Begin to arrive wherever you've landed,
Whether you're seated or lying down on the ground,
Taking a few little movements,
Wriggling,
Shuffling your body a little bit,
To allow yourself space and time to arrive here.
And as you begin to arrive,
Slowly,
Slowly,
Allowing yourself to drop into stillness,
Letting the eyes grow soft,
Closing them down as you land here.
As you start to come into your body,
Begin noticing the ground underneath,
The points of contact between your body and the earth or the chair that you're sitting on,
That you're lying on,
Feeling the texture of clothes on your body,
Perhaps even the sensation of air on the skin,
Allowing any sounds to drift in and out of your awareness.
As you start to feel into the felt sense of this present moment,
Starting to become aware of your breath,
Noticing the steady rise and fall of each breath in and each breath out.
From this place of noticing your breath,
There's the invitation to begin deepening it a little bit,
Taking it deep into the belly,
Filling all the way up,
And then sighing it out your mouth,
Taking a few breaths like this,
A nourishing inhale and a releasing exhale.
And as you breathe in this way with a little bit more intention,
Start to invite a sense of softness through your body,
Through your breath,
Feeling this balance of alertness,
Presence,
As well as steadiness,
Softness,
Stability,
Really allowing yourself to sink a little further into your body,
As though your attention is filling your whole body,
From where you can feel the floor beneath you,
The air on your skin,
And the breath within.
Each steady rise,
And each steady fall,
Allowing your awareness to drift through your body,
Perhaps noticing different parts that feel restricted or tight,
Different parts that feel spacious or soft,
Simply inviting in your attention into this present moment.
Maybe you do this by simply staying with the feeling of the breath,
The feeling of your body,
Or if it feels supportive,
You could also begin to feel into your mood,
Into your state of mind at this present moment.
And as you start to notice different mental activity,
You might simply note to yourself what it is.
So if you find yourself thinking about something outside of the here and now,
Noting to yourself,
Thinking,
Repeating this a few times until you notice your attention shift again.
If you notice any sounds,
Noting to yourself,
Listening.
If you notice any sensations inside of your body,
Noting to yourself,
Sensation,
Feeling.
If you start to notice any emotions,
You might also start to notice what they are.
Noting to yourself any fear,
Any joy,
Any sadness,
Any feelings at all that arise.
Just allowing yourself to be present with them and know what they are.
Awareness drifting,
Awareness noticing.
Each time you feel the mind wander into thinking,
Into listening,
Into feeling,
Simply noticing that.
See here if it's possible to avoid going into a dialogue with these things.
Instead of focusing on why,
Where,
When,
Simply allowing yourself to be present with whatever it is that arises.
Welcoming this feeling within the body,
Noticing it,
Noting it.
And from that place of noting,
Invitation to begin softening around whatever it is that you're noticing.
And so if you notice your mind is focusing on a sound,
Can you perhaps imagine softening the ears or softening the mind,
So that we're not reaching for the sound,
But so that the sound simply flows past,
Allowing these sounds to naturally rise and fall.
If you notice a particular feeling,
Perhaps within your body,
Then doing the same thing here.
Welcoming this feeling in,
Noting what it is,
And inviting in a sense of softness.
Perhaps softening the edges of this feeling.
No need to change it or get rid of it or shift it.
Simply noticing the feeling or the sensation or the emotion and softening your awareness around it.
And so if you notice anxiety in the chest,
Tightness in the chest,
You might imagine the edges of sensation,
Those sticky edges of tightness,
Softening just a fraction.
Beginning to send your breath down into that area.
Maybe imagining that each inhale and each exhale is softening the edges of that sensation.
Breathing into this space,
Into this area with a sense of compassion and softening.
No need to get rid of the feeling or the sensation,
Simply softening the edges of it.
And if you start to go into thinking,
Traveling too far away from the feeling,
Too far away from the body,
Then simply come back to your breath,
Come back to your breath,
Come back to your body,
Come back to stillness.
Each time the mind wanders is an opportunity to gently,
Lovingly bring the awareness back to the felt sense of this moment.
Simply noting whatever your inner world is bringing up.
Coming back to whatever it is that you're experiencing in each moment.
Noticing and softening.
Noting an emotion if you experience an emotion.
Noting listening if you hear any sounds.
Noting sensation if you can feel the ground,
The clothes,
The air.
And then softening around whatever it is that you're noticing.
We'll stay with this noting,
This gentle awareness for just a few moments longer.
Awareness drifting in and out,
Always coming back to the body,
Back to the breath,
Back to noting.
Now beginning to release the practice as you come back into this seat of spaciousness,
Of stillness that exists underneath all of the feelings,
The sensations,
The noticing.
This state of steadiness as you feel ready,
Bringing the palms into a position that feels nourishing and supportive for you.
So you might bring one hand onto your heart and one to the belly.
Perhaps it feels good to give yourself a hug instead.
One hand to the chest and the other hand tucked around the side body.
Giving yourself a gentle hug,
Holding here.
Wherever the palms have landed,
Begin to notice how it feels.
A gentle sensation,
Pressure,
A feeling of warmth.
How does it feel right now to be both giving and receiving this form of physical touch?
Maybe pressing a little bit firmer through the palms,
Perhaps even a gentle rub,
Gently stroking the hand across the chest,
Across the heart.
Inviting in this sense of grounding,
Of comfort,
Of soothing.
Maybe gently bowing the head down to your heart or taking a slight sway side to side.
Feeling into your body,
Into yourself.
And from this place of feeling,
Of tuning your awareness inwards,
Take a small moment of gratitude for all the different parts of your experience.
All the different emotions and feelings and thoughts.
For everything that makes you,
You.
Knowing that you can always come back to this gentle,
Tender,
Compassionate awareness.
To this steady noticing,
Any time that you need it.
For now let's close with one last breath.
Fill all the way up deep into your belly,
A nourishing inhale and a releasing exhale.
As you're ready,
Begin to return back to the space that you're in.
Linking,
Open the eyes.
Thank you for joining me in this practice.
I'll see you next time.
