Hello and welcome.
You can begin by taking any comfortable seat or reclining in whatever way feels most supported in your body at this moment.
As you settle into whatever comfortable form you found.
You might lean into either letting your gaze soften downward or closing your eyes.
From here you can draw attention to your breath.
Notice where you're most aware of your inhale and most aware of your exhale.
Notice what happens the more you pay attention to your breath.
Perhaps there's an invitation to adjust this breath in any way.
Drawing it deeper,
Lengthening it out.
In some way making it more complete.
Let yourself tune into your body as a whole.
Perhaps your attention shifts down to your feet.
Maybe there's a surface beneath them that you become more aware of.
Draw your attention up your legs,
Noticing any tension that does not feel supportive in your body.
And on your next exhale,
Soften muscle from bone,
Release that tension to any degree.
Continue scanning upward into the bowl of your pelvis,
The space of your hips.
And again,
Notice any tension or holding that does not feel supportive.
Use an exhale.
And again,
Soften.
Continue scanning up through the space of your abdomen,
Into your shoulders and even through your arms.
Notice if there's any tension that does not feel supportive.
On an exhale,
Can there be a softening to any degree.
Finally,
Scan up through the space of your neck,
Your jaw,
Your face.
Perhaps you let your teeth soften from each other,
Upper and lower jaw.
Relax the place between your eyebrows.
And feel your eyeballs grow heavy in their sockets,
Your tongue grow heavy in your mouth.
Take another breath or two to scan through your body as a whole.
Yourself,
Simply observe.
And when it feels okay,
If it feels okay.
Draw your awareness to the place that holds pain.
Start by simply observing this zone of your body,
This sensation.
You might notice colors or textures,
Other defining traits of how this sensation feels in this zone of your body.
This initial moment of contact,
Notice how your body responds to being present with this sensation.
And back through physical form noticing if there's any tension or response that has occurred.
Feel free to again,
Let that tension ease away.
And to lean into the support of the surfaces or surface beneath you.
Bringing your awareness back to this place of sensation.
Start by offering it a sense of love or compassion.
Feeling your body,
How that lands.
To approach this sensation from that vantage and with an offering of compassion.
As you continue to stay present with this sensation.
If you fully witness to it.
Bring to your mind's eye,
The image of some sort of release,
Some mechanism that could allow for draining or release in any way.
Notice what spontaneously arises.
As you hold that image alongside of your awareness of this sensation.
Go ahead and visualize utilizing whatever mechanism it is that has come to mind.
Perhaps it is the opening of a valve,
The pulling of a drain plug.
Or the gentle release of something that is tightened.
Continue to feel your breath,
Moving through and around this area of sensation.
Even as you visualize it releasing in whatever way has come to your mind.
As you continue to hold this imagery.
You might notice a slight reduction in self sense of that sensation.
It might be very subtle.
Might be more obvious.
Or it might be that as you try to picture this release.
Wasn't anything that quite came to mind and that's okay to continue to stay present with this sensation no matter where you're at.
From here,
Bring to mind a recent,
Perhaps somewhat distant memory of joy.
A time where you had that felt sense of joy in your body and you knew you were joyful.
Because every indicator in your body said joy,
Joy,
Joy.
Notice how that feels in your body.
Perhaps there are colors,
Textures,
Or images that come to mind.
As you let your body feel the sense of joy.
The invitation is to begin to picture that pouring into the space of the original pain sensation.
Perhaps there is space that has been created through the initial steps of this meditation.
And now you picture pouring this joy,
This felt sensation of joy into this new space.
You might let that sense of joy expand or pull in any way.
And again,
Let yourself simply be present with it.
Observing what it's like.
From here,
We're going to begin to transition away from this moment,
From this space.
But notice if there's anything you feel compelled to offer this region of your body.
And then when it feels okay,
You might let this region of your body know that we're going to step away for now.
Not forever.
And you can bring your attention back to your breath.
And back to those zones of your body that make contact with the support beneath you.
Maybe you add a little pressure into the support beneath you.
Or let your body wiggle and move in any way.
If eyes are closed,
You might gently crack them open.
And from here,
You might glance around the space that you're in,
Letting your eyes fall and rest on any elements that are particularly pleasing.
Colors,
Textures,
Images,
Objects.
As you prepare to move back into your day,
Notice if there's anything else that your body or heart are calling for.
And I thank you for sharing this practice with me today.
