I invite you to find a nice comfortable place to sit.
Maybe you're on the floor crisscross applesauce or on a meditation cushion.
Maybe you're on your sofa in a chair or in a chair.
Take a moment to find a place where your whole body is comfortable,
Not straining but upright and awake.
Once you're settled,
I invite you to take a deep breath in and a nice slow exhale through the mouth.
Maybe one more time,
Nice deep breath in through the nose.
Let it go.
We'll begin with just some body awareness.
Perhaps visualize each part of you in turn.
From tip to toes,
Noting just with loving kindness and curiosity where you find any tension or tightness.
And wherever you do,
Maybe just send your breath slowly and lovingly into that area.
Just increasing our relaxation little bit by little bit.
From the head to the face to the torso,
Through the waist,
Into the pelvis,
Down into the legs and through the feet.
Let the jaw be slack,
Let your head rest against the wall or the couch or wherever you are.
Or be gently upright.
Let the shoulders be relaxed.
Let the arms rest,
The fingers loose.
No tension.
Let the legs be relaxed.
If your feet are on the ground or on the floor,
Let the floor just hold them up.
Let those muscles rest as much as possible.
One more nice deep breath.
Exhale.
Once you feel settled,
I invite you to bring your chin to your chest.
Take a nice slow out breath and just let the chin hover there.
Head bent with the weight of the head,
Opening up some of those tight muscles in your neck and your upper back.
Keep breathing slowly and evenly.
And when you feel you're ready,
On an inhale,
Bring the head to one side so that the ear comes toward the shoulder.
Stay there for a few breaths.
Just noting what you feel,
Breathing space into any tense areas.
And next time you're ready,
On an exhale,
Bring the chin back to the chest.
And then let the head come up in a semicircle to the other side as you inhale.
Again,
Stay here for a few breaths.
Once again,
When you're ready,
Bring the head back to neutral,
Facing forward.
And then maybe lift and release the shoulders just a few times.
Maybe roll them backward if that feels right to you.
One at a time or both together,
Just again finding some space.
And then once you've finished,
Feel free to take any other gentle movement that your body seems to tell you is right,
Right now,
Before you come to stillness and we begin our meditation.
Just take a moment here.
Once that movement is complete,
Feel free to close your eyes or keep them open,
Whichever is most comfortable for you.
If your eyes are open,
I invite you to hold your gaze on something pleasant to look at,
Maybe a few feet in front of you,
Looking at that object with a soft gaze.
And let's tune into the breath,
Just feeling the gentle rhythm of inhale,
Exhale.
Just noticing,
Not changing,
Not manipulating the breath at all,
Just watching it,
Bearing witness to the soothing beauty that is your breath.
As you feel it move in and out,
Perhaps you feel the lightness of your body just a little bit more as your physical form rests.
As it does,
Allow your inner self to start to move about,
Finding additional space,
Stretching.
Moving away from your physical form just a little bit.
And as you do,
Perhaps as you lift away,
You begin to see the room at a different angle.
Maybe you even see yourself sitting in the position in which you're set up.
Notice what you see,
What you experience,
The lightness of your form.
Imagine yourself continuing to flit about the room and maybe even leaving the room to see what's beyond it.
And as you explore,
I invite you to imagine this lighter form of you as your inner self finds its way into a meadow,
Beautiful,
Undisturbed.
Settle in,
Take a seat on the grass and look around,
Noticing the beautiful colors.
The gentleness of a breeze that might be blowing.
And as you look around,
You notice that there's a circle drawn around your form and you're sitting within that circle.
It's a nice large circle within that meadow.
Within the circle is your peace,
Your quiet,
Your calm,
Your stillness,
The absence of any phenomena.
Outside that circle are the things that take up your mind and your thoughts,
Concerns,
Ideas,
Anything at all that takes up space.
As you visualize,
Imagine all of those things,
All of that phenomena lining up outside the circle and perhaps you even see a difference in the color of the grass outside versus inside.
Maybe the grass inside is slightly greener.
Feel free to visualize all of those things outside the circle.
See them lining up.
And when you have all of those things lined up outside your circle,
What I invite you to do is take a very deep breath in and as you exhale,
Imagine your circle getting wider,
Just little by little pushing all of that phenomena back so that you can see a little bit more of that deep green grass between you and your thoughts.
Take another cleansing inhale and as you exhale,
Watch the circle expand even further,
Leaving more clean,
Clear,
Empty space between you and everything else.
I invite you to continue this exercise for the next two minutes in silence,
Inhaling clean,
Fresh air and exhaling to increase your personal space.
I invite you to continue this exercise for as long as you like,
Expanding that circle,
Seeing the peaceful,
Serene meadow continue to grow.
The clean stillness of your mind expanding further and further.
And as it grows,
It brings peace and quiet with it.
Feel free to pause this recording as you continue the process until you feel that practice is complete.
And when you do feel you are complete,
I invite you to have one additional look at that serenity surrounding you.
Take it all in every little detail.
Notice the open space and the fact that all those things are a distance away.
Maybe you can barely see them,
Maybe you can't see them.
All you see is open space.
And as you look at that,
I invite you to take a moment to reflect and truly feel the serenity within you,
Encapsulating it to take with you when you're ready.
And when you are ready,
I invite you to open your eyes.
Have a peaceful day.
