Good morning,
And thank you for being here.
Thank you for showing up.
Thank you for choosing yourself.
Thank you for choosing stillness in this world that seems to never want to stop moving.
Alan Watts says,
Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.
We all so often try to solve our overwhelm by thinking our way through it,
By doing more,
Reaching more,
Striving harder,
Pushing.
But sometimes clarity comes not through effort,
But simply through stillness.
Like water settling after being stirred,
Our bodies and minds soften when we simply stop.
This practice is an invitation to pause.
Not to fix,
But to feel.
Not to figure it out,
But to be with what is.
Let's begin.
Let's begin by arriving.
Right here,
Right now.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and hold it gently at the top.
Take one small sip of air in and now exhale slowly through the mouth with a sigh.
Again,
Inhale fully,
Hold.
One last time,
Breathe in,
Feeling your chest expand and hold.
A sigh and a long,
Complete exhale.
Let your body soften.
Let your mind settle.
Let the ground beneath you take your weight.
And use the mantra,
I am here,
I am now,
I am present.
Allow that to be your anchor,
Not just in this practice,
But throughout the day.
Sometimes the only thing left to do is stop.
Not quit,
Just stop.
Not as a failure.
Not as a sign you've lost your way,
But as an act of simply remembering.
Remembering that you're more than your motion.
Remembering that you're more than the thoughts rumbling and rustling in your mind.
Remembering that presence is enough.
See yourself now walking slowly through a quiet forest.
The trees stretch tall above you,
Their branches weaving a canopy of green.
Light filters through in dappled patterns.
You walk without purpose,
Just one step after the other,
Until you find yourself in a small clearing.
And in the center of that clearing sits a single flat stone bathed in sunlight.
You feel a gentle nudge,
A whisper.
It's an invitation for you to stop.
To sit,
To rest.
Allow yourself to take your seat there now.
And what I want you to physically do is physically be still in your body.
Let your breath be easy,
Let your muscles release.
Nothing needs to happen here.
Just this.
Just stop.
You might find it useful to pause this meditation here.
And give yourself a moment of peace.
As you sit,
What do you notice when there's nowhere to go?
What rises in the stillness?
Can you feel your breath without forcing it?
Can you feel your heart beating?
Your belly rising?
Your body being?
If another part softens,
Welcome that too.
If a part of you feels restless,
Let that be okay.
Offer both of them this quiet space to breathe with you,
To feel peace with you.
As we bring this practice to a close,
Let us anchor ourselves with the following four affirmations.
Take a deep breath in.
Hold and exhale.
And say out loud or softly to yourself,
I am allowed to stop.
Stillness is cleansing.
With pause comes wisdom.
All parts of me are welcome here with me.
And let these words settle into your body like sunlight on the skin,
Like roots.
Like roots in the soil.
