Take a moment to get into a comfortable position,
Either sitting cross-legged or with your feet on the ground.
And if you need something to put under your feet,
Just pause this meditation and go and get that right now.
Allow yourself to feel your feet firmly on the ground and your seat completely supporting your full body,
Allowing yourself to be held in this moment,
Dropping your attention from your mind down into the body,
The way a leaf would drop off a branch and rest gently on the ground,
Dropping your attention all the way down to the lower half of your body,
From the hips downwards,
Allowing you to be grounded,
Bringing attention to your breath.
Just notice the felt sensation of the breath moving in through your nose,
Filling up your lungs,
Maybe even your stomach,
And out through your nose,
Your mouth,
Allowing that breath to extend where there's a still point at the end,
To breathe back in through the nose and again out twice as long,
Exhale.
Repeat this breath in through your nose,
Filling up your stomach cavity,
And out twice as long,
Exhale as many times as feels good for you.
There's a calm button in our stomach,
There's actually nerves down there,
So when we breathe in this way,
It's a quick way to settle our central nervous system,
Coming to a place of calm.
In meditation,
All we're here to do is witness and observe the thoughts that dance across our mind and the emotions that come with it that are felt in our body.
So you can imagine as if we're sitting at the cinema together,
Watching a film with some distance between the screen and where we're sitting,
And on that screen are all the thoughts that come dancing across along with the emotions felt in the body.
We're not here to change or stop anything,
Just here to bear witness to whatever arises during this meditation.
And as stories go,
If they have drama attached to them,
Or some compelling action like a checklist,
We're just here to watch it again,
Not get drawn to the drama or the action.
Gently bringing ourselves back to the breath each time,
Allowing ourselves this moment to deeply rest.
Nothing to do,
No need to quiet the mind,
The mind is simply doing what it does.
And we're simply here to observe it.
As you keep your attention on your body,
If there's any tension or constriction,
You can just invite it to release if it wishes.
Sometimes bringing our breath to that part of our body can assist it.
We find ourselves getting drawn into a story.
That's the moment we just bring ourselves back to the breath.
Nothing's gone wrong.
Just gently bringing ourselves back to the present moment.
Now just begin to wiggle your fingers and toes.
You can take that deeper inhale into the stomach again.
Maybe twice as long exhale out of the mouth this time.
Repeating that breath at your own pace.
Allow yourself to stretch and move the body in whatever way that feels good.
When you're ready,
You can open your eyes.
