Just find a posture where your body can be comfortable,
Relaxed,
But also very awake.
And being awake can be from having that straight spine.
Feel your head lifted up,
Your chin down a little bit,
Your hands resting in your lap.
And just keep adjusting your posture as you sit.
So if you need to move sometimes to adjust,
That's fine.
But always be aware of why you're moving.
Are you moving because you're restless?
Or maybe sleepy?
Or are you moving to realign your posture so you're sitting even better than you started?
If you're moving because you're restless,
You can just watch your restlessness.
Try to watch it a little bit and see if it goes away before you move.
If you become sleepy,
You can open your eyes.
Just find a focal point in front of you and down.
Or you can rub your face.
You can stand up.
So find that awake spot with a relaxed body.
To really ground yourself,
You can take a few deep breaths to begin.
Breathing in and out.
On the exhale,
Really exaggerate the feel of your shoulders dropping down.
Really bring everything right to your cushion or your chair.
Right in this minute.
Maybe turning back to your normal,
Regular breath.
Let's begin with a few minutes of just sitting silently and being aware of everything that you're experiencing.
Breathing coming in through your senses,
Your sense doors,
And include your brain with that.
Be aware of how your mind reacts to those sensations.
Are they unpleasant to you or pleasant?
And be okay with whatever your reaction is.
Let yourself be aware of that reaction.
See if you can allow yourself to accept whatever your reaction is.
Let go of it.
Let's move into loving kindness practice.
Let's begin by sending yourself thoughts of friendliness,
Acceptance.
Feel gentleness toward yourself.
May I be free from suffering and its causes.
May I be well,
Happy and peaceful.
May no harm come to me.
Be kindly toward yourself.
And feel selfish,
Taking care of ourselves and accepting ourselves wherever we are is the way we start with everything.
We work with what we are and where we are right at the moment.
We allow ourselves to be the way we are and who we are.
It helps us learn how to be the same way towards others,
To accept them where they are.
May I be filled with well-being.
May I be content and happy.
May I be filled with peace.
Now extend these same thoughts out just a little bit further beyond yourself,
Thinking of your loved ones,
The people closest to you,
Your family members,
Your close friends.
May all my loved ones be free from suffering and its causes.
May they be safe from harm.
May each one of them be filled with well-being.
May they each be content and happy and filled with peace.
See the faces of all the people you are close to and just see yourself smiling at them and they are all smiling back at you.
Even if you are in the middle of an argument with one right now.
We know that this person is a loved one and we argue with people we love.
We have disagreements.
We lose our tempers.
We make up.
We start over again.
And we keep sending loving kindness.
Now extend out even further beyond your comfort zone and think of a stranger,
Someone you may have seen walking by you today,
Someone who helped you in a store,
Someone you helped.
Maybe a homeless person,
Maybe someone who was lost looking for directions.
And send this stranger the same thoughts that you sent yourself and your loved ones.
May my stranger be free from fear and worry and anxiety.
May my stranger be safe from harm.
And may this person be filled with well-being,
Be content,
And be filled with peace.
Recognize how much you and your stranger have in common.
How easily you could be family members or good friends or neighbors.
And now extend your thoughts out and think of all of the people and all of the living beings and animals and creatures and all beings in this world,
Human and non-human.
Just feel yourself radiating the quality of loving kindness,
Accepting all beings,
No referencing to their enemies or their friends or their good or their bad.
Move beyond all of that duality and send warm feelings of goodwill and kindness out to all living beings.
May all living beings be free from suffering and its causes.
May they be free from fear and worry and anxiety.
May all living beings be free from hunger and thirst and the extremes of the weather.
And may all living beings be filled with peace and know the experience of peace.
May all living beings be filled with peace and know the experience of peace.
May all living beings be filled with peace and know the experience of peace.
Now,
Move your attention to your breath and just begin to observe yourself breathing in and breathing out.
Notice the sensations of your breath where you can feel them find the spot either around your nose as you breathe in and breathe out.
Where you may feel the sensation of your belly moving up and down as you inhale and exhale.
Find that spot where you can feel your breath and just stay with that spot.
Letting your body relax and let your mind relax.
There's no need to chase after your thoughts.
Don't repress the thoughts.
Let them just do as they need to do.
But you don't need to get caught up in them or involved in the stories going through your head.
You just keep coming back to your breath.
And with each exhale,
Be aware of relaxing a little bit more each breath.
Letting your body relax and take in each one of these things.
Keep coming back to your breath.
Just let your thoughts go.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
May peace be with you.
May you be well,
Happy and peaceful.
Thank you.
