Good,
So settling yourself into meditation,
Allow your body to soften,
Releasing the body as much as you can,
Taking your awareness to your breathing.
Take a deep breath in,
2,
3,
Hold it,
And breathing out,
2,
3.
Again,
In,
2,
3,
Hold it,
Out,
2,
3.
One more time.
Breathing in,
2,
3,
Hold it.
Out 2,
3.
Good,
So allow yourself to rest in the present just as it is.
Right here,
Right now.
Unless there's something we need to do about our thoughts right now,
We can simply let them come and go for a little while.
We don't have to keep rolling them around.
We can just allow ourselves to rest.
A space where we simply let things be as they are.
In yoga we're not trying to create a fantasy of how life should be.
Not trying to make the mind happy all the time.
Life naturally brings many different experiences.
Some are joyful,
Some are painful,
Some are easy and some are difficult.
Our mind also changes,
Responding to whatever life brings.
This is simply the reality of being human.
The practice isn't about escaping.
That reality or making it different.
It's about learning to sit with it just as it is.
And even when life is difficult,
It's possible to discover a quiet sense of okayness beneath it all.
Rather than searching for peace in the outside world,
We gently turn within.
Reconnecting with the stillness that's always there.
Even if only for a few moments at a time.
If strong emotions arise,
Remember that the body and the mind are deeply connected.
You might notice those emotions most clearly in the tummy,
The chest or the forehead.
Simply notice where you feel them the most.
Then breathe gently into that space.
There's no need to change the feeling or push it away,
Just breathe.
As though you're offering yourself kindness.
As though you're giving yourself a gentle hug from within.
Each breath creates a little more space to be with your experience just as it is.
So more and more we release the body.
Letting go of the body.
And more and more we release the mind.
And allow it to be just as it is.
Nothing that needs fixing,
Nothing that needs changing.
Simply acknowledge whatever is there and then gently return to that quiet inner space of okayness.
If you become caught up in strong emotions return to the body.
Breathe into the tummy,
The chest or the forehead.
Allow each breath to soften and support you.
Remember that whatever is happening in your life,
That stillness is always there,
That peaceful awareness,
That quiet connection,
That sense of okayness.
Simply resting,
Simply surrendering.
Simply be.
