So good morning,
Everyone's doing well out there.
Welcome to meditation on the lawn.
My name is Doug Worthing and I'm here for kind of two reasons.
One is I'm a UVA alum and really fond of the school and this community and actually was introduced to mindfulness while a student at UVA in 1999.
I invite you to settle into a comfortable posture.
Eyes open or closed and to welcome whatever is present for you in this moment of your life.
Welcoming whatever's moving through hearing,
Seeing,
Smelling,
Tasting through the sense of your body and the whole realm of thinking.
And to notice where your attention is.
What was your attention highlighting?
How was your attention moving?
And then inviting the attention to connect to the sensations of your body.
This grounded yet fluid sense of the body.
Again,
Honoring whatever sensation,
Feeling,
Emotion might be there.
And we'll do a brief scan of the body,
Starting with the top of the head.
I'm sweeping this kind receptive attention down the sensations of the face.
Through the sense of the back of the head,
Neck and shoulders.
And sweeping down through the sensations of the left arm and left hand.
Through the sense of the right arm and the right hand.
And sweeping down through the sense of your torso.
Honoring both the sensations and feelings,
But also the space as well.
Squeezing down through the hip area.
The sense of the left leg and left foot.
And down through the right leg and right foot.
Maybe widening the attention,
Holding the sense of your whole body and letting yourself be held by your own attention.
And also by the earth,
By gravity.
Sometimes the body will release a little more when it connects to that sense of being held.
And then invite you to let the attention connect to the sense of your home base.
Some people call it an anchor.
Maybe it's the sense of breathing or the sense of your hands or feet.
And for the rest of the practice,
Just invite you to delight in the nuances of your home base.
All the different types of sensations in that area.
And if the attention wanders,
Just inviting it back over and over with kindness and patience.
Are you interrogating the vocal?
At some point we notice we've been pulled into a thought.
What's that like?
Would they like to wake up from a thought?
Back in the present thoughts are just one part of the bigger field of experience.
And then returning to the home base over and over.
And in a few moments we'll end the meditation.
Just remembering this practice of returning to the present,
Connecting to the sense of our body,
This kind receptivity to whatever is there.
It's always available to us throughout the day and throughout our lives.
Thank you.
Thank you.
