Welcome to this Beginning a New Practice.
Feel free to take a posture that allows you to pay attention,
Be alert for the next seven or eight minutes as we work through the four steps of the Beginning a New Practice.
So sitting comfortably with your feet on the floor,
Ankles uncrossed,
Arms uncrossed,
Back straight,
Head rising up towards the ceiling,
Shoulders down,
And eyes open or closed,
Whatever you're comfortable with.
Just taking a moment to settle into your seat and to come into the present moment.
So to do that I'll invite you to pay attention to your breath.
Just take a moment to find it.
And on your next out-breath,
Breathe all the way out.
And when you're ready,
Invite a big breath into the belly,
Gently comfortably expanding the belly,
And then letting the chest fill,
And then gently exhaling.
Taking a moment to notice your body in space.
Once again,
Feeling your feet on the floor,
Feeling your seat on the chair,
Perhaps noticing the weight of gravity in your arms as they hang at your sides.
Then just taking a moment to follow the breath,
Giving yourself the opportunity to just settle into the present moment.
So following the breath with your attention as best you can,
All the way in,
All the way out.
And just gently returning.
If you notice your attention has wandered away,
Just come on back,
Start again,
Find the breath.
Now bringing to mind a relationship or a situation,
Perhaps even a diagnosis or a symptom that you have,
With which you have a conflict,
There's a difficulty that you have with it.
Remembering that beginning anew is a reconciliation process,
Not a conflict resolution process.
So bringing to mind something with which you're ready to move forward on.
Perhaps it hasn't been resolved,
But you're ready to move forward on your side of the relationship or the equation.
So bringing this situation to mind.
And then beginning the process of reconciliation by starting with a statement of gratitude.
So coming up with something that you're grateful for about the other party in this situation.
I invite you to be as authentic and genuine as you can.
So not coming up with something superficial to be thankful for,
But really thinking about what is it I'm grateful for about this other.
So a statement of gratitude.
And now I'll invite you to come up with a statement of regret.
And this is a statement in which you state your regret for your part in the situation.
So you're not taking the blame,
But you're simply stating your regret for your lack of skill,
Perhaps in how you responded,
How you acted,
Your lack of skill in the words that you chose.
So a statement of regret for your part in the situation.
Feel free to pause the recording if you need more time.
And now the third statement in Beginning anew is a statement of how you feel,
Acknowledging what's present for you.
Being careful not to make this a statement that says,
I feel this when you do that.
There's no blame.
This is simply acknowledging the frustration,
The fatigue,
The situation for you,
What's present for you.
It might be what you're feeling.
It might be the circumstances that you found yourself in when the conflict occurred.
So acknowledging what's present for you.
Again pausing the recording if you need to take more time.
And now the final statement of Beginning anew,
Which is a statement of hope.
Hope for reconciliation can be as simple as,
I hope that we can start again.
I'm willing to start over.
So a statement that indicates your willingness to move forward.
So again in summary,
You've had a statement of gratitude,
A statement of regret for your part in the situation,
An acknowledgement of how you feel or what's present for you,
And finally a statement of hope.
So noticing what's present for you now as you've made these four statements,
Noticing your experience in this moment.
And whenever you're ready,
Deepening your breath,
Breathing all the way out on the next out breath,
Taking a deep relaxation breath in,
Filling the belly,
The chest.
As you breathe out,
Moving fingers and toes,
Moving the body however it would like to,
Opening your eyes if they're closed,
Ending this practice.
Thank you for doing this practice today.
