I'd like to invite you to come to a comfortable seat.
And that seat might be in a chair or on the floor,
Or you may even be lying down today.
Just taking a moment to determine what a comfortable seat feels like for you and your body today.
And once you find that,
Finding some stillness,
Allowing the gaze to be soft or the eyes can be closed,
The palms resting gently on top of the thighs if you are sitting upright.
Those hands can be palms up or palms down,
Whatever feels more comfortable to you right now.
You may even wanna find a bit of a balling up of the fists here,
Maybe even scrunching up the face.
Can you tense every muscle in your body and then you can just let everything go,
Allowing yourself to relax in your seat.
Can you find a softness in the belly,
Allowing the shoulders to drop down and away from the ears,
Finding some length in the spine,
Noticing the points of contact between your body and the surfaces underneath you,
That which is supporting you right now,
Relaxing the jaw,
Allowing the back of the tongue to drop down and away from the roof of the mouth,
Noticing any sounds you may hear around you right now.
They might be outside or within your space or even within your own body,
Just noticing what you might be hearing right now.
And you may notice an inclination to identify those sounds or to judge them,
To wish them away.
And see if you can just release that.
Can you simply allow the sounds that you are hearing right now to be as they are at this moment,
Just as you are in this moment.
And now drawing your attention to any temperature you may feel right now,
Sensations you might be feeling,
Currents of air.
You may even notice points of tension or ease within your own body.
And perhaps you notice that there may be stories or judgments around what you are feeling right now.
And see if you can just let that go.
Can you simply allow whatever you are feeling right now to be as it is as you are in this moment?
And drawing your attention to your own breath,
Noticing the quality and state of your breath today.
Is it smooth and easy?
Is it ragged?
Is it catching in places?
Just noticing that for yourself.
And as you notice your breath,
Can you simply allow your breath to be as it is without feeling any need to correct it,
Whatever that means to you,
Or change it.
Just allowing yourself to breathe,
Noticing how on the inhale the body gently rises and how on the exhale it sinks a little bit more into the surfaces that are supporting you.
Noticing how on the inhale the belly gently rises,
Filling with air and how on the exhale the belly releases and relaxes.
Noticing how that breath rests there in that low belly.
Noticing how that low belly is just below and slightly behind the navel.
And we'll use that as our point of focus today.
And all other things,
Whether they are sounds or images or memories or ideas,
All those other things that are not your breath resting in the low belly are other than point.
When other things,
Thoughts,
Images arise calling for your attention,
And they will,
Notice them,
Notice what they are,
And then release them,
Bringing your attention back to the breath in the low belly,
Bringing your attention back to point.
Releasing all of the other things that are other than point without judgment,
Using grace and compassion,
Just swiftly,
Efficiently,
Efficiently,
Bringing the attention back to the breath.
And if the attention wanders again,
Just bring it back to your point of focus,
Beginning to deepen the breath,
Finding some movement in the fingers and the toes,
Perhaps allowing the chin to drop down towards the chest,
Rocking your ear over one shoulder and then the other,
Allowing the eyes to flutter open as you bring your head back up towards center,
Glancing around the room in which you find yourself,
Perhaps it is the room of the outdoors,
Just noticing what is around you,
Noticing what you are currently surrounding yourself with,
The objects,
The items,
The people,
And take a moment to send yourself some love and grace and compassion for making some space for your mindfulness practice today.
Thank you so much for sharing your practice with me.
