For those who might like to,
I'm going to offer a little practice,
Like a practice for embodied presence,
Which is really just,
You know,
A little bit of time in our body.
So if you would like to join me for that.
I encourage you to.
Yeah,
Take these next couple of minutes to get ready to do that.
So you don't have to do anything special.
Get yourself nice and cozy.
Maybe finish sipping your tea.
If you have water with you,
Take a little drink of water.
If your body feels a bit stiff or tight or tense,
You might want to take a little stretch before you get into your cozy spot.
So just seeing can you be excessively attentive to your body even as we prepare to do this little embodied presence meditation.
Can you indulge your body?
What do you need?
How can I give you some comfort?
How can we have some ease?
So let's begin this practice just by simply arriving.
Remembering in a way.
That in this little practice,
There honestly is nothing to do.
There's nothing to fix.
There's nothing to achieve.
So intentionally,
Best we can,
For these next few minutes,
The invitation is,
You know,
Can you allow yourself to set down the need to get anywhere else or do anything at all?
The notion of doing this right or wrong.
Or getting something from it.
Or getting somewhere because of it.
Kind of letting go of the need to become anything different.
Or just simply being here.
That's already everything done.
Seeing if it's okay for you to close the eyes.
Or soften the gaze.
Or in some way give your eyes the message.
Ah,
No scanning required.
Eyes can rest.
Then see if you might take a nice,
Gentle,
Slow breath in according to your own pace.
And again,
A lovely,
Gentle out-breath.
Here too,
Not trying to change the breathing in any way.
Just noticing that the breath is already happening.
And in a way taking.
Kindly awareness to the breath.
Simply noticing the breath that is here.
Becoming aware in a way that life is already moving through you.
Without effort.
Without any striving.
And perhaps beginning this practice.
With a sense of gratitude for that.
Not because everything is perfect.
Not because life is easy.
But rather because this body has carried you here.
Through every season of your life.
Through joy and sorrow.
Through beginnings and endings.
This body has carried you.
Through ordinary days.
And extraordinary ones.
This body has remained faithful.
And perhaps today.
We simply come to visit it.
To spend some time here in this body.
See now if you might bring all of your awareness just to your feet.
Noticing your two feet.
Leaning in to whatever sensations are present right now in the feet.
Warmth.
Maybe for you,
Coolness.
Pressure.
Perhaps some tingling in the feet.
Or maybe very little sensation at all here in the feet.
Whatever is here is welcome.
Nothing needs to be different.
You might imagine that you are greeting your feet with kindness.
As you might greet an old friend.
Simply saying,
Hello fish,
I'm here.
And resting now in awareness and gratitude for your feet.
Allowing the awareness now to move very slowly up the legs.
To the curves.
The knees.
The ties.
The hips.
No need at all to analyze.
No need to improve anything.
Just seeing might you notice with curiosity.
With patience.
The calves,
The knees,
The thighs,
The hips.
You might ask gently.
What sensations are here right now?
From the fish.
Up to the hips.
Heavy.
Tired.
At ease.
Discomfort.
Something else and then simply listening.
Without needing an answer.
Maybe in this moment,
This part of your body is asking for softness.
Our spaciousness.
Are simply to be noticed.
Allowing now.
Whatever is here in the whole of the leg area.
And then when you are ready Bring the awareness now to the belly.
This tender center.
The place that often holds so much.
You might feel a gentle movement of the breath.
Right here in the belly The belly rising.
And falling expanding.
I'm softening.
Many of us spend years unconsciously bracing.
Holding.
Protecting.
Preparing.
Perhaps today.
There is nothing to prepare for.
Nothing to hold together.
Nothing to defend against,
Just only this breath.
This moment.
In this ballet.
And if it feels right.
You might offer your belly a little kindness.
A little patience.
The way you might soothe a tired child.
Or comfort a dear friend.
Kindness to the belly.
And moving now to the heart space.
You might become aware of the physical organ,
The heart itself.
Maybe awareness of some sensations of warmth or heat around the heart.
You might even notice the heartbeat.
