So just taking a few moments to get into a comfortable dignified posture.
Spine is nice and long,
Shoulders relaxed.
Really taking your seat in a position or a posture that reflects the intention to be awake and aware.
And if it feels right for you,
Gently closing the eyes or lowering the gaze.
And just starting to notice the pressure points.
The points where the body makes contact with the surface that's supporting you.
And just acknowledging any sensations in the body or lack of sensations.
Just allowing them to be exactly as they are.
And then gathering your attention and bringing it down to the feet.
So any physical sensations in both feet.
And then expanding your awareness to the lower legs and then the knees.
And all the way to the upper legs.
Also noticing sensations in the legs from the toes to the hips.
And then expanding your awareness to include the pelvis.
Your back and the abdomen.
And just noticing whatever you notice in these areas of the body.
And then continuing to raise the spotlight of your attention through the back.
From the bottom of the back to the top of the back.
And also the front of the torso.
The chest.
Right up to the shoulders.
Just again noticing whatever you notice without trying to change anything.
And then expanding your awareness to include arms,
Your hands,
Neck,
Face and head.
And then just sensing the whole body and awareness.
And again not trying to control anything or change anything.
Just sensing the body as it is.
And then when you're ready,
Bringing your attention to rest on the gentle rise and fall of the abdomen as the breath moves in and out of the body.
And how it feels to breathe in this moment.
Placing a hand here if this is helpful.
Connecting each in-breath and connecting fully with each out-breath.
Awake and aware.
And giving yourself permission to look after yourself,
To anchor,
Pause or come out of the practice at any point.
Simply allowing the breath to breathe itself.
If you notice the mind wandering into thoughts,
Planning,
Opinions,
Judgments.
Just gently escorting the breath without criticism back to the breath.
And then when you're ready,
Gently allowing the focus of your attention to shift from the breath to the sound around you,
The soundscape.
What can you hear?
What do you notice?
Noticing obvious sounds and subtle sounds.
Noticing sounds that are near you and sounds in the distance.
And really attending to the sounds,
So noticing the pitch,
The volume,
The rhythm of the sounds.
And not trying to make any sense of the sounds,
Just hearing them as they are,
As they arrive in the ears.
No effort required.
No need for mental notes or stories about the sounds,
Just noticing.
And then gently letting go of sounds and bringing the spotlight of your attention to any thoughts you might be having.
So noticing the thoughts just coming and going.
Knowing how they appear,
Maybe stay for a while and then disappear and are replaced by new thoughts.
Not trying to make sense of the thoughts,
Just seeing them as mental events or events in the mind,
Ideas coming and going just like the sounds with a kind and gentle curiosity.
So just noticing the weather pattern of thoughts in the mind,
How they change just like the weather,
Sometimes moment by moment.
And reminding ourselves that they're just thoughts.
Noticing any physical sensations arising from the thoughts.
Any tensing,
Contracting,
Tightness,
Warmth.
And seeing if you can just allow these sensations to be there.
So just riding the waves of thoughts,
Reminding ourselves that we can come back to our anchor,
Our breath at any point in the practice.
And then when you're ready,
Allowing thoughts to gently slip into the background and inviting an open awareness to whatever experiences arise for you right now.
So sounds,
Sensations,
Thoughts,
Feelings and emotions.
And just allowing them to unfold as best you can,
Moment by moment.
And if your mind wanders off into doing mind,
Just noticing again,
There you are thinking or remembering,
Problem solving,
Ruminating.
Gently but firmly bringing your attention back to a sense of open spaciousness.
Opening the body and mind to whatever arises in a gentle but courageous way.
So turning towards and allowing thoughts and emotions to arise and disappear,
Just like clouds in the sky.
And then when you're ready,
Bringing your attention back again to how it feels to sit in the chair,
The pressure points,
Sensations around the pressure points.
Noticing the feet on the floor and then gently opening the eyes and taking a few moments to notice what is around you and how you're feeling after this practice.
