And as you start to arrive in your position for practice,
Invite a beautiful inhale deep through the nostrils,
Into the lower lobes of the lungs,
And then let it all wash away.
Inhaling through the nose once again,
And letting it all go through the mouth.
Last one just for you,
And taking a moment of balance within that as you inhale and exhale,
Noticing that balancing feeling of taking in and letting go in equal measure.
If we just take in,
Take in,
Take in,
There's no outlet,
There's no release,
We need to be letting go as much as we bring it in.
So now just gently sealing off the lips and letting the breath flow freely in and out of your nostrils.
As you stay with the breath in the nose,
Let the shoulders soften,
Let the forehead smooth,
And notice what is present for you within.
And we'll start by noticing the mind space.
For the next few moments,
As the breath is always your anchor here,
Always ever present in your practice,
Just notice as you breathe,
What kind of thoughts are coming up in your screen,
Up in your vision of the mind space,
What's there?
Are they tainted with the past,
Or are they infused with future projections,
Or are they present focused?
And is there space between thoughts?
Just notice.
And notice where you've gone,
If you've drifted away from observation into becoming entwined with the thoughts that are present,
See if you can keep stepping deeper in to come out of the thought space,
Come closer to the breath to create space.
When you stay within the cozy confines of the When you stay within the cozy confines of the breath,
The thoughts don't come as frequently or as fully.
So keep returning to the breath whenever you feel and acknowledge that time of drifting away and getting involved in those thought worms.
Choose the breath again when you notice that that is the moment of meditation.
Choosing what is important,
Choosing what is your focus,
Make the breath that.
We get to choose what is in our foreground,
What is in our background,
It's all coming through your inner lens.
So let the breath be in the foreground.
Pure presence,
No agenda,
No story,
Just pure breath.
And now we're just going to gently drop into observation of our emotional landscape.
Sensing inwardly to that space within,
All the while the breath is like a metronome just here in your awareness.
But as you do that,
Just sensing emotionally,
Where are you in this moment?
You might find a colour that could depict that.
And trying not to dwell inside it too much,
But just be more curious.
Creating a healthy space between what's going on internally and your role as observer.
Beautifully done and know that all is welcome.
In our human experience,
We have the full range,
The full scope of emotions to live through.
It's just your flavour right now.
It's all temporary.
And then gently drifting your awareness into your physical body.
Noticing here now,
The body in time and space.
And just being aware of what's going on in your physical body.
Noticing here now,
The body in time and space.
Any areas of openness.
Any areas of deep relaxation.
And on the other end of that,
Any areas of smallness or tightness or tension.
Just noticing it all.
And we just took those short moments together to do a little check-in with the mind,
With the emotionality,
With the body.
That's a lovely way just to check in and it takes just a couple of moments each day.
From here,
We're going to go on a little bit more of a journey with the breath.
Our calm,
Our serene breath is going to be experienced today.
So the next time that you breathe in,
Count to the number four.
And the next time you breathe out,
Count from six to one.
In for the count of four.
And out and down from the count of six.
Extending the exhale breath,
Allowing our parasympathetic nervous system to switch on,
To support us in resting and digesting.
Releasing and letting go through the breath.
And every time you do that extended exhale,
Imagine you were letting go of a little bit more worry,
A little bit more doubt,
A little bit more anxiety,
A little bit more fear,
A little bit more anxiety.
Mental clutter.
It's an outlet every time you breathe out to let go of something.
This is the practice for the next few shared moments.
Stay with it.
In for four,
Out for six.
Making this the final round of serene breath.
In for four,
Out for six.
Beautifully done.
From here,
Simply returning to your natural breath.
Notice how nice it feels to not shape or count the breath,
But just let it flow freely in and out.
And as we do this,
We're going to go on a little visualization,
Contemplation together.
So clear the mind space entirely of stories,
Of ideas,
And start to create the visualization now in your mind of a beautiful large room that's minimalistic.
That is light and airy,
And when you walk in,
It feels literally like a breath of fresh air.
You can feel the breeze through the window coming in,
And there's a clean,
Clear aroma in the air.
The space is almost empty,
Just with a faint breeze of fresh air.
A lovely couch in the center.
You start to walk towards the couch,
And you decide to take a seat.
You spend a moment in this very open,
Bare space,
Just connecting to yourself.
With everything stripped back,
The sofa looks even more beautiful.
And you're able to really be clear with your intentionality.
And as you sit here in this beautiful space,
You just start to contemplate what it is that is important to you.
If you take all the clutter away,
What matters most to you?
You just spend some time feeling into that here on this cozy couch.
And you let that land in your body,
Not simply making this an activity of the mind,
But also an activity of the heart.
What matters most to me?
And how can we bring it to the spotlight through our awareness?
And then imagine gathering yourself up,
Feeling content with those thoughts.
And you decide to carry on through the beautiful,
Open hallway to another room.
This room is incredibly spacious once again,
And it has green leaves and natural plants on one feature wall.
And just behind the feature wall,
You see beneath the vines of leaves and greenery,
A wardrobe.
And the door is slightly ajar.
Drawn to the openness of this door,
You open it with curiosity.
And inside,
You see a shelving space.
Upon the top shelf,
You see something labeled a box.
And this represents what you're willing to let go of.
It could be jealousy,
Doubt,
Self-criticism,
Noticing what it is that arises as you ponder what would be in that first box.
What have you been accumulating most recently that you're willing now to see and to release?
You remove that box of curiosity,
And you open it with curiosity.
You take that box down from the wardrobe,
And you place it by your feet.
You cast your eye back up to the shelving unit in the wardrobe,
And you see another box.
This is a bit of a smaller box now,
And it's something else you're willing to let go of,
What is it that is next in line to be released?
Feeling good about making the action to take that away,
You bring it down and place it by your feet on top of the first box.
And then the bottom shelf of this unit has a smaller box.
What is the third thing you're willing to let go of?
Self-judgment,
Unworthiness,
Lack of self-esteem,
What is it you're willing to release?
Feeling content that it's time to let that go,
You take hold of that box and you put it on top of the second box.
You look at this little stack of boxes and you gather them in your hands,
Lifting them up into your chest,
Walking through the room,
Back through the hallway,
Back through the first room with the beautiful couch,
And you see an open door.
This open door is bright and luminous and it has steps coming up and out,
And you choose to leave the room.
And as you step up and out,
You realize that you're stepping on glass stairs going up into the atmosphere,
And the atmosphere asks you to release those boxes,
To let them go,
To dissolve into the ether.
So you take the smallest box and you throw it out into the sky and it dissolves.
And you take the second box,
Acknowledging what that stands for for you,
And you cast it out into the sky and it dissolves.
And that heavy first box,
The bigger one that you were really keen first to get rid of,
You acknowledge what it served you and you choose to let it go.
You empty it out and off it goes into the ether.
And as you let go of the first box,
You start to notice what's present for you and what's present for you after that visualisation together.
And as you let go of the second box,
You start to notice what's present for you and what's present for you after that visualisation together.
And as you let go of the first box,
You start to notice what's present for you and what's present for you after that visualisation together.
Noticing if it's brought up anything or anything needs a little bit of tenderness,
Just being compassionate towards yourself in that.
And starting to deepen your natural breath once again.
Noticing any sounds in your environment.
Noticing any sensations on the surface of your skin.
And when you're ready,
Starting to bring some subtle movements back into the fingers,
Back into the toes.
It might feel nice to stretch the body somewhere,
Somehow.
And only when you're ready to return without those burdens,
With that decluttered expansion,
That space inbuilt now,
You may open your eyes.
Thank you.
