This guided meditation is to help you expand your awareness,
Both internally and externally.
So before you begin,
Start by asking your body what it needs right now,
And how you would like to be set up in space.
Do you feel like laying down would be the most restorative option,
Or perhaps sitting up?
And whatever answer is perfectly fine,
And it may change at different times of the day,
Different days of the week.
So just tune into that first focal point as you get started and set yourself up.
Wherever you are,
You can choose to close or lower your eyes.
You can even have your eyes open.
See what it's like to become aware of your internal landscape with the eyes open.
So settle into your place.
Settle into this space and point in time.
Start to reel your awareness inside,
And notice your breath.
Notice the first point where you can sense your breath in your body.
Now settling a little deeper,
Dropping down a little bit further,
Relaxing,
And just letting the breath come and go.
Like you're taking a seat in the back of your skull and watching the breath happen,
Watching the breath dance,
Surf,
Noticing where it shows up,
Noticing the different parts of the inhale and the exhale and how that changes,
How you might become aware of different places in your body at different points of the breath cycle.
Notice if you have a tendency to hold on at the bottom of your inhale,
Maybe,
Or at the top of the exhale.
And entering how the breath is happening through the experience of it rather than through the mind and the mind's stories about it.
And from this place,
Come to the first point where you're aware of your breath,
Where it's most showing up in your body,
And zoom in on this place.
And you notice first,
Is there a temperature here?
Is it cold or hot?
Is it somewhere in between?
Does the temperature change between the air entering your nose and the air leaving your nose?
Is there a temperature change between your nasal cavity and your belly?
Does the breath have a texture?
Is it smooth,
Bumpy,
Scratchy,
Soft,
Fuzzy,
Prickly?
Just start to experience the texture of your breath right now.
And now is there a color that comes to mind when you feel your breath here?
And where is that color showing up?
Where are the limits of that color inside you?
And do they follow?
Do they track the breath?
And now if there's a border or an outline to the space that you can sense,
What kind of shape would that border contain?
Is it rounded?
Does it maybe have square edges?
Is it borderless?
Does it fade?
And if you could hold this place of your breath in your hands,
Does it have a density?
Does it have a weight?
Is it like a feather pillow or a jar of pennies?
Is it somewhere in between?
Sitting back in that chair at the bottom of your skull,
Noticing how you're aware of all of these descriptions,
Sensations,
Experiences for a full representation of your breath,
Of your experience.
And noticing still the breath coming and going,
How that's happening automatically,
How dynamic that is,
And how everything is contained under the umbrella of your watching,
Wakeful awareness.
Now travel to the ends of your fingertips.
Become aware of each finger.
Thumb,
Pointer finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
Pinky.
On the other hand,
Pinky,
Ring finger,
Middle finger,
Pointer finger,
Thumb,
All 10 fingers.
And can you sense how the breath is even showing up in your fingers?
Maybe you can sense your pulse.
And if you can't,
That's okay.
Maybe you can visualize your blood pumping into your fingertips.
Now travel down to your toes.
Notice all 10 toes.
Notice the space in between each of them.
Find the outermost point and see if you can sense your breath showing up here.
Maybe you can feel a whisper of your pulse,
Your blood traveling all the way down to your toes.
And becoming aware that your blood is being pumped all around your body,
Fueled by every breath.
Becoming fully aware of your circulatory system inside your skin,
How that's connected to your heart.
And how this entire system is looped back to your breath.
Noticing your whole body breathe.
And experience yourself watching and breathing.
And now breathing in space as a full sensory organism,
Awake,
Aware.
Start to open your aperture beyond your body.
Notice the floor below you and sense where the walls are in the space around you.
Tuning into how you can recognize that they're there without seeing them.
And where this knowing comes from.
Now open your aperture even wider and fly outside of your space.
Become aware of the trees outside,
The birds,
The animals,
The light,
The time of day.
Plants,
Flowers,
Grass,
Other buildings around your neighborhood.
Sky,
Clouds,
Treetops,
Roofs.
Viewing all this wide open space with the same detailed present awareness inside your body.
Being fully present with both experiences inward outward at the same time.
And if your awareness is on a pendulum and that pendulum swings from outward to inward.
Let your mind's eye just track that swing.
And notice how smoothly you can go from outside to inside.
What is your experience inside your body that you're sensing,
That you're imagining,
That you're feeling,
You're breathing into,
And the details of the physical world around you.
Take a big breath and then let it go.
Take another generous head to toe breath and drop it out into the expanse around you.
Knowing all of this is you at the same time.
All of this you have access to and you can choose at any time to be outside and inside.
Bring some movement into your fingers and toes to come back into the rest of your day.
I hope the other side of this meditation you find your glasses a little clearer and you have a wonderful rest of your day.
