So starting with a deep breath through the nose,
Closing your eyes and then just let that breath leave normally.
Do a couple more really slow inhale.
Really start feeling the air entering your nose and shoulders and chest expanding and then settling into stillness into being in a comfortable position and we just start taking this time to let ourselves be as we are and paying attention to our body and if we do that,
Those two things,
Not trying to change anything,
Just let whatever happens happen.
Our body starts to relax.
Any energy or stress that we've built up throughout the morning will start to be released and that will happen through thoughts,
Sensations,
Emotions may come up.
You can sort of see it as the mind is settling,
The body is settling like you're throwing a stone in a pond and all the ripples are starting to leave and then it will come back to stillness.
So bringing awareness to your shoulders,
Start feeling deep into the left shoulder,
The right shoulder,
Coming away from our ears,
We're coming up to our jaw,
Softening our jaw and tongue,
Our face and the sides of our face,
Forehead,
Eyes,
Muscles around here,
Scalp,
So we're not forcing anything to soften,
Just bringing awareness to these places can be enough.
You stay with it for a while,
Notice any tightness and then that tightness starts to release.
So even though mindfulness is a mind practice,
We,
Well it's really a mind-body practice,
We calm our mind by being in our bodies.
You know we can't stop thoughts coming,
They just happen,
So if we just allow them to calm down then that's enough.
But also paying attention to something else means that thoughts don't have as much power,
Softening any sensations now in your throat,
Neck,
Front of your neck,
And just becoming aware of any sensations that are happening with fats,
Pulsing or vibrations,
Any movements that are happening moment to moment,
So our attention will go between place to place.
It will be somewhere for a little while and then move somewhere else.
If we start questioning the practice,
What we should be doing,
Are we doing it right or doing it wrong,
Just come back to the body,
The breath,
That's just our minds in a state of doubt.
There are different mind states and that's the doubt mind state.
So we start to recognize what type of thoughts we're having and the type of thoughts have an emotional charge which we can feel in the body.
So doubt might feel your shoulders might tense up or your eyebrows might furrow as you're trying to figure something out.
If we're in our body we notice that and we can just let those muscles relax again,
Letting go.
So bring the whole body into awareness now,
So you've got your hands and your arms,
Feel whatever sensations there are there,
Feeling seated,
The chair pushing back against the back of the legs,
Feet on the floor,
And then we just rest in the middle,
Allowing sensations to come to us from all over.
And our mind may wander onto different topics and we'll lose touch with our body for a moment.
And when we come back we realize that we've been thinking in an emotional way or about something,
Could be neutral,
But we come back to a body that's a different place and then we left it,
So we just start from here.
Maybe realize was it useful for us to go off and thinking for those last few seconds or is it more useful just to be in our bodies and calm.
Maybe this should be our new habit rather than worrying or ruminating.
Switching out now to include sounds.
So if you're in a quiet place,
Inside or outside your room,
Just let the sounds flow,
And then just come back into our bodies and feel breathing happening.
So generally when we're calm,
Breathing will be the most prominent thing.
A sense of warmth or the breath or the breath itself just moving.
When we're stressed or busy,
It'll be harder to focus on the breath.
So just notice the flow,
Inhale,
Exhale.
It's like a wave,
Wave motion coming in,
Coming out,
Going out.
And we just get to learn that as we're calm,
Problems seem to be easier to solve.
An answer might come to us,
But when we're tense and stressed then everything seems a bit overwhelming.
So we learn it's better to be calm.
And this practice engages the parasympathetic nervous system.
Rest and digest.
And once again just scan those muscles that may hold tension.
Coming up to the eyelid,
Eye,
Muscles around your eyes,
Cheeks,
Allow your jaw to soften again if it's tense.
Tension does come back.
So everything's hanging softly.
And another part of mindfulness,
Which is just opening up to sensations.
Even sensations that we don't like or we're not sure of.
Can we just be okay with them?
They're here,
It's okay.
You can hold them in awareness until they melt away.
And we do this by gently going towards them,
Just opening up to them.
If nothing's happening for you,
Then we just breathe and sit.
Moment to moment observing our experience.
Body and mind are one.
Now lastly,
Just open your eyes,
Still be in stillness,
But notice any movement that's happening around you,
Whether you've got a window near you.
So even though we're still,
There's life happening around,
Outside.
Start to notice the little things that we wouldn't be able to see.
Wouldn't have noticed if we'd been thinking.
Now we'll start,
We'll end how we started,
Deep breath.
Let that breath leave normally.
