Thank you for being here.
With one hand on your heart and the other at your navel center,
Acknowledge why you are here.
Your want.
Your need.
The beauty of your desire to meet yourself in this moment.
Feel into what you're expressing from the deep well of your being and allow spirit to join you there.
To reveal the purity contained within this healthy,
Natural,
Primal longing to return to yourself.
To be a human who walks with grace and rhythm.
With awareness of life's wild cycles and ancient tides.
A human who can trust in the language of their body.
To receive.
To perceive.
To integrate and intuit clearly.
A human that is capable of beholding life's bounty.
Grounded,
Resilient,
And belonging to the earth.
Find a comfortable seat.
Letting the hands rest gently on the lap.
Rooting deeply into the sits bones.
The weight of the body sinking into the support beneath you.
Feeling the connection of your body with the ground below.
And gently lifting and lengthening the spine,
The shoulders,
The neck,
And the head.
Gaze softly at the ground ahead of you for a few moments and allow what you're viewing to fall into your vision with the quality of receptivity rather than straining the eyes to see it.
And then very slowly lower the lids bit by bit.
Begin to bring awareness to the natural rhythm of your breath.
The breath is our bridge between the conscious mind and the core of our deep inner knowing.
The portal that connects the mundane world with the sacred.
Sacred as in holy,
Entitled to reverence and deep respect.
As you flow from in-breath to out-breath and back to the in-breath,
Envision holding your body in the highest regard as a channel that is both human and holy.
Inhabiting the sacred ground of your being.
And slow down the breath.
Inhaling and exhaling through the nose.
On every exhaled breath,
Feel the weight of your body releasing further down towards the earth.
On every inhaled breath,
Sense a complimentary upward lifting of the torso like a flower deeply rooted yet effortlessly reaching towards the light of the sun.
With each exhale,
Softening the shoulders,
Hips and legs towards the ground,
Descending.
With every inhale,
Unfurling,
Lifting,
Expanding skyward one vertebra at a time,
Opening the heart and lifting the crown.
Resting,
Breathing in the two concocted,
Resting,
Breathing in the two concurrent universal energies of contraction and expansion.
Ebbing and flowing.
Observing how the inhale and exhale each makes the other possible with the inner space they create.
And we'll take a few breaths here.
Simply observing.
Notice the length and coolness of the inhale.
The length and warmth of the exhale.
Also observe the natural stillness in between them.
The space that exists between the breath.
Without forcing the whole body,
Without forcing the hold,
Simply take note.
Try not to rush through that space.
Linger a bit.
Bring awareness to the quiet that exists there in that flash of time.
Can you rest in the peace of that split moment?
Watching as a quiet observer.
Allowing the anchor of the breath to create a sanctuary of calm.
A retreat for the mind.
With each cycle of breath,
Allowing the exhale to softly dissolve into the space.
Allow the inhale to arise from that space,
Unhurried.
Uplifting inhales.
Grounding exhales.
And then gradually let each exhalation expand slightly,
So that they're just slightly longer than the inhales.
Add no forcing,
Only feeling.
Shift your focus to the sensations in your body.
Sense all the points of your body that are touching the ground below you,
Connecting to the earth.
Your hips,
Your thighs,
Your shins,
Your ankles,
Your feet.
You may even notice a felt sense of gravity,
A gentle pull towards the earth.
As best you can,
Try to feel the earth.
As best you can,
Try holding all of this with a sense of ease and relaxation.
With every exhale,
Envision that you're releasing energy down into the earth.
Imagine that connection points are expanding,
Widening,
Like water meandering through soil and bedrock into the earth's mantle to anchor you.
With each inhalation,
Imagine drawing a stabilizing energy from the earth back into the body,
Harmonizing your mind and body with a feeling of connection and belonging.
Rest in the comfort of the space you've created,
Enjoying the gift of your breath as long as you'd like.
And when you're ready to close the practice,
Bring your hands to prayer,
Bow your head to your heart,
Thanking yourself for your practice.
