Welcome to your practice of finding steadiness where there's chaos.
Of finding our footing when you sometimes can feel like we're drowning.
I hope this practice brings you a sense of steadiness in your present moment.
So find yourself in any posture that helps you to pause,
Whether that's standing,
Sitting,
Or lying down.
You can have your eyes open or closed.
And if you decide to open them,
You might focus them on someplace neutral.
So where there isn't any distraction.
And we're going to start by taking five rounds of breath.
Breathing in for a count of five and taking an open mouth exhale to move out any physical tension that's just here.
Start by taking a normal breath.
And now in this next breath,
We'll breathe in for five.
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Open mouth exhale,
Let it go.
Inhale 5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Exhale,
Let your shoulders drop.
Again,
Inhale five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Soften your jaw.
Two more times.
Inhale for a count of five.
As you exhale,
Settle into where your body touches something.
Maybe it's the couch,
The bed,
The floor.
One more deep breath in for five.
And as you exhale,
What else can let go?
Let your breath be natural now,
Without changing it,
Without forcing it.
And just sense any sort of muscular shifts that happened in those breaths.
Can you notice where your hands are?
And sense what textures you feel.
Is there a temperature that you notice in your hands?
Can you sense the pressure under your fingers?
Or even just the weight of your hands.
Can you notice where your feet are?
They might be touching the floor directly or some part of them might be touching something.
Can you notice where your body makes direct contact to what's supporting it?
And at those contact points,
Can you get heavier?
As you do,
Can you sense your breath moving your body from the inside?
And the aliveness of this moment.
You might mentally say to yourself,
I'm here.
Here I am.
Can you notice what you can hear?
What sort of sounds are existing for you right now?
As you listen for them,
You might name them in your mind.
Notice if you start to judge them with preference or why you think this sound is happening.
And see if you can notice when that happens.
Because that's a powerful moment of recognizing the you that's not inside the experience.
The you that is steady,
That can witness this moment.
You might listen really closely for far away sounds.
What's the most distant sound that you can hear?
See if you can soften your face.
And get a sense for the temperature of the space that you're in.
And that as you inhale,
Your body fills with air.
And as you exhale,
Your body gets heavy.
Sometimes as we drop in like this,
An emotion comes up.
And this too could be an opportunity.
To observe without judging.
So that might mean acknowledging what you notice.
And naming it for what it is.
And that even when.
.
.
An emotion is present.
You still have access.
To what you can hear.
To what you can feel.
To what you can sense.
To your breath.
And sometimes.
.
.
When life feels chaotic,
It can be hard to access these things.
So know that that's part of a natural experience.
So maybe you come back to what you feel under your hands.
Maybe you relax your shoulders one more time.
Every time you come back.
To your breath,
Your body,
To sound.
You come back to the present moment.
Which is the only moment that really truly exists.
Sometimes that can be a relief in and of itself.
Take a deep breath in.
And an open mouth exhale,
Let something go.
And if your eyes are closed,
You might open them.
I invite you to look around your space.
And as you look around,
Can you take in the colors,
The shapes?
Land your eyes on something.
Particularly pleasant.
It might be the color of something or an image.
Maybe you're near a window.
And what drew your eyes to that?
What drew your eyes there?
Can you sense what it is you like about it?
And what it might be like to let it in.
Take a long breath in.
And let it go.
As you go about the rest of your day,
You might return to your access to the senses.
Your access to deep breath and finding something to land your eyes on that feels pleasant to you.
These are tools you could take anywhere.
Give it a try.
Thank you for practicing with me.
