You may begin this meditation in a seated position or lying down position.
Wherever you find yourself,
Just see if you can bring a sense of alertness into the body.
Bringing in a nice long spine.
Letting your hands rest in your lap or or alongside your body if you're lying down.
Just take a moment to become comfortable and when you feel ready let your eyes close or let your gaze rest on a point out in front of you.
Whatever feels most comfortable to you.
And we often begin meditation by taking a few deep breaths to help us gather our attention and arrive in this moment.
So let all of the air out of your body that you currently hold and take a deep inhale filling your belly,
Expanding your lungs and a slow exhale through the nose.
Again,
A deep inhale through your nose filling the body with awareness and a slow exhale at the nose,
Releasing,
Letting go.
And one more time,
A deep inhale arriving in this moment and a slow exhale to sink deeper into your seat,
Into the floor or the chair.
And now let the rhythm of your breath return to normal.
And there are many different anchors that we can rest our attention on in meditation.
So this is often the breath but it doesn't have to be the breath.
So we can instead focus our attention on sensations in the body.
Or we might focus on sound.
It really is dependent upon whatever feels most comfortable and inviting for you.
But the goal is to sustain our focused attention,
Notice when we're distracted by thoughts and then bring the awareness back to our anchor.
So in this meditation,
We'll move through these different anchors,
Expanding our awareness through each one.
And so begin by noticing the body,
Noticing how the body feels in this moment,
Seeing if there's any tension that's ready to be released,
Relaxed.
And start by bringing your awareness to the crown of your head,
To your scalp,
And into your forehead,
Your eyes,
Your brow,
Your cheeks,
And ears.
Loosening the jaw,
Noticing your tongue.
And take a moment to let your awareness rest in the face as a whole,
Being with the sensations here.
Let your attention glide down your throat and into your shoulders,
Letting the shoulders soften and relax down your spine.
And let your awareness slide down the upper arms,
Into the lower arms,
And into your hands,
Seeing if you can let your hands rest in a really easeful way.
Noticing temperature and sensations in the hands.
Now bring your awareness into your upper back,
Mid back,
Lower back,
And noticing your collarbones,
Imagining their outline,
And your chest,
The home of your heart,
Your lungs,
And your ribs.
Just noticing sensations.
Now see if you can relax your belly with each exhale softening.
And notice your pelvis and the sensations of your sit bones against your seat,
Around the floor.
And now let your awareness move down into your upper legs,
Into your knees,
Lower legs,
Noticing sensations in the ankles,
Ankles,
And your feet.
Noticing the arches of your feet,
The balls of your feet,
And spaces between your toes.
And take a moment to notice where in your body you most clearly feel sensations.
These could be pleasant sensations,
Or they could be sensations that are a little more uncomfortable.
And take a moment to notice where you feel pleasant sensations in the body most easily.
And see if you can rest your attention here for a moment.
Just being with the sensations here,
Noticing how they might change.
And if the mind wanders,
It is not a problem.
You just bring your attention back to this place of focus within the body.
And now let this awareness of the body fade into the background,
As you bring awareness of your breath into the foreground.
And be with the breath wherever wherever it feels most easy for you.
So maybe it's in the rise and fall of the chest,
Or the belly.
Maybe it's in your throat or nostrils.
Or maybe you can feel the air on your upper lip as it moves in and out.
And just taking some time to rest here with the breath.
And when your attention wanders,
As it does,
Just gently bring your awareness back to the breath,
Noticing where the mind goes,
And seeing if you can save the thought for later,
Knowing that in this moment you are with the breath.
And if the attention wanders,
Gently bringing it back to the breath.
In the same way that you might direct a lost puppy,
Just calmly redirecting it.
And now let your awareness expand to include sound.
So the breath will slip away into the background,
Along with awareness of the body.
Now notice the sounds around you.
Notice seeing sounds in the room,
Sounds outside.
And see if you can do so without needing to label the sound.
Notice if there is a reaction that comes with the sound.
Maybe the sound is pleasant or unpleasant,
Or neutral.
Notice the response and then see if you can let it go and just be with sound,
Noticing sound as a vibration.
And let your attention drift freely from one sound to the next,
Just moving with sound as it arises,
Letting sound be your anchor.
And now see if you can let your awareness expand to include the body,
The breath,
And sounds together.
Noticing how they're all happening together and creating whatever experience you're having now.
So we notice them not as these separate instruments in a piece of music,
But rather we blend them and notice how they all come together to create our human experience.
And you can even expand that to notice smells and feelings of touch.
You could feel the fabric against your skin or even seeing if you can sense the feeling of air against your skin and taking time to be with our experience.
And when you feel ready,
You can begin to blink your eyes open,
Coming back into this space,
Taking a big stretch.
And thank you for your practice.
