Arriving in your posture.
Closing your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so.
If you prefer to leave them open,
You're more than welcome to just find a point a few feet ahead of you.
Slightly gazing downward.
Relaxing your eyes.
Taking a few deep breaths to signal the start of your practice to your body,
To your nervous system.
Relaxing the shoulders.
Relaxing the jaw.
And after your next active breath,
Allowing your breath to come to its own natural rhythm on its own.
You start to shift your attention into the felt experience of the body.
First just getting a general sense of what it feels like to be sitting here.
Starting to explore the points of contact between your body and the ground beneath you.
Anywhere where you meet the floor,
You can feel into that pressure.
Just noticing.
Neither judging nor trying to change.
Maybe there are some aches.
Maybe there are some pains.
That's okay.
As much as possible,
Just softening into them.
If anything becomes super prominent,
Overwhelming,
You're always welcome to adjust the position.
But first seeing if you can really be with the sensations.
As you allow your attention to now drift down into your feet.
Just starting to get curious.
What do my feet feel like right now?
I'm not answering that cognitively,
But really paying attention to the sensations themselves.
Noticing the shape of your feet.
And it can be helpful.
If it is helpful,
You can imagine a spotlight.
There's a visual component here.
Imagine a spotlight shining on your feet.
You can pick a color that you resonate with.
You can also opt out of the spotlight if you just want to feel the sensation.
And I'm going to guide the spotlight up through the body.
Just allowing your attention to drift with my guidance.
Up through the ankles.
The calves and shins.
Knees.
Upper legs.
Hamstring.
Quads.
The hips.
Low back.
Stomach.
Mid back.
Solar plexus.
Upper back and chest.
Feeling the shoulders.
Maybe allowing them to soften a little bit.
Allowing your attention to drift down your other arms.
Forearms.
Wrists.
Palms and back of your hand.
And fingers.
Now shifting your spotlight and your attention back up the arms all the way back up to the shoulders.
And now the neck.
Back of the neck.
And the throat.
Wrapping around to the front of the head,
The forehead.
Eyes.
Cheeks.
Nose.
And moving back up to the head,
The scalp.
Top of the skull.
If you can imagine a super slow and gentle waterfall from the tippy top of your head.
Running all the way down your body to your toes and your feet.
As you allow your awareness to expand to include the whole body.
Head,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Arms,
Torso,
Hips,
Upper and lower legs,
Feet.
Feeling the whole body sitting here more fully.
Noticing the breath.
Breathing on its own.
Allowing your attention to start to gently focus in on the sensations of the breath,
Wherever you feel them most clearly.
Again,
Bringing this curious,
Observational,
Non-judgmental awareness.
Not trying to change or force the breath.
Just letting it happen.
And noticing the sensations in the in-breath.
Stomach rising.
Expanding.
Shoulders moving.
Nostrils inhaling.
And notice the sensations on the out-breath.
Like softening the diaphragm.
Relaxing shoulders.
Nose passage blowing out.
Slightly warmer.
And starting to get in touch with this rhythm of the breath.
This gentle expansion and contraction.
And just resting your attention here.
And any time that you notice you've lost track of the breath,
The thoughts,
Or even to sounds or an itch,
Just noting.
Whispering internally,
Ah,
Thank you.
And gently shifting,
Choosing to shift your attention back into the sensations of the breath.
To this in-breath.
And this out-breath.
One breath at a time.
Gently coming back to the breath.
Open to the sensations of the body sitting here.
Open to sounds.
Body,
Feeling the body sitting here.
Noticing the breath again.
Noticing the points of contact between the body and the ground beneath you.
And starting to connect with the space around you.
You can imagine the walls that confine the room.
Imagine the space in between the walls.
Imagine the other people,
The other hearts in the room.
And as you're ready,
Slowly,
With intention,
Starting to open your eyes.
Carrying with you a connection to breath,
A connection to body,
A connection to the present moment.
Taking a moment to adjust your vision.
Appreciate the freshness of grounded eyes.
Adjusting if necessary,
Stretching,
Breathing.
And just kind of checking in with yourself right now.
The quality of your body,
Of your mind.
Are there any noticeable differences compared to before that meditation or when you came in?
