So hello and welcome.
Welcome to today's practice.
Nice to spend some time together.
I invite you to settle in,
Get comfortable,
Perhaps make a few micro-adjustments to your posture.
This will be a 20 to 25 minute practice,
Which you can do lying down,
Just sitting,
Standing even.
And I will ring the bell three times.
And the invitation is to allow yourself to arrive here fully as best you can,
Transitioning from a busy or perhaps not so busy day to this sacred moment of practice,
Of you-time.
The bell rings.
The bell rings.
Really allowing yourself to arrive,
To welcome yourself.
And immediately noticing how the mind reacts to that invitation.
Perhaps the mind is rolling out the red carpet for this moment and for you.
And perhaps it is thinking,
What is this?
Why are you slowing down?
Why are you not rushing?
Why are you not busy?
And so let's acknowledge that kind of reaction from the mind,
Good or bad,
So to speak.
Just having a quick chat with the mind.
Do you know what?
I've got this.
Thank you for caring.
This is my time.
And it can be helpful to really welcome your mind to this practice,
To include it in today's session.
We are not here to escape anything.
We are here to meet,
To meet with whatever arises for us.
If you meditate to block things from your mind,
There will be even more presence.
When you allow yourself to be,
Things will feel acknowledged and their power won't be as strong over you.
Becoming fully aware of you being here.
And it sounds so straightforward,
But it may not be that simple.
And a good way to become aware of ourselves in this moment is to check in with the points of contact between our body and whatever it is we're sitting on or lying on.
Even if you are perfectly still right now,
Directing your attention to points of contact.
And you can include your breath as an anchor as well,
Along with the points of contact.
Just something to help you stabilize during the practice.
Something you can come back to whenever your mind wanders,
Which it will do.
That is what minds do.
Simply being here.
Welcoming this stillness.
Noticing what comes up for you through the,
What is called the spontaneous activation of the mind,
Which is forever ongoing,
So don't worry about that.
It's normal.
But how do you relate to that activity of the mind?
Do you judge it?
Can you hold it?
With kindness,
With self-respect,
With self-compassion.
And if that is tricky,
Then it can be helpful to,
As best you can,
Label what comes up for you.
But don't try,
You know,
Don't strive to get it right.
There is anger.
There is boredom.
There is overthinking.
That one's love.
And so forth.
So I'll give you a few moments to practice that.
So bringing a kind awareness to whatever comes up.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And now I'm going to start by allowing this part of the practice to fade into the background.
And bringing your awareness to the breath.
If that feels comfortable.
And I'm going to take any other anchor for this part of the session into consideration.
And I know that this can be a little bit tricky when I ask people to see where in the body you can locate your breath the most.
In the same way that I didn't want you to go chase after thoughts.
Don't go chasing after,
You know,
Where can I feel my breath?
Just see if you can tune into the body.
It could be the chest,
It could be the abdomen rising and falling.
And if there are no direct sensations,
That is fine.
Simply try to be with the breath and then follow each in-breath and each out-breath as best you can.
No need to change the way you're breathing,
But perhaps you can become more conscious of the breathing rhythm.
Noticing where the mind goes.
And then as ever with kindness,
Gently bringing it back to your breath,
Back to the now moment.
And now allowing the breath to fade into the background.
Knowing that it will look after you effortlessly.
And becoming aware of your whole body as best you can.
Just expanding,
As we say,
The field of awareness to include the whole body.
Allowing your attention to rest in different parts of the body.
Tuning into any sensations without judgment.
This magnificent vehicle for this life.
And for sure we want to see certain things to be a bit different perhaps.
But for now appreciating this miracle.
This gift.
Fully integrating the mind and the body in this moment.
Becoming more than just your thoughts.
Becoming more than just your feelings.
But welcoming and being all of you.
Noticing how the mind perhaps reacts to that invitation.
Why are we including the body?
Life is about me.
Me,
Me,
Me.
Just re-establishing that balance between the mind and the body.
We have a gut brain,
We have a heart brain.
And then we have the brain inside our head.
Kind of seeing them connected,
Aligned.
Staying here in this moment,
In this experience,
In this energy.
Feeling stable,
Feeling grounded.
Allowing yourself to rest.
Perhaps even allowing yourself to receive energy that is coming from unexpected sources and directions in this moment.
From life itself with a capital L.
Restoring your energy levels.
Restoring confidence.
And restoring faith in your capacity,
In your presence here on this planet.
And in your journey.
Resting here until you hear the sound of the bell.
And then when you do,
Allowing yourself to transition with as much gentleness and care as possible.
There is tremendous love and respect here for you.
There is tremendous love and respect here for you.
The bell is ringing.
The bell is ringing.
So perhaps doing a gentle stretch.
Wiggling fingers and toes and neck roll or gentle shoulder roll.
Whatever is called for right now.
Go well,
Namaste,
Bye for now.
