Inviting you to close your eyes,
Take a deep breath,
Inhaling through the nose,
Letting it out with a sigh,
And sending your attention downward,
Down,
Down,
Down,
Into your lower body.
Feeling your lower half sitting here.
Feeling your feet and your calves and shins,
Your knees,
Your upper legs,
Pelvic floor and your hips,
Stomach and low back.
Feeling your lower body and just getting to know the stability of gravity.
Getting to know that it doesn't take any conscious thought to sit still.
The body in interaction with the force of gravity stabilizes itself as you sit here.
You can imagine if we were on the moon and there were less gravity,
It might be quite difficult to be still.
You could float out of your seat.
If we were on a planet with stronger gravity,
We might feel more pressure or even get smushed into the floor.
So just noticing this equanimous balance of gravity that's soft but firm,
Gentle and sturdy,
And allowing yourself to rest into that.
Seeing if there's any energy of thought or anticipation still in the body.
Seeing if it can ground down into the lower body,
Ground down into your feet,
Your legs,
Your hips,
And the connection that they create with the cushion,
With the floor,
Really the earth beneath us.
The massive,
Massive,
Massive planet in the center of gravity at its core that holds us firmly yet gently in place.
And starting to imagine,
Visualize your legs,
Your lower body as the trunk of a great tree.
Really feeling into kinesthetically the sturdiness.
You ever go to a big tree,
You push it.
It's not fucking budging.
It ain't going nowhere.
So feeling the sturdiness of your trunk and starting to feel the roots that spread from the trunk of your tree,
From the trunk of your body into the ground beneath you.
Feeling,
Visualizing the roots spread in all directions,
Going deep,
Perhaps through the archipelago building down to the bottom floor and into the ground,
Into the earth,
Into the soil beneath us.
And feeling that sturdiness.
Just resting your attention here in the lower body,
In your trunk,
In your core,
In your roots.
The same way that you focus on the breath,
Receive the breath,
Breathing itself,
Just allowing the trunk to stabilize itself.
And now starting to notice the spine,
Stretching from your tailbone and your sacrum,
Up through your lumbar and thoracic spine,
Up through the cervical,
The neck,
The skull.
Feeling the length of the spine,
Feeling the sturdiness of the spine,
And just resting your attention in of your tree-like nature,
The tall,
Sturdy,
Spacious spine.
And often when we are contracted or afraid,
We can be forward-facing.
We can really reach outwardly,
Reach out to control something in to get somewhere,
To get something,
Or to get away from something.
We really leave our spine,
Leave our body,
The house of our nervous system,
The house of our equanimity,
The house of our spirit,
Of our sturdiness.
We leave it.
And so as we return and connect with the spine and receive life from this gentle sturdiness,
We can find the present moment,
However it is.
So feeling your lower body,
Feeling the length of your spine,
Feeling the breath,
Nourishing,
Oxygenating your body,
Your tree,
And holding your attention in the lower body and in the spine,
Now starting to repeat these phrases inwardly,
Feeling the quality of equanimity in them,
In your body,
In your heart,
In your spine,
In your spirit.
May I remain balanced when life is difficult.
May I remain balanced when life is difficult.
May I find ease in challenging times.
May my heart remain open.
May my heart and body remain open.
May I let go of that which I cannot control.
May I let go of that which I cannot control.
May I find a trust in life.
May I find a trust in life.
May I remain balanced when things are difficult.
May I remain balanced when things are difficult.
Feeling your lower body,
Feeling your roots,
Feeling your spine,
Strong,
Tall,
Sturdy,
And soft.
May I remain soft when I'm inclined to harden.
May I remain soft when I'm inclined to harden.
May I find sturdiness in shaky times.
May I find sturdiness in shaky times.
May I trust that this too shall pass.
May I trust that this too shall pass.
May I remain balanced when times are difficult.
May I remain balanced when times are difficult.
May I remain at peace when challenges arise.
May I remain at peace when challenges arrive.
I live life with a strong and sturdy back,
With a strong and sturdy heart.
I live life with a strong and sturdy spine,
With a strong and sturdy trunk,
With roots that run deep.
I live life with a soft and open heart.
I live life with a trust and curiosity.
I live life with a softness,
With a peace,
With a balance.
I navigate difficulty with equanimity,
With care,
And with courage.
Feeling your lower body,
Feeling your core,
Feeling your spine,
Resting here,
Resting in this soft sturdiness.
Feeling your lower body,
Feeling the length of your spine,
From your tailbone to your skull.
Sturdy,
Soft,
Meeting the present moment just as it is.
Sturdy,
Soft,
Meeting the present moment just as it is.
Strong,
Still trunk,
Deep,
Wide roots.
Sturdy and tall spine,
Soft and open heart.
Now slowly starting to come back to the world around you.
Maintaining connection,
Awareness with and in the lower body and spine.
Starting to incorporate the sounds around you.
Connecting with the borders of the room we're in,
The furniture.
Starting to notice light shining through closed eyelids.
Taking a final deep breath to close our practice.
Inhaling through the nose,
Letting it out.
Sending it down into your lower body,
Into your roots.
And opening your eyes at your own pace.
Again,
Staying connected to root,
Staying connected to your trunk and to your spine.
And to your softness.
Taking your time to come back into this space.
