Hello.
Welcome to your meditation.
We will begin by finding a comfortable seated position,
Or if it feels more comfortable for you to lie down,
You are welcome to do that.
If you're seated,
Find a nice long spine.
Maybe letting your hands rest in your lap or on your thighs.
Even if you're lying down,
You can allow your palms to face towards the sky,
Let your feet fall out to the sides.
Before you allow your eyes to close,
You might just rest your gaze on a point out in front of you,
Maybe a point on the ceiling if you're lying down,
Or a point on the floor.
Just notice the sounds around you,
Taking in sounds in the distance,
And then sounds inside the room,
And maybe taking in the room through your periphery vision.
Just giving yourself a moment to take in the surrounding environment.
Now we'll take a few deep breaths together.
So beginning by letting out all of the air that you currently hold in the body,
And then take a deep breath in through the nose,
Expanding the belly,
Expanding the chest,
And then a slow exhale through the nose or through your mouth.
Again,
A deep inhale through the nose to expand the belly,
Expand the chest,
And a slow exhale to release and let go,
Contracting the belly,
And one more time,
A deep inhale,
Seeing just how deep you can fill your belly,
Your pelvic region.
Now as you exhale slowly,
You can let your eyes gently close if that feels comfortable for you,
And let your breath return to its natural rhythm.
Just take a moment to notice your body,
Let your awareness turn inward,
Letting the sounds be in the background.
Just notice what the body is feeling like,
What's your energy like in this moment.
Do you feel tense,
Maybe really energetic,
Maybe you feel agitated or impatient?
Maybe there's a sense of lightness and spaciousness in the body today.
Just noticing and also realizing that this energy is always changing.
You might even notice it changing in the body right now.
Sometimes when we're feeling rigid,
You might feel this sense of tightness in the body,
Maybe a sense of grasping or holding on,
Or just a sense of being closed off,
Disconnected.
See if you can invite a sense of softness into the body.
Maybe there's some areas of tightness that feel ready to soften,
To let go.
And if it feels difficult to invite in a sense of softness,
Then just see if you can be with what's here,
Creating an attitude of openness and compassion to whatever you might be feeling,
And imagining that you're able to hold it,
That you're able to allow space for it to be.
You might see if you can bring a sense of softness into the forehead,
Maybe into the shoulders,
Imagining them melting down your spine.
Now bring your awareness into the hands,
Seeing if you can let them rest in a relaxed and easeful way.
Now see if you can bring that same softness into the belly with your next inhale,
And exhale to relax even deeper down through the pelvic region.
And again,
If it feels difficult to relax,
To soften,
See if you can just hold the tension or whatever else you might be feeling with a sense of compassion and allowance,
Just allowing it to be there,
Not needing it to change or go away,
But rather inviting it to soften.
And if it's not ready,
Then just allowing it to be.
Now let this awareness and softness and acceptance spread down into the legs and into the feet.
And now let your awareness spread through the entire body,
Again,
Just bringing an invitation to the body to relax,
To let go,
To open.
You might sense into where it feels easiest for you to detect the breath in the body.
Maybe it's in the rise and fall of your belly or the rise and fall of your chest.
Maybe you can feel sensations in the nose or in the throat as it passes through.
Wherever you most easily notice it,
See if you can just let your awareness rest in this place.
Just paying special attention to the movement of the breath,
To the sensations of the breath.
And you might imagine with each inhale,
As if you're breathing in the spaciousness of a vast blue sky,
That this spacious sky is filling you from the inside,
And again,
Just staying with the breath and the sense of openness,
Of softness.
And if the mind wanders,
As it often does,
Just gently notice and bring your attention.
Just notice that it's wandered,
And then bring your attention gently back to the breath.
Just resting in these few moments of quiet,
Of ease,
And space.
And I'll end this meditation with a quote by Bruce Lee.
Be like water making its way through cracks.
Do not be assertive,
But adjust to the object,
And you shall find a way around or through it.
If nothing within you stays rigid,
Outward things will disclose themselves.
Be like water making its way through cracks.
Do not be assertive,
But adjust to the object,
And you shall find a way around or through it.
If nothing within you stays rigid,
Outward things will disclose themselves.
If nothing within you stays rigid,
Outward things will disclose itself.
