We'll begin by finding a position for meditation.
So find a position that feels comfortable for you,
But one that also helps you to feel alert and present with a sense of stability in your spine.
Maybe finding a nice long spine,
Opening your chest slightly,
Rolling your shoulders back.
Just take a moment to find your position.
Letting your hands rest comfortably in your lap or on your thighs.
And then keeping your eyes open,
We'll begin by taking a few deep breaths together.
So begin by letting out all the air that you are currently holding in the body.
And then take a deep inhale through the nose to expand the belly,
Expand the chest.
And then release a slow exhale through the nose or through the mouth,
Relaxing.
And again,
A deep inhale through the nose,
Filling the body with oxygen.
And a slow exhale to let go and release.
One more time,
A deep inhale.
And a slow exhale,
Allowing your eyes to close with the exhale if that feels comfortable for you.
And now just take a moment to let everything settle.
Let your body settle.
Let the activity of the mind settle.
Allow yourself to come into presence.
And maybe taking a moment to do a brief scan through the body just noticing what the energy is like,
What the internal weather is looking like.
And in this moment of settling,
See if you can just allow whatever is here to be here.
Part of settling and becoming present is ending this desire that we have to try to change our circumstances or to change the way that we're feeling.
And to just relax and create space for things to be just as they are.
And so see if you can invite this sense of openness and acceptance into the body.
Maybe bringing a sense of softness and spaciousness into the forehead,
Relaxing the eyes and the temples.
And then let that spread into the cheeks and into the mouth and into the ears.
And into the mouth,
Relaxing the tongue.
Letting there be a slight separation between the upper lip and your bottom lip.
And relaxing your jaw.
Bringing a softness into the neck.
Sense of openness.
And then letting that spread into the shoulders.
Letting the shoulders soften down the back.
Just noticing if there's any tension in this area and seeing if you can just create a sense of openness,
Allowance for this to be here.
And now relax all the way down to the shoulders.
All the way down the upper arms and the forearms and into the hands.
And letting the hands rest in an easeful and effortless kind of way.
And see what sensations you might notice here in the hands.
Maybe some tingling,
Coolness or warmth.
And see if you can sense into the space between the fingers.
And now bring your awareness into the chest.
Maybe even feeling into your own heartbeat.
Noticing the way that the chest expands and contracts.
Imagining your lungs inflating and deflating with every breath.
Again,
Welcoming in a sense of openness,
Acceptance.
And this isn't to cover over anything that might be here.
We're not trying to resist any tension,
But rather creating space for it to be here.
And now letting there be a softness in the belly.
With each exhale,
See if you can soften the belly just a little bit more,
Imagining that the inhale is inviting in the space,
Inviting in a sense of expansion.
And now let your awareness spread into the pelvic region,
Filling this area with your awareness.
And now sensing into the volume and the length of the legs.
Letting a sense of spaciousness fill this area.
And noticing your feet,
The tops of the feet,
Your toes,
And the soles of your feet.
Noticing what sensations might be here.
Any tingling or vibration,
Warmth or coolness.
And now let your awareness fill your entire body.
Just noticing this field of sensation that is your body.
Welcoming space.
Especially to areas where we might feel some tension.
Just surrounding that tension with spaciousness.
Now sense into where you can most easily detect the breath in the body.
So this might be in the rise and the fall of your belly.
Or maybe the rise and fall of your chest as air fills the body.
Or maybe you can feel sensations in your nose or in your throat as air passes through.
Wherever you most easily feel it,
Just let your attention rest there for a little while.
Just being here with each inhale and exhale.
Imagining it's like the tide coming in,
Going out,
Or waves crashing on the beach.
There's a calming rhythm to the breath.
So see if you can just rest here for a moment,
Being aware of the breath in the same way that being aware of the breath in the same way that you might rest your attention on those crashing waves on the beach.
And if your mind wanders to some thought,
That's no problem,
It's normal.
And just notice that your mind has wandered and see if you can gently bring your awareness back to the breath,
Back to this present moment.
And just being right here with the breath,
Noticing how it changes.
Each inhale and each exhale are different than the ones before.
And now let your awareness expand to include any sounds that might be in the room.
Maybe sounds outside of the room.
And just welcoming all of this into the spaciousness of the moment.
Just allowing whatever is here to be here.
