Welcome to this meditation for centering.
Coming into a relaxed position,
A comfortable position,
And taking three satisfying and fulfilling breaths.
And now I invite you to go to those areas of the body that hold tension for you.
So that might be at the chest or between the shoulder blades or the shoulders,
Perhaps the belly or the brow,
Or even the jaw.
Just letting go of all thoughts and worries as you release that tension.
Thoughts and worries about the past,
The future,
And the present.
And with each breath deepening your feeling into presence and releasing any gripping or tightening of the muscles.
In this meditation,
We will be exploring some anchors so that when you feel overwhelmed or unsettled,
You can use these anchors to centre and to feel focus,
Feel grounded.
As a way of beginning,
Moving your awareness to your feet.
This is the first anchor for centering that we will be exploring.
So rather than thinking about your feet,
Take a moment to feel into your feet.
Feeling into any sensations that are here,
It might just be the contact of the feet on the floor.
You may feel that pressure of connection.
It might be the heat or the coolness of your feet.
Opening to any sensations at the feet.
Exploring the space between your toes.
Do your toes feel tense or soft,
Relaxed?
Feeling into the top of the feet.
Feeling into the sensations that are present at the feet.
Letting go of any memories or stories.
Just bring your focus back to feeling into the feet.
And even if you are just holding your attention there without noticing or without feeling any sensations,
This is part of the meditation.
Strengthening your focus so that you can feel more centred.
And opening to the sensations that are present.
With the deepening of attention.
And now shifting to the second anchor being the belly.
And as you are focusing on the belly,
What can you notice?
What sensations are present here?
Perhaps you may have tuned into the breath moving through the belly.
As the lungs fill with air,
Pushes the diaphragm down and the organs out.
So you might feel this action of the organs moving at the belly.
And then as you breathe out,
The diaphragm moves up.
And so you might feel the sensations at the belly soften or there is some movement towards the spine.
Tuning into the sensations at the belly.
Letting go of any gripping or holding.
Perhaps you may feel that wave like sensation.
And now exploring the third anchor being the chest.
And just like the belly,
We can feel the breath as it moves through the chest.
And so there may be a sense of expansion as you breathe in.
Expansion at the front of the chest,
Which then actually expands the back of the body too.
So feeling into the expansion of the chest as you breathe in and then noticing the sensation as you breathe out.
This movement at the chest.
Feeling into the breath at the chest.
Being with the sensations.
And now moving to the fourth anchor for centering.
The breath at the nostrils.
So shifting your focus to the upper lip.
You may notice that there is a soft zephyr of breeze on the upper lip.
As you inhale,
The air moves through the nostrils.
And as you exhale,
The air moves out of the nostrils.
Can you follow this cycle of breath,
The entering and leaving of air at the nostrils?
Moving from the base of the nostrils up to the roof of the nostrils.
And perhaps you may follow that little journey.
The air entering,
Being drawn up to the roof of the nostrils and then leaving.
You may even sense a change of temperature on your upper lip.
As you breathe in,
You may pick up the coolness.
And as you breathe out,
You may notice the change to more warmth.
And now shift to another anchor being sound.
So rather than searching for sound,
Receive sound.
Drop any labels.
The sounds in the room.
The sounds outside the room.
The sounds in your body.
Just noticing where you are drawn to sound and listening for sound.
The quality of sound,
The volume,
The pitch,
The tone.
Listening for sound as if that was all that matters to you.
Dropping any judgments or likes or dislikes.
Using sound as an anchor.
And now exploring the last of our centering anchors being the hands.
Can you feel into the hands?
Where are they resting?
Can you feel the contact perhaps with your lap or the floor?
Is there a sense of relaxation or tightness?
How do you know that you have hands?
Can you sense into the boundary of where your hands start and where they end?
The boundaries determined by the outline of our fingers,
The palms of the hands.
Listening into the hands.
And now take a moment to revisit all of your anchors being the feet,
The belly,
The chest,
The nostrils,
Sound,
Hands,
And choose one that resonates with you,
That you can use as your anchor for centering.
And bring your awareness to that anchor that you have chosen.
The one that you can relate to,
That you can feel.
And knowing this may change from day to day,
Moment to moment.
Choosing an anchor that will centre you for what you need at that moment.
And feel into that anchor and hold your awareness there.
And remembering that this anchor,
This anchor in particular or any other anchor is available to you each time you feel lost or unbalanced,
That you feel you need to feel centred,
Offering you that safe harbour during a storm or during the chaos of life.
And now opening into the full body,
The whole body,
And taking some conscious fulfilling breaths.
Slowly coming into awareness of your surroundings,
Feeling into the seat of your body,
The sounds around you,
Tuning and opening to your environment.
As I bring this meditation to a close with the sound of the bells.
