Today,
I'll be taking you through one of my primary approaches to mindfulness practice.
I practice this sequence most days and have been for over a year.
It's a flexible practice.
It's an easy to follow sequence,
And I'm so excited to share it with you today.
Find a comfortable seat.
This could certainly be done seated or lying down,
But you'll definitely want to find yourself into a place where you can welcome in some stillness into your day.
Once you find yourself comfortable,
You might just begin to orient with where you are in your space.
That might include looking around the room a bit,
Letting your eyes wander where they want to go.
That might include tuning into how your body is positioned.
My knees are bent.
My arms are resting on the sides of the chair.
I feel where the floor is pressing into my feet.
This might look like noticing where your body presses into the surface beneath it and where pressure is a little bit less.
Find yourself where you are,
And then notice your feet.
You don't need to do anything with them,
Not even label anything.
Perhaps you find some awareness of something observable or describable,
But that's not necessary.
Simply put your awareness in your feet,
And then allow your awareness to drift into your lower legs.
Again,
Nothing to change,
Nothing specific that you need to do,
But if something calls to you,
Oh,
I feel an itch,
Oh,
I notice a fidget,
That's beautiful information.
Again,
But perhaps you simply notice,
Oh,
My lower legs all the way down there.
Yep,
They're still attached to me.
There they are.
Let your awareness be with and in your body as you then shift your awareness into your knees and your thighs.
If it helps,
You can even imagine your brain,
Your center of consciousness traveling downward physically in your body,
Finding its way all the way to the thighs,
Or imagine what it would be like if your eyes were on your thighs,
And what it would feel like to see the world from that perspective.
Simply be aware of the thighs.
And then the hips,
Letting your awareness drift across the hip joints,
The pelvic bowl,
Perhaps even into the lower back.
Notice its weightiness.
If you feel called to make adjustments like relaxing or sinking or letting go,
Feel free to follow that impulse,
But that's certainly not required.
All you need to do is simply let your awareness rest.
And into the mid torso,
And perhaps you notice the low to mid back,
Or the abdominal wall or the side body.
But don't forget to go inward.
Notice the gut.
Notice the reproductive organs and the kidneys,
Allowing your awareness to travel even further up into the upper torso.
Perhaps starting on the surface with the skin and the muscles,
But remembering to come deep The liver,
The lungs,
And the heart.
Letting your awareness be present in your shoulders,
And if you need some extra time with the chest or the upper back,
Allow that here.
Letting your awareness come into the upper arms and the elbows,
The forearms,
Wrist,
Hands,
And fingers.
Again,
Any observations that you can label are wonderful.
Please don't feel pressured to change anything unless you're truly called.
But simply shift your awareness.
There my hands are.
I feel my arms connected to the rest of my body.
Allowing then your awareness to move into your neck and drifting up into the head,
Perhaps the jaw,
Mouth,
Up around the back of the skull,
Cheeks,
The ears,
The nose,
The eyes.
Letting your awareness fully envelop every piece of you until it converges at the third eye.
This place just between the eyebrows,
An inch or two inside the skull.
A seat of wisdom,
A place of contemplation,
Letting your awareness rest,
And you may want to simply breathe while your awareness sits at the third eye,
Or you might feel called to introduce a mantra.
Continue on how you see fit with your breath or another mantra that suits you,
Leaving your breath here in the third eye.
Some time to practice.
And if at any time you notice that your mind is wandering,
Just gently bring it back,
Resting your awareness in your third eye with your breath or your chanting,
Or perhaps even a prayer.
You are encouraged to stick with this practice for as long as you have available to you today.
When you feel ready to let the practice go,
You are encouraged to truly do just that.
Let go.
Let go of the effort.
Let go of focus,
And simply be.
Experience the lightness that comes with this letting go,
And feel encouraged to revisit this awareness of your body throughout the day whenever you have a moment.
You might choose to seal your practice with prayer or some journaling or perhaps one final OM.
Today,
I leave you to practice further or to transition into the next part of your day with the way that I often like to close my prayer practice.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om Shanti Om Namaste
