember the image whenever you need it.
In moments when thoughts begin to pull you into an old spiral.
You can pause and remember the steady light within you.
You can remember that you are more than weather moving through your mind.
You are more than thoughts passing through.
You are more than the spiral.
Perhaps there is a quiet stillness within you,
Even when the surface feels unsettled.
I invite you to repeat the following words silently or out loud,
Or simply let the words pass through.
I am here in this moment.
My thoughts are not always facts.
And they are not always commands.
I can return to my breath.
Again and again,
As many times as I need.
I can meet this moment with kindness.
There is space within me for what I am feeling.
I am more than the storm passing through.
I invite you to take a slow breath in.
And then a long gentle breath out.
When ready,
I invite you to begin to add gentle movement back into your body.
Wiggling your fingers and toes.
Rolling your shoulders or stretch in any way that feels comfortable.
Feeling the temperature of the air against your skin.
Noticing sounds nearby or farther away.
Feeling the surface beneath you.
And if your eyes have been closed.
Slowly allow them to open whenever you are ready.
And I invite you to carry this image with you,
A small steady light within you,
And the spacious sky around the changing weather of your mind.
You do not have to believe every thought that visits you.
You can notice it.
Let it be here.
And return as many times as you need to this breath,
This body,
And this moment.
May you move through the rest of your day with gentleness and care.
