Music Bring yourself into a posture that will be comfortable for you.
You may wish to lay down for this meditation,
However it's also perfectly fine if you choose to sit in a chair or on the floor on a cushion.
You might find positioning yourself in the corpse pose of yoga,
Laying on the ground or bed with your arms resting at your side a short distance away.
Your legs stretched out and relaxed.
You may choose to place a cushion or something beneath your knees,
Your head,
On your back,
Making sure to listen to what the body wants here.
To ensure you lay in a way that feels comfortable and pleasant for you.
Taking a few deeper breaths into the lungs now as you come into presence.
Letting go of what came before this moment.
Letting go of any notions of what will come after this moment.
Giving yourself the gift to practice meditation,
To practice presence.
Breathing in the life-giving air and energy and feeling the lungs expand as you inhale.
And as you let go and breathe out slowly and naturally,
See if you might soften any areas that may be carrying tension or tightness.
Breathing in,
Opening out,
Relaxing.
Aware of the contact between the ground and the body held by the Earth.
Letting go into the ground now,
Feeling supported,
Held.
Bringing your attention now to your head and you may allow this next in-breath to move into the head and face.
Breathing into the eyes and forehead and on the out-breath.
Allowing the mini muscles that work so hard to express our inner feelings,
Letting them just relax and let go.
On this next in-breath,
Breathing into the neck and the shoulders,
Another area in the body that often carries the tension of the world.
And as you exhale,
Seeing if you can drop the shoulders,
Even if only slightly,
Allowing them to rest into the Earth.
Breathing into the chest area,
Torso.
Breathing out naturally.
Allowing this next breath to enter into a soft and relaxed belly.
On this next breath,
Imagining breathing into the arms and down into the hands and fingers.
Feeling into the aliveness that's there in the hands and fingers.
Perhaps aware of the contact points of the arms and hands with the ground.
Letting go.
Resting into,
Held by the Earth.
And now breathing into the pelvic area,
Allowing awareness to fill in the area of the buttocks and the pelvis.
Letting it soften.
Relax on the out-breath.
Feeling the aliveness that may be there.
And letting the awareness move down into the legs as you breathe now.
Filling the legs on the in-breath and softening on the out-breath.
And now breathing into the body as a whole.
From the head and face,
Down the arms,
Torso,
Pelvis and legs,
Into the feet.
Breathing in and breathing out right here in this moment.
Sensing into the stillness,
The spaciousness that's here.
Cradled by the Earth like a lake.
Granted and deeply connected with the source of life itself.
Breathing in and out.
The breath naturally flowing through you like gentle currents,
Like gentle stirrings while you rest.
Rooted to the Earth and graciously holding it all right here in this moment.
And now breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And now breathing in and breathing out.
When you notice your mind has wandered away from your body and your breath into thought,
Noticing the thought is a moment of clarity,
Of mindfulness.
When you become aware that the attention has drifted away,
Notice also the space that's there.
Still as a lake held by the Earth.
Sense the aliveness right here.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
The thought that interrupts your presence could be about the past.
Something to do after your practice,
A future thought.
Could be a judgment thought that says what it likes or doesn't like,
What's right or what's wrong.
Just watching the thoughts float away like ripples at the water's surface as you rest,
Held by the Earth,
Still and spacious beneath the currents of the water.
With gentleness and kindness each time,
Bringing the attention back to the body,
Back to the breath,
Aware of yourself as the lake.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Noticing the stirrings.
The sensations,
Thoughts,
Perhaps emotions that arise,
Bring their energy,
Vying for your attention,
Aware,
Observing them and letting them float away,
Resting back as the deep lake that remains steady,
Powerful and able to hold it all.
And in this last moment of the practice,
Allowing this next in-breath to breathe into the body as a whole,
Feeling the lungs and belly,
Looking down to the arms and legs,
Hands and feet,
Feeling inside the aliveness that's there in this moment.
Perhaps offering yourself a gesture,
A bow,
Showing kindness and gratitude to yourself for taking this time out to nourish your body,
Mind and heart.
Not judging yourself for anything that arose during this meditation.
Reminding yourself there is no right way or wrong way.
It is simply a gift to the self to practice connecting with presence in this way.
Bell Bell
