Hey friends,
Welcome to the meditation practice at home in the body.
The intention of this practice is to provide a gentle introduction to using sensation and the body as a portal for well-being.
We'll learn how relating to the body in a new way can help sustain your meditation and self-care practices.
And so before we dive into the practice,
Just a little brief introduction to what we'll be working on.
First,
Something core to these practices will be three fundamental attitudes to mindfulness.
The first one,
The first attitude is that we'll do our best to stay in the present moment.
That means that when we find ourself in the past or thinking about the future,
We'll remember that we can return to the eternal now,
The present.
The second fundamental quality of or the second fundamental attitude of mindfulness that we'll remember today in our practice is that of non-judgment.
And so with non-judgment,
When we find ourselves in the past or in the future,
We'll remember that it's okay.
We'll remember that there's no benefit to being really hard on ourselves or being really hard on other beings or overly criticizing or judging experience of the eternal now.
And while these two attitudes,
Friends,
Are so important,
I have to admit that this third one,
I really like to focus on it in my practice,
And that's returning.
The gesture of returning to the present moment,
Or returning to an experience of non-judgment.
Just framing things as an opportunity to come back,
As opposed to making a mistake,
Or as opposed to the goal of the practice to having longer and longer periods of presence.
Having an attitude of,
I get an opportunity to return and I'm practicing returning,
Is,
I think,
A very fundamental and important attitude.
Okay,
So without further ado,
We'll get into the practice now.
So we'll start our practice with a focus on settling into the body.
And you might now stretch,
If it feels comfortable.
Remembering that everything in here is an invitation,
But maybe finding an opportunity to stretch,
And very gently bringing your hands down,
And as they're coming down,
If that's comfortable for you,
Bringing into mind this idea of focus settling into the body.
And you might become aware of different sensations that are going on,
And this gives us an opportunity to say hello to different parts of the body.
So maybe starting with the head,
Saying hello,
Noticing any sensations in the head,
Just gently and silently,
Hello head.
Sometimes can be hard to remember that the head is a body part,
That thinking is a physical experience,
And sensual,
That thinking itself is a sensation.
Just remembering that thoughts are activity,
They're sensation as well,
As content.
In your own time,
In a very improvisational,
Non-methodical way,
Saying hello to different parts of your body.
I immediately notice my toes,
Saying hello to my toes,
May be different for you.
So in this next period of silence,
Just remembering to return to sensation,
If you do start to drift,
And when you notice that sensation,
Remembering the practice of saying hello.
Tapping into intuition.
I think of this as the intuitive body scan.
Take about five more breaths,
Just remembering to say hello to different aspects of your experience.
Just coming back to our shared space,
To my voice.
We'll spend just the next few minutes exploring some movements.
I think of these movements as rhythmic rocking.
So right now I'm just rocking my spine from side to side.
In your own time,
Just finding a gentle,
Rhythmic,
Spinal rock.
When I say rhythmic,
I just mean a rhythm that feels right to you.
So we don't want to overthink this.
We just want to find something that feels good.
And with this rhythmic rocking,
Focusing on what this does to the sensations in our body.
What about it feels good on a sensual level.
So for me,
There's this vibration in my stomach and pelvis area that just feels really nice.
I'm really turning that up with my rhythmic rocking.
But what is it for you?
In this next period of silence,
Exploring,
Experimenting with rocking and sensation.
Bring to breathe and rock.
Maybe you're going side to side.
You can shift and explore front and back.
Just remember you have different dimensions and domains you can explore.
Just finding your own creativity and intuition.
And just ever so gently,
Finding that stillness.
Taking a big deep breath.
Maybe pausing at the top.
And exhaling.
Maybe just as we're finishing,
Just finding some gentle touch.
I'm giving myself a very gentle foot massage.
And maybe giving yourself some gentle touch.
And in the closing of this session,
Y'all,
In the last 30 seconds,
Just a brief contemplation on how we can care for our body today.
What's one thing that you can do for your body that will help you feel good?
And with that,
I encourage you to give it a try.
And let us know what you what you're doing and how this practice landed for you.
So I'm just so grateful that you took 10 minutes to gently introduce yourself to the body and sensation as a portal for well-being.
Thanks.
