Hi,
This is Stephanie Boxerbaum.
Thank you so much for joining me in this meditation today.
For today's practice,
We're going to be doing a practices for a center day meditation.
Often when we have a very busy day ahead of us,
It's easy to forget what we're practicing when we're meditating.
This ability to have continuity of focus,
The ability to really just be present,
Letting the body settle,
And just kind of easing into the day.
Sometimes when we're just in the middle of all of it,
Our reactivity can take over.
So we want to be able to connect the dots,
Connect the dots from our practice into our daily life,
Not with any pressure,
Not with any stress,
Just ease,
Ease to be able to just help move through your day.
So on that note,
Let's take a comfortable seat.
Whatever feels good to you today.
Maybe that's sitting up with some pillows prop behind your back.
Or maybe you want to lay down.
It's really whatever is the most comfortable to you.
So finding that comfortable seat,
Gently closing your eyes.
And let's take a deep breath in on a gentle exhale out.
Doing that once more gentle inhale in and a deep exhale out.
Letting go of whatever you were doing before this moment and whatever you're going to do after.
And really just coming into the present moment.
Whatever that looks like for you today.
And let's connect with the breath a little bit.
So maybe you just want to feel the air going in and out of your nostrils.
Or if that seems tough today,
You can always just put your hands on your belly,
Watching the rise and fall of the breath.
No particular cadence.
Just a gentle inhale and a gentle exhale.
Knowing that you are supported in this moment.
Beginning to put the attention on the breath.
So thoughts will come in and out.
That's normal.
We're not trying to stop the thinking.
We just want to practice that continuity of attention on the breath.
So as the mind starts thinking or telling stories,
We just gently come back.
Coming back to the inhale and the exhale.
Settling.
Settling.
And just settling the body.
I'll watch our time here.
And if the thoughts become too much,
You can just simply label it thinking.
And then coming back to the breath.
So we'll stay here for this next little bit.
Just allowing yourself to feel the grounding and the ease of the breath.
The best way that you can today.
On this next gentle inhale in and the deep exhale out.
Bringing to mind what it feels like to be in your daily life.
Just on any given day,
However things feel.
And thinking about a situation that maybe causes a little bit of tension,
A little bit of reactivity,
Nothing too heavy.
But just where you get a little bit fired up perhaps.
And I invite you to think of a phrase.
And what this phrase is all about is giving you a place to come back to.
Coming back to this moment you're in right now where you've allowed yourself some breathing,
You've allowed yourself some space,
You're cultivating a sense of peace.
What phrase you can say in your mind in a moment of maybe agitation or frustration that happens during the day that kind of brings you back to this place.
So maybe it's something like reminder of calmness or remember to breathe.
It's really whatever resonates for you.
But the idea here is we find this phrase and we can kind of practice it,
Just silently repeating it in your mind of a phrase that really embodies how this sense of ease feels for you right now.
And as we practice with this,
We can begin to take this out into our outer world as well.
To begin to blend the sense of ease that we kind of practice during our meditation and bringing it into daily life where things may not feel as easy.
So coming to a phrase that works for you and it's you can change it if you decide,
You know what,
I want a different phrase,
That's okay too.
And I'll watch our time here and just invite you silently to just say the phrase in your mind at whatever pace you want.
Taking a gentle inhale in and a deep exhale out,
Letting go of the phrase,
Coming back into your space.
Maybe wiggling your fingers and your toes.
And just knowing that this phrase is something that you can come back to at any time.
And as always,
I'd love to share the reminder,
You are always enough as is.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today and I hope to meditate again with you soon.
