Hi everyone.
Hello.
Welcome and thank you for being here.
Being the operative word for this session because for the next half hour there is nothing that you have to do.
Nothing you have to achieve,
Nothing to strive for.
An invitation to simply be here for a while and see what happens.
And that's meditation.
More about that in a little bit.
But first,
Happy new year.
And this year I find myself saying to people happy new moment more than happy new year.
Because I believe that life and the year ahead really is but a sequence of moments.
And to me,
If there is one thing that I have learned personally in 2020,
Is that as much as I believe in the power and use of goal setting,
It comes down to moments.
And with every new moment,
Mindfulness offers us an opportunity to be with that moment more intentionally.
And when we learn to be in the moment,
This moment and then the one after that and the one after that,
With a better attitude and with more intentionality,
Like I said,
Then you create a better day.
You create a better week.
And you get through the chapters,
The good ones and the not so easy ones with more ease and with more grace.
And that is why I'm such a fan of mindfulness because it has greatly helped me to do that in 2020.
And that's why I'm so keen to share it with people.
And so I'm grateful that you're here and I invite you to get as comfortable as possible.
And that may mean readjusting your position slightly.
And you can do this practice,
Which will last for about 20 minutes.
You can do this practice lying down,
Sitting down.
And you're welcome to close your eyes or if meditation is fairly new to you,
Or just if this feels better right now in this moment,
Simply lowering your gaze,
Letting the eyes relax or keeping them open.
Settling into this moment.
And I'm going to ring the bell three times.
And as you listen to the sound of the bell,
Allowing yourself to relax as best you can.
Accessible.
And if you want to join me in taking three deep breaths,
And we're going to inhale through the nose,
And then hold for a few moments,
And exhale through the mouth.
And then we're going to inhale through the mouth,
And exhale through the mouth.
And then in your own time,
Allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm.
And I am purposefully going to start off today's session with a few moments of silence.
Because there is an invitation here for you,
And the invitation is to simply observe where the mind is taking you,
And what the body is trying to make you aware of.
But don't go looking for anything in particular.
Simply observe.
And I'm coming back in for a moment,
And then it's back over to you.
But it could be that the mind is trying to steer you in a certain direction.
You reserved a place for this meditation,
So we expect this result or that result.
Or maybe the mind is already thinking about what you can do after the meditation.
Tomorrow.
The day after that.
What the new year should bring.
Or maybe the mind is nowhere right now.
Fairly chilled.
The whole spectrum,
No right or wrong.
There are no meditation Olympics.
So gently observing what's here for you right now.
Fairly chilled.
And perhaps this comes easily to you,
The observing of thoughts and emotions.
And perhaps it is challenging.
The invitation is to find an anchor you can use to come back to whenever you notice that the mind has drifted,
Wandered off too far.
And that anchor could be your breath or the touch of your body,
Or the chair,
Or the bed.
And so I'm handing back over to you to spend time with what is,
Observing what is.
But this time the additional invitation is to bring an attitude of non-judgment.
Non-judgment.
My mind is taking me there,
Hmm,
Interesting,
Hmm.
And that's it.
I'm not judging that.
This pops up.
Interesting.
I'm not judging that.
And so forth.
As best you can.
And simply noticing what's here for you now.
Some extreme restlessness perhaps,
Too calm,
And anything in between,
Without judgment.
Bringing your attention back to the anchor you chose.
Whenever the mind wanders off too far.
Keeping that sense of wakefulness as best you can.
Try to not fall asleep.
I know it's easily done.
And if that happens,
That's fine.
But as best you can,
Being here with a sense of wakefulness,
Alertness.
Really meeting yourself right now as you find yourself in this moment.
And this is a pivotal time of year,
Really,
Isn't it?
The start of something new.
There is still so much going on,
Or not going on for that matter.
So it's so useful to learn how to hold some space for yourself without the need to find out what's next.
To simply meet whatever unfolds in this moment.
And you may want to take another deep breath.
Now purposefully bring your attention to all the points of contact between your body and the bed or the stool,
The chair,
The couch you're sitting or lying on.
Simply sensing into those points of contact.
Could be the buttocks,
Could be the soles of your feet,
Could be the back of your head on the pillow.
As best you can.
Just tuning into those points of contact.
But without the striving,
Don't try to feel anything in particular.
Bringing a gentle curiosity to this moment.
Right now,
What does this feel like?
And perhaps notice how the mind has very likely wandered off.
Just bring it back to the now.
Bring it back to the practice.
Without any judgment and with self-compassion.
Things wander,
That's what they do.
And in many ways that is what they are designed to do.
Constantly scanning,
Constantly trying to figure things out,
Trying to make sense of things,
Trying to protect you even.
There's a time and a place for that.
Right now,
You can tell the mind that you are practicing being.
Simply being.
Calling on your anchor whenever you notice the mind has wandered.
Is that right?
You you you and I invite you to take another deep breath you you and now as best you can holding your whole body in awareness from the top of your head to the tips of your toes fully being with the body perhaps breathing into any parts of the body any particular areas where there is slight discomfort if that feels okay to do so placing some extra care and kindness in those parts of the body you you And as we move into the final moments of today's practice,
I'm going to invite you to also become aware of the space around your body.
Be careful,
My friends,
Because this is obviously where the mind is likely to come in and try and find things,
Try to sense things for you.
Obviously try to,
As best you can,
Be and become aware of the space around your body.
Just say,
Sense of connection.
Until you hear the sound of the bells,
Which will be three times again,
Allowing yourself to rest for a few more moments in this energy you have created for yourself and for the group.
You So,
Gently opening the eyes if they were closed.
And you may want to do a gentle stretch if that feels comfortable and okay to do so.
Kind of sensing into what the body needs right now.
I like to wiggle fingers and toes.
Yeah.
Allowing yourself to ease into the next part of the day.
And then the week ahead.
And then the year ahead.
And before you leave,
I want to say thank you and also that the practice today was purposefully basic in a way.
But I think this,
What we practiced today was the bicep curl,
So to speak.
It's the foundation of mindfulness meditation practice and it's about growing that capacity to be with whatever arises in the moment.
As long as it is safe,
Of course.
And that capacity is something that we keep building with every new practice.
And that's it.
So thank you very much.
Much love.
Namaste.
