Welcome.
This meditation is intended to help you turn your attention inside and reconnect with yourself.
Anchor and ground in your amazing being.
Inviting you now to find a meditation position that feels comfortable to you.
So sitting in a way that feels relaxed,
It allows you to stay alert with your spine straight,
Shoulders back and down,
And closing your eyes if you wish,
Or else keeping them open with a soft gaze in front of you.
Resting the hands in your lap or on your knees.
Noticing what it's like to call your attention inside,
And bringing your attention to where your body's making contact with your chair or your cushion.
Sensing into that connection with Mother Earth below.
This earth right here where you belong.
Bringing your attention to your breath over the next few moments.
Taking some nice and deep breaths in and out as a way of arriving here.
A deep breath in and a nice long deep breath out,
Feeling yourself relaxing on the exhale.
And when you're ready,
Allow on your breath to come right back to its natural rhythm.
And tuning into your body for a moment.
Just noticing if there are any places that you can relax and let go of any tension you might be holding.
So starting from your head,
You might tune into your forehead,
Your jaw.
Seeing how much you can relax even more,
The neck,
The shoulders,
Working your way down the body.
Imagining that any tightness or tension or energy can just drain right out of you easily,
Down your body,
Through the legs and out the feet.
And turning your attention to your mind now.
What's the state of your mind?
Is it busy with a lot of swirling thoughts?
Or is it feeling more like a peaceful,
Calm body of water?
No matter what the state of your mind is at this moment,
Just allowing it to be.
And noticing now where you're feeling your breath most predominantly.
Maybe your whole body breathing.
Maybe the flow of the air through your nostrils.
Noting this as your anchor point.
Or if it feels better for you today,
Tuning into the sensations maybe in your feet or your hands.
And over these next few minutes as your mind wanders off,
Just ever so gently guiding the attention back to your breath or your anchor point.
You The practice of mindfulness invites us to be really gentle with ourselves and learning to show up and be kind to ourselves really takes practice.
We may have had years of looking outside of ourselves to feel better,
Not understanding that we can simply turn inward.
In the words of the spiritual teacher Ram Dass,
You don't need to go anywhere else to find what you are seeking.
So we can soften towards ourselves and create new habits of being gentle and tending to whatever's alive for us.
You you If your mind has wandered off,
It's really not a problem.
The pull can be so strong to pay attention to racing thoughts,
Stories,
And that's okay.
Simply bring the attention back to your breath,
Back to your anchor.
Tuning right into that body sensation,
Coming right back to you.
You The gateway to healing and really the living fully is to reconnect with ourselves.
That quiet witness that's always here.
To borrow the words of Alice Walker,
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
Simply turning our attention inside.
Closing this meditation,
Some words of loving kindness to ourselves.
May I be safe and happy.
May I be free.
May I remember the grounding power that resides within.
