All right,
Welcome mindful riders.
Let's come into a seated position where we can be upright and alert,
But still relaxed.
Closing your eyes if it's comfortable for you.
If not,
Just casting the gaze downward to minimize distraction and taking a moment to come into the body.
Noticing the physical sensations,
The feet on the floor,
Bottom on the cushion.
Noticing where your hands have landed.
Taking a moment to adjust the posture a little bit as needed so that the head is balanced on top of the spine,
Allowing us to bring in as much relaxation as possible,
Dropping the shoulders down and away from the ears,
Relaxing the belly,
And then turning the attention towards the breath.
Not making any effort to control it,
Just noticing how it is right now,
Today,
And noticing what your breath can tell you about how you're feeling.
Asking that question,
How are you and how do you know?
And trying to meet the answer with as much acceptance as we can muster.
Sometimes we check in with the body and we find that all is well,
And that's lovely.
But more often than not,
You know,
We're human,
We have aches,
We have pains,
We have worries.
So if you check in today and you find that you're feeling kind of anxious or sleepy or whatever it might be,
Just bring as much acceptance as you can to it.
I like the phrase,
Right now it's like this.
Because it's always true.
And then having noticed the breath,
See if there's anything else happening in your body that you can become aware of.
See if you can notice your heartbeat.
Some people find it easy,
Some people find it challenging.
It's okay if you can't notice it,
If you can't discern it.
Just open to the possibility of it.
Or maybe you can notice your pulse somewhere in your body,
Which is of course just an echo of the heartbeat.
Is there anywhere in your digestive tract that you can become aware of from the mouth,
Throat,
Belly,
Intestines?
Maybe you're hungry.
And then bringing in a bit of gratitude for all these things,
The breathing,
The heartbeat,
The digestive system,
And also all the systems that we are not perceptive enough to recognize.
Think about all the things that have to work in unison for us simply to sit here.
It's a lot.
The organs and bones and tissues and blood vessels.
Even if things aren't perfect,
Even if they're not how we wish they were,
Everything's working well enough for us to sit here and take a few deep breaths to make some time for our writing.
That is a real gift.
Definitely worthy of some gratitude.
So taking a moment and letting that sense of thankfulness fill our bodies.
Then letting go of the gratitude practice,
We'll shift our attention to an anchor.
You can always come back to the breath or a different physical sensation in the body.
You can also turn your attention outside the body,
If that's more comfortable for you today.
Maybe focus on the sounds in the room,
Noticing as each one rises and passes away.
Whichever anchor you choose,
Let it be a real place of rest.
Our minds are racing all the time.
We can take this few minutes to focus our attention on the anchor and let all other thoughts drift on by.
And of course,
That is easier said than done.
When you notice that your mind has gotten caught up in a thought,
Which it will,
Be kind with yourself.
Just let that thought go,
Come back to the anchor,
Reset,
Begin again.
Check in with your mind,
Just notice if it's wandering.
Come back to the anchor if you need to.
And in these last few moments,
If you'd like to bring to mind whatever it is you're writing today,
Letting it float up into consciousness and preparing to transition from our more formal meditation into some focused writing time.
In a moment,
I will ring the bell three times and invite you to,
If you'd like,
Take one more deep breath before you open your eyes and get to work.
Happy writing.
