Welcome.
Begin by finding a comfortable posture,
Sitting upright yet relaxed.
Let your hands rest gently,
Your feet supported,
Your shoulders soft.
Now take a moment to simply arrive.
Sense the feeling of your body sitting,
Contact with the chair,
Your back,
Legs and feet supported by the ground.
Feel the weight of your body and let yourself settle into gravity.
Now gently open your attention to the space around you.
Become aware of your five senses.
Not needing to fixate on any one thing,
Just notice whatever is present.
Listen to sounds near and far,
Feel the temperature of the air on your skin,
The clothes on your skin.
If your eyes are closed,
Notice whatever flickering lights may be behind your closed eyelids.
If your eyes are open,
Just taking note of whatever is in front of you.
The faint taste in your mouth,
The scent in the room.
Now come back to the body itself.
Bring your attention inward.
Notice sensations in the forehead,
Jaw,
Shoulders,
Anywhere you sense tension or holding.
Just allow your awareness to gently rest there.
No need to force it to release,
Just being with whatever is there,
Allowing it to soften if it wants to.
If it stays,
That's okay too.
Now,
Scan through the chest,
The abdomen and lower back,
And down into the feet and toes.
Notice any emotions or subtle feelings that may be stored in these places.
With a soft focus,
Just let them be seen,
Held in awareness,
And if possible,
Gently allowed,
Giving yourself permission to feel whatever is there.
Let the breath remain natural as you do this.
No need to change it either.
Let your five senses and your body within awareness,
Everything allowed to experience just naturally in the here and now.
And now,
Gently shift your attention to your breath.
Let your awareness rest on the sensation of breathing,
Perhaps at the nostrils or the rising and falling of the belly or the chest.
There's nothing to control here.
The breath breathes itself.
Let it be easy,
Gentle,
Natural.
Each in-breath and each out-breath,
Simply noticed,
Unfolding within awareness.
If the mind wanders,
That's completely fine.
Just return again and again to the breath.
Coming back to the breath again.
Stay here for a few moments,
Simply resting your attention with the in and the out-breath.
Now,
We gently open the focus to include our thoughts without trying to stop or change our thoughts.
We simply notice what's there,
Just noticing what the content of our thinking mind is.
Allowing it to come and go without trying to stop or change.
Simply notice what's happening in the here and now.
Notice how a thought arises,
Stays for a moment,
And then fades.
This is something we've been doing moment after moment,
Minute after minute,
Day after day.
For years and years of our life.
In this moment,
We allow thoughts to arise and fall,
Like watching the flow of a river.
They appear within awareness,
Like clouds passing in a vast sky.
Between the thoughts,
Behind the thoughts,
And within the thoughts themselves,
There is a natural spaciousness.
Allow your attention to notice the thoughts,
As well as the space in and around the thoughts.
Both are present.
And now,
We let go of that effort of observing the thoughts,
And instead,
Become curious about the one who is aware.
The one who was observing the thoughts.
Turn your attention inward,
Toward that which is aware of the breath,
Of the body,
And of your thoughts.
What is it that is aware?
Just a gentle looking inward.
Let awareness rest within itself.
Notice the vast,
Open spaciousness,
And the clear,
Natural awareness,
Present,
Within our very core of being.
Without focusing in any direction,
Not outward or inward,
Or holding anywhere in between.
Just allowing open awareness to be present,
Naturally as it is.
Nothing to do.
Just the natural,
Open awareness of the here and now.
And now,
Let go of even trying to rest.
You can open your eyes.
Gently open your mouth slightly,
Breathing in and out.
Drop the idea of even doing any meditation,
And just be.
Awareness,
Naturally aware,
Open and spacious,
In and of itself.
There's no center,
No edge.
Just this immediate presence.
Now we gradually have come to the end of the meditation,
And we gently return to the feeling of our body.
Our breath moving in and out.
The space and the room around us.
We notice that all of this is just as before.
Except now,
We notice it's taking place within this vast,
Open awareness that's within us.
And we carry this awareness with us into our daily life,
Into our relationships,
Into our work.
In order to better ourself and the world.
Thank you.
