Ah,
Well,
Let's begin with,
Let's begin with some nice deep settling breaths.
Arrive here in our bodies.
If anybody needs a blanket,
I've got an extra.
You want to put one over your legs.
Feel the support of the chair,
Support of the floor under your feet,
The earth beneath the building,
Holding us up and making us nice and solid and secure.
Begin with the first bell and we'll end with three.
Using the breath as an anchor for the attention so that we're not dragged off into planning and thinking mode,
Just able to rest and be present.
Experience this moment,
This beautiful gift of life.
Most of our time we spend all tied up in plans or memories,
Regrets or fears,
When really all we have is this very moment that we're experiencing.
Everything else is,
Is illusion.
Future hasn't happened.
And memory is very slippery.
It shifts and changes and it is not entirely reliable.
But we can know that we're here.
This we can rely on.
We know that we are experiencing life.
Feel the body,
Draw in air because it needs it,
And get rid of the waste products of that air because it no longer needs that.
If your eyes are closed,
You're comfortable doing it that way.
If you need to open your eyes that's fine too.
But let's try a little breathing exercise this morning.
You just pay attention to the breath and for just a little while do a modification.
We'll do something that's called square breathing.
We're going to breathe in through the nose for three seconds,
Hold for three seconds,
Breathe out for three seconds,
And wait for three seconds.
In,
Hold,
Out,
Wait.
And we'll wait four.
In,
Hold,
Out,
Wait.
In,
Hold,
Out,
Wait.
And let your body decide when you want to breathe in.
No control,
Just watch what happens.
At any time if you feel drawn to do so,
Go ahead and return to the square breath.
See what that feels like.
And when you're ready,
Release that and see what your body does.
Just be curious.
If it feels comfortable,
Join me again for a couple of more square breaths.
This time six second ones.
In through the nose,
Hold,
Out,
And wait.
In,
Hold,
Out,
Wait.
In,
Hold,
Out,
And wait.
What do the breaths feel like?
Where do you feel the air moving?
Do you feel it moving through your nose?
Do you feel it at the tip of your nose,
In your sinuses,
In your throat?
Do you feel your diaphragm moving down,
Your lungs expanding?
Do you feel your chest expanding with each breath and then contracting as you breathe out?
Do you feel the cool air coming in?
Can you feel how it's warmed when it goes back out again?
Just be curious.
Just be curious.
In the last minutes,
Just let go of the breath.
Let go of the intention to meditate or do anything.
Just widen your awareness and attention to the whole experience of this room.
The sounds,
The smells,
The sense of the place,
The sense of space in here.
Just widen your awareness and pay attention to the whole space where we are and everything you can sense about it.
If you find yourself drifting into thinking mode,
Planning mode,
Remembering mode,
Don't beat yourself up.
Don't criticize yourself.
That's your mind doing what your mind has got used to doing your entire life.
We practice that a lot and we're very good at it.
Let that busy mind know that it can rest right now.
You're just paying attention to being here.
We're just paying attention to this space and that's all that needs to be here.
Us and this space.
