You are so welcome to this practice today and I hope that for the next few moments you can really allow yourself to come into a placement of your body that feels really supportive for you.
So really take your time now in these first few moments to just allow yourself to settle and arrive.
What does that mean for you to allow yourself to settle and arrive?
How easy,
How difficult is it for you to engage with that process today?
Some days it will be more challenging for us to simply be,
To simply listen,
To allow ourselves to really let go into a space of ease.
And I invite you in these next few moments to really try to find that place of ease.
What does that look like for you today?
Maybe you're lying down,
Maybe you're sitting down,
Maybe you're on your side or on your back,
You're lying onto your belly.
What would feel most supportive for you?
Once you've started to make those adjustments and take as much time as you need in that process as well,
Take as much time as is necessary.
This is your entry point,
Your gateway into allowing the body to start to feel listened to.
And sometimes,
Sometimes the body is tense and the mind is still racing.
But as soon as you start to just make those little adjustments,
Those cues that invite your body into a place of support,
There might be an opening,
Maybe a softening of sorts.
And if you start to feel that,
Notice that,
That there's a softening.
See if you can drop into the felt sensation of that softening,
That opening.
If it's not there,
Don't worry.
Just allowing yourself to start to observe maybe the breath.
The breath is an entry point into felt sensation.
So noticing perhaps the breath offers a kind of rhythmic motion,
Rhythmic movement in the body,
In your body.
Start to notice and feel where you experience that movement,
That motion.
What you start to notice about that experience of breathing.
Does it feel easy or difficult to tune into that experience in this moment?
Does it feel blocked?
Does it feel sticky?
Does it feel tense?
And you might start to just get curious about that.
Why?
Why in this moment is my breath a little bit tense or higher in my body?
And maybe a gentle invitation to invite your breath a little bit deeper,
Lower,
Slower.
Maybe it was already there.
And as you start to experience that lower,
Slower breath or that feeling of opening,
How does that sort of change your experience of how you have placed your body?
And in this moment now,
Is there any ways in which there's a final adjustment or change that needs to happen in how you have organized yourself?
As you make that final adjustment,
Noticing how your body responds.
How your body responds to that cue,
That invitation towards listening.
When the body feels heard,
Supported,
Listened to,
What changes?
What do you start to notice?
And then an invitation,
If it feels right,
To just start to tune into other subtle sensations in your body.
Maybe the points where your body is in contact with the earth,
With the ground.
Maybe you get a sense of a kind of downward pressure where body meets earth.
Or maybe a kind of feeling of lightness feels right for you to explore today,
A kind of lightness in your body.
Notice which one of these sort of feelings lands a little bit better in your body.
Offers you a little bit more spaciousness to become curious.
So lightness,
Maybe floatiness.
Or maybe really grounded,
Really rooted.
Which one of these experiences feels more supportive in this moment?
And as you allow yourself to kind of linger in that experience of heaviness or lightness,
How does that land in your nervous system?
What does that change in how you are breathing,
How you are experiencing this moment?
What do you notice?
And as you sort of drop deeper and deeper into this practice of felt sensation,
Deep noticing,
What do you start to notice relaxing?
Or where do you start to notice there might be still some held tension?
And then allowing yourself to either sort of move towards those parts of yourself that feel a little bit more open,
Spacious,
Lingering in that feeling.
Or maybe going to those places that feel a little bit sticky,
A little bit tense,
Perhaps a little bit tender.
And noticing what maybe is needed here.
Maybe there's a sense of deeper breath that wants to come forth.
Maybe some adjustment needs to be made.
Or maybe simply acknowledging,
Noticing this part of yourself that feels a little bit sticky,
A little bit tender is enough.
Maybe acknowledging that part of you that has been holding,
Maybe acknowledging that part is enough.
And what happens when you invite your awareness into this place?
Sometimes it doesn't feel right to sort of linger in that place,
That kind of holding is necessary.
And you can move back to the place that feels more spacious,
More open,
More easeful.
Perhaps taking comfort in the way you've placed your body and the supports you've placed around you.
Feeling that sense of being held and nurtured in this moment.
Being held and nurtured by this experience.
And gently allowing your attention to move towards other sensory experiences.
Perhaps you notice some sounds.
Maybe there's sounds just outside of the room,
Kind of on the periphery of your awareness.
Distant traffic,
Birds,
People chattering.
Whatever is kind of present in your environment.
Whatever you're noticing.
Just allowing those to form a part of the tapestry of your experience here.
Tapestry of your sensory experience.
You can draw your attention towards the sounds that are a little bit closer.
Maybe there's sounds inside of your home,
The room that you're in.
What do you notice?
What is kind of present in this moment?
Maybe you become aware of the sounds of your own breath.
Maybe you hear yourself swallow.
What do you notice here?
Maybe you draw your attention in so close that you can feel the gentle sort of vibration that hearing experience.
The words that I speak sort of vibrate in your ear.
Maybe there's a kind of pulsation,
Warmth around the area of the ear as you take in sound.
Take in the sensory sound experience.
If that feels a bit odd or uncomfortable,
Just bringing your attention back to the experience of somewhere that feels spacious.
Somewhere that feels like an easy place to allow your awareness to rest.
Notice perhaps there are some thoughts that every now and again pop their head in.
Bring themselves to the forefront of your attention.
Maybe even gently draw you away from this present moment.
That's okay.
Acknowledging perhaps the quality of the thoughts.
Are they quite speedy thoughts or daydreamy?
Or perhaps they're just things on your to-do list,
Conversations.
Just noticing the quality of your thoughts.
And then notice as you bring awareness to that sort of thought space,
Does that create any tension anywhere in your body?
For example,
Maybe checking in with your hands.
Are they soft and open or is there some tightness,
Some clenching?
Noticing what happens as you bring attention to these places that kind of respond to that thought space.
Notice what happens when you gently invite those places.
Maybe if they feel okay to,
Just to soften.
If they want to remain with a little bit of tension and it feels like forceful to just invite them to relax,
Then allow a little bit of tension to be held there.
Notice if that generates a little bit of security in your body,
Sense of safety.
Acknowledging that.
Then maybe imagine what it would feel like if that holding,
That tension could be released,
Could be let go.
And you might sort of imagine relaxing that tension wherever it is.
Just noticing what that might feel like.
And then if a natural relaxation occurs after that,
Notice how that feels.
So bringing your attention gently back to either your breath,
Sense of your body held here,
Gently in space and time,
Gently starting to bring attention back to this moment.
Noticing if there's something that maybe wants to move.
Maybe there's a stretch that naturally wants to occur.
Maybe a wiggle,
Maybe a deeper breath,
Sigh.
Notice what wants to gently bring a little bit of aliveness back into your body.
And then when you feel ready,
Slowly bringing this practice to a close.
Maybe staying for a little bit longer if that feels right.
And when you're ready,
Gently easing yourself back into your day.
