A very warm welcome to this 20-minute guided practice which I invite you to do in a posture that feels supportive for you.
This could be sitting,
Standing,
Lying down or of course moving if listening at the same time is safe to do so.
The eyes can be open or closed or softening the gaze perhaps,
Settling into a steady and easeful posture,
Getting a real felt sense of the body in this moment,
Perhaps by sensing into the contact points between the body and the chair or the bed and the ground beneath you,
Such as the feet making contact with the floor,
The contact between your hands and wherever they are resting or perhaps the contact with the air around you if you're moving and these contact points can also be anchors throughout the practice,
Not to pin you down in one place so to speak but as a supportive focal point or focal points to return to whenever the mind wanders off too far,
Which we know it will do,
It's normal,
It's not a problem.
Another anchor could be your breath,
As long as connecting intentionally with your breath feels comfortable to you and feeling free to follow my guidance but always remembering your autonomy and that you can simply use this practice time to follow your own guidance instead and if at any point the practice feels too much you're welcome to pause or stop altogether settling arriving here with a sense of presence through the body,
The breath and your very connection to the practice,
A practice that is not about making uncertainty go away but rather learning how to meet uncertainty with presence,
Learning how to be with uncertainty.
This doesn't mean we have to approve of the causes of the uncertainty or accept all the reasons for it,
Some things cannot be accepted but we do cultivate the capacity to acknowledge that uncertainty is here,
This exists,
An aspect of our present moment experience and so you could say that we're cultivating capacity to be with this uncertainty relating more kindly to any unpleasantness that comes with this and the natural aversion and reactivity that come with it but often create additional discomfort through overthinking and so on we learn to be with uncertainty by holding it so to speak in compassionate mindful awareness without judging the experience,
Without judging ourselves and without trying to force certainty an invitation now to gently notice if uncertainty or a sense of uncertainty is currently present in your awareness perhaps showing up as thoughts,
Bodily sensations,
Feelings and perhaps the uncertainty is clearly defined,
You know exactly what the situation is and perhaps not as best you can allowing it to be here if it's supportive perhaps taking a deeper breath or two and or intentionally connecting with your anchors and now deliberately shifting friendly attention to the body what sensations come along with this uncertainty?
How is the body reacting if at all?
How might it be telling you that you don't like this?
Maybe there's tension in parts of the body such as the jaw or the shoulders maybe in the chest perhaps in your facial muscles or perhaps a sense of discomfort in the whole of your body if it's accessible to you inviting a gentle softening not forcing relaxation allowing any unnecessary holding to ease just a little with gentle attention and kindness practicing allowing sensations to be here breathing with them rather than bracing against them we might maybe say to ourselves it's okay to feel like this it's okay to let myself feel this and breathe with this with your anchor or anchors always available as support only exploring as much or as little as you choose if thoughts and perhaps urges about the future arise plans worries images noticing them as thoughts mental events moving through your awareness you don't need to push them away you don't need to resolve them as best you can recognizing this is a thought about the future happening now acknowledging urges with kindness and then gently returning to the present moment including your anchors we may offer ourselves a phrase such as it's okay not to know it's okay not to know or I can be here even with this this moment is manageable as you notice uncertainty see if you can also notice what else is here perhaps the certainty of the points of contact between your body and what's supporting it the certainty of the non-judgmental ground below you perhaps your breath maybe something in nature you appreciate perhaps it's a rhythm that provides a sense of certainty a routine and of course awareness itself because the uncertainty is held within awareness rather than overtaking it becoming the whole picture and we'll now gently begin to draw this practice to a close so once more noticing the whole body again the sense of the whole body sitting here standing lying moving perhaps taking a deeper breath or two and allowing the eyes to open if they were closed gently taking in the space around you and if it's accessible to you perhaps taking a moment now to express some gratitude to yourself for having practiced for showing up for holding the uncertainty with kindly awareness and remember this capacity to pause and meet things with intentional and kindly presence is something you can return to again and again in everyday moments of not knowing so I thank you for your practice and I thank you for supporting my work go well