Best you can,
Bringing your awareness to the heart space.
Noticing the chest.
The lungs.
The ribcage.
The place where so much of our human experience is carried.
Noticing what is here now in the heart space.
Maybe love.
Maybe grief or tenderness.
Could be joy.
Or uncertainty.
Whatever is here belongs.
Nothing needs to be fixed.
Nothing needs to be pushed away.
Everything that is here now in the heart space is welcome.
You might imagine breathing spaciousness around whatever you find here now in the heart space.
Breathing spaciousness.
Creating room.
Allowing trusting precious moments in the heart space.
Bringing the awareness now to the shoulders.
So often carrying responsibilities.
Expectations.
The ways of caring.
Of doing.
Of being productive.
The weight of being strong.
The weight of being needed.
Simply noticing what is here right now in the shoulders.
And perhaps then.
An invitation.
To a little softening.
Not demanding.
Not forcing.
Just extending an invitation.
You might like to silently whisper.
Shoulders,
You can rest now.
And noticing how the body moves.
How the shoulders.
And the body responds to you can rest now.
Shoulders softening even a little.
Awareness flowing down the arms.
Into the hands wherever they are resting.
Noticing the palms of the hands and the fingers of the hands.
Perhaps noticing the subtle aliveness here.
I am home of life.
The miracle of sensation.
The simple wonder of being alive.
And maybe allowing a little delight.
Not excitement.
Not ecstasy just the quiet delight of noticing.
The delight of being present enough.
To feel your own hands.
Present enough to inhabit your own life.
Just in this moment.
Arms,
Hands,
Fingers.
Alive.
Present.
Experiencing sensations.
And now coming to the face.
The jaw.
The cheeks.
The eyes.
The forehead.
Inviting the whole face to soften.
Letting go of expressions you no longer need to wear.
Letting the eyes rest.
The brow,
Smooth.
The jaw on clench.
Whole face softening.
And now sensing the whole body not as separate parts.
But as one living presence.
This body.
In this moment.
Breathing.
Feeding Resting.
Held.
Notice that nothing extraordinary has happened.
And yet perhaps something has shifted.
You came home.
You arrived.
You remembered yourself.
Resting now in simple awareness.
The body breathing.
The heart beating.
Life unfolding.
And perhaps silently repeating.
I am here.
I am home.
I belong in this body.
I belong in this life.
I am here.
I am home.
I belong in this body.
I belong in this life.
And before we finish,
Perhaps offering one final gesture of gratitude to this body.
Not because it is perfect.
But because it is yours.
Because it carries your story.
Because it allows you to experience love.
To feel the warmth of sunlight.
To touch another hand.
The scent of rain.
The beauty of birdsong.
The wonder of being alive.
And when you are ready now.
Gently and in your own time.
Become aware of the body in contact with support,
Maybe feet on the floor.
Points of contact with chair or bed.
Noticing where the body is connected and supported.
Becoming aware of air circulating around the body.
Noticing sounds in the space of the room that you're in.
And then when you're ready,
Lifting the gaze.
Are opening the eyes.
And becoming aware again.
Of your own space.
Bringing with you this sense of spaciousness.
This sense of kindness.
This sense of being at home.
Here in this body.
And as you do that,
Your body might like a little wiggle or squiggle of fingers or toes.
Might like a smile to arrive on the face.
Your body might look for a yawn.
Or a long and loud sigh.
Some movement to neck and shoulders.
Or maybe a big,
Long,
Slow stretch.
So let's take the time.
Notice what the body would like.
And let the body have that.
So I want to finish with a final closing blessing.
Blessing for the week.
May you be at home in your own body.
May you trust its wisdom.
May you honour its need for rest and nourishment.
May you feel the earth beneath your feet and remember that you belong.
May you return again and again to the sacred simplicity of this moment.
May you continue to discover that presence is not something you must achieve.
But something that is waiting for you in the breath.
In the body.
In the beating of your own heart.
And may you walk gently through this world,
Fully here.
Fully alive.
And deeply at home in yourself.
