Hi,
It's Julie Potichur for the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
Okay,
So let's find our seat.
Notice where your body is making contact with whatever it is that you're sitting on.
We're going to take three nourishing breaths in through our nose and out through our mouth and we're going to breathe in for four,
Hold it for four,
And then breathe out for six.
Really releasing.
Breathe in.
Last one.
Okay,
Let your breath find its natural rhythm.
No need to force it.
Relax your eyebrows.
Really imagine your forehead is smooth and your eyelids,
If your eyes are closed,
Just really resting.
If you prefer a gentle downward gaze,
Just imagining them smooth and comfortable.
Relaxing your jaws,
Releasing any tension that might have already built up during the day.
Imagining that very important smile to the outside corners of your lips,
That smile that helps us tap into our parasympathetic nervous system.
Dropping that smile down into your throat,
Into your neck,
Releasing the muscles.
Dropping it down further while your shoulder blades are relaxed down your back,
Dropping that smile down into your heart center and just sensing what's going on in there today.
Do you feel your heart beating?
Any vibrating,
Pulsing?
Your awareness now dropping to your belly,
Releasing,
Relaxing.
And now into your hips,
Relaxing,
Releasing and yet noticing the real support.
Letting your thighs and your knees and your calves go.
Relaxing your feet.
Relaxing your hands.
And you may want to place a hand or hands where you find it soothing.
It could be your heart or your belly,
Holding your arms,
Cradling your face,
But wherever your soothing touch place is,
Nurturing yourself.
Gaving yourself that this time you're giving yourself is really a gorgeous gift of self-care,
Self-compassion,
Love,
Carving this time out for ourselves and for each other.
And then resting our awareness on our breathing in and our breathing out.
Releasing the air coming in,
Nourishing every cell in your body and releasing.
Really nothing that you need to do for this bodily process to occur.
We don't even really think about it.
Instead it's a very simple anchor for our awareness.
Now calling to mind an individual that brings you joy.
It could be a pet,
A grandchild,
A dear friend,
A family member where the relationship is relatively smooth.
Just a being that when you envision them in your mind's eye,
Joy arises,
Makes you happy.
What color eyes do they have?
Can you see them?
What color fur or skin tone?
Can you feel anywhere in your body what it feels like to be envisioning this being that makes you happy?
The traditional phrases that I'm going to offer can be substituted by your own.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy and may you live with ease.
Around and around in your mind these phrases go to this visual.
So you have these two anchors of your awareness.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
And may you live with ease.
Now adding yourself to the snapshot.
Savoring for a moment the goodness of being with this being that you love that brings you joy.
Seeing if you can notice any sensations in your body of what happens when you are with this person even in your imagination or this pet in your imagination,
This being.
May we be safe.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy and may we live our lives with ease.
Because this is just too good to keep all to yourselves,
Opening up the circle of compassion to family,
Friends.
May we be safe.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy.
May we live with ease.
And then imagining it going further and further and further,
Encompassing cities and states and continents,
Oceans,
Planet earth.
May we be safe.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy and may we live with ease.
Just as all beings wish to be safe and free from suffering,
So do we.
Now zooming in so that finally you're witnessing yourself in this community and the phrases of course become may I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be as healthy as I can possibly be and may I live my life with ease.
Now breathing in a word for yourself that's unique to you,
That you get to choose,
Letting go of the traditional phrases,
I'd like you to breathe in what you need right now for your heart right now at this moment.
Could be love or courage or hope.
Taking it in right now and then releasing what is not serving you today on your exhale.
Getting in touch with what you really need,
What would really be helpful.
And releasing what doesn't serve you because perhaps what doesn't serve you is not in alignment with your core values,
With your best intentions,
With how you want to be in the world.
Bringing in that word for yourself,
Maybe it's courage to let go of what isn't serving you.
Letting go of what isn't serving you.
Now releasing the effort of the word that you're breathing in and the releasing that you're breathing out and just taking in the words of this poem,
The Way It Is by William Stafford.
There's a thread you follow.
It goes among things that change,
But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you're pursuing.
They have to explain about the thread,
But it's hard for others to see.
While you hold it,
You can't get lost.
Tragedies happen,
People get hurt or die,
And you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time unfolding.
You don't ever let go of the thread.
You might want to wiggle your toes and wiggle your fingers,
And when you hear the sounds of the chime,
Coming back into the room together.
Thanks so much for listening.
I'm Julie Potichur with Balanced Mind Meditation.
