We will begin as we always do by finding a comfortable seated position.
You're always welcome to lie down as well,
But sometimes sitting can help us to be more alert and awake in the body.
And you can sit on a chair or maybe a cushion,
A pillow,
And you can let your hands rest in your lap or on your thighs.
Let your spine be nice and long and alert,
Your chest open,
But not feeling too rigid in your posture.
And before we begin our meditation,
We'll just spend about a minute or so bringing some movement into the body,
Inhaling your shoulders up to your ears and exhaling them down your back.
And again,
Inhale shoulders up towards your ears and exhale to roll them back.
And one more time.
And then switching directions,
Inhaling your shoulders up to your ears and then exhaling to round them forward.
And two more times on your own breath.
Good.
And then you can drop your right ear to your right shoulder,
Stretching out the left side of the neck.
And then rolling the chin forward toward the chest,
Stretching out the back of the neck.
And then bringing your left ear to your left shoulder to stretch out the right side of the neck.
Just bringing a little bit of space here into the neck and the shoulders.
And then you can now bring your head back to center.
Let your eyes be closed or if you would rather they stay open,
Just see if you can rest your gaze on a point out in front of you,
Softening the gaze.
And to begin,
Just kind of scan through the body,
Noticing what the inner weather system is like today,
What the body feels like,
What your mood is like,
If there's any emotions present.
And just noticing,
Just as we look out the window and notice what's going on or take a step outside,
Not trying to change anything.
Now let your awareness come to the crown of your head,
Softening the brow,
The temples,
The eyes.
And just pausing for a moment in this region,
Noticing if the eyes feel twitchy or if they feel soft,
Calm.
And letting your awareness spread into the cheeks and the jaw.
Relaxing your tongue all the way down to the root.
And then letting your awareness spread into the shoulders.
Imagine the shoulders melting like ice to water.
And following that downward movement down into the hands.
And resting your awareness here in the hands,
Feeling them from the inside out.
Noticing any sensations of tingling or vibrating.
Maybe the hands feel cool or warm.
And now bringing your awareness into the chest,
The region of the heart,
The lungs,
The ribs.
Noticing if there's any tension present here.
And see if you can just breathe with this tension,
Allowing it to be,
Holding it in the way that a vast blue sky holds a cloud.
And just inviting a sense of spaciousness into the heart region.
And then letting that spaciousness spread into the belly.
With each inhale,
Letting the belly soften just a little more.
And feeling the belly as it contracts with each exhale.
And then noticing your sit bones against the earth,
The floor.
Noticing a sense of pressure being held and supported.
And see if you can soften into that support a little bit more.
Noticing if there's any sensations in this region of the body,
In the pelvic region.
And now letting your awareness gently wander down into the feet.
And feeling the points of contact between your feet and the floor.
Noticing the feeling of pressure,
Tingling,
Coolness or warmth.
And now let your awareness spread through the entire body.
Lengthening your spine once more.
Letting the chest be open,
The shoulders soft,
The hands resting in an easeful position.
And if there's any tension present in the body,
Just seeing if you can hold it with the image of the vast blue sky holding a cloud.
And just letting it be here with you in this meditation practice.
And now let your awareness find a home in the breath.
Sensing where the breath feels most easeful for you.
Maybe in the nostrils as it passes in and out.
Or maybe in the rise and fall of the belly or the chest or the diaphragm.
And just letting your awareness rest here.
Notice if there's a tendency to try to control the breath.
See if you can trust the breath to breathe on its own.
Feeling how the body breathes itself without our conscious control of it.
Just noticing the calming rhythm of the breath,
Like waves crashing on the beach.
Noticing how the breath is cooler as it enters the body.
And warmer as it exits.
And it's very normal for the mind to wander in meditation.
So when this happens,
Just notice where the mind goes.
And then gently bring your awareness back to the breath.
Even if you have to do this over and over again.
And it might be helpful to imagine yourself sitting on the bank of a river.
Noticing how everything is just passing by in this river as you meditate.
And sometimes a thought arrives,
Like a log or a stick in the river.
And just noticing what it is and then allowing it to pass.
And if the breath doesn't feel safe for you to be with for whatever reason,
Or maybe it's causing more anxiety than ease,
Then you can practice resting your attention with sensations in the body.
Maybe in the hands,
The sit bones,
Or the feet.
Or you can let your awareness wander naturally from sound to sound.
And just letting your attention anchor somewhere else.
Notice where your mind is,
Where your attention is.
And if it's away from the breath,
Just gently bringing it back to the breath,
Or the body,
Whatever your anchor is in this moment.
Thank you for your attention.
