Okay,
So I want to invite you to find a position that you can sit in that is going to be supportive of this practice,
One that is alert and awake,
But also relaxed.
And straight away,
Simply notice what does it feel like to be in a body sitting in a chair.
You may notice pressure in the back of the legs,
On the back.
Feel the sensations in your feet,
On the floor,
In your hands,
In your lap.
You may notice the position of your head and neck,
Shoulders and elbows,
Hips and knees.
Bring your awareness to the sensations of the torso,
The front,
The back,
The sides.
Now see if you can hold in your awareness the entire body sitting.
What does it feel like from head to toe,
Left to right,
Front to back,
To be sitting in a chair?
Now allow your attention to travel to the sensations of breathing.
And allow your awareness to rest gently here.
And just simply observe what it feels like to be in a body sitting in a chair breathing.
You may feel movement of the belly or the chest.
You may notice the air traveling in and out of the nose.
Simply observe these sensations as the body breathes in,
As the body breathes out.
Do so without trying to manipulate the breathing by slowing it down or speeding it up or deepening it or changing it in any way.
Just observe.
You may notice thoughts arising.
That's okay.
Each time you notice your attention has been pulled away by a thought,
Just allow your attention to come back to the sensations of breathing over and over.
There's an effortlessness to this way of paying attention.
See if you can take this same sort of receptive,
Restful awareness and turn it toward the unpleasant sensations in your body.
And as you turn your attention to these areas,
Simply notice what's present as objectively as possible.
Be aware of the qualities of sensation,
How intense it might feel,
Where the unpleasant sensations begin and end.
Also notice,
If you can,
Any sort of opinions,
Attitudes,
Thoughts,
Or even emotions that arise as you turn your attention to these areas.
And simply allow whatever's here to be here in this moment and this one.
And now as we begin the deep and easy breathing,
Keeping the eyes closed,
Begin by taking a slow deep breath in and an easy breath out.
Deeply in,
Easy out.
Continue on in this pattern for about two minutes.
Feel the body fill with air as you inhale.
And notice as you exhale,
If there are any areas that start to soften or loosen or release just a little.
Maybe the chest,
Maybe the shoulders.
Deeply in,
Letting go.
Letting go of any tension that you feel that's obvious to you.
Maybe in the hips or thighs,
The hands or feet,
The chest,
The belly,
Even the face.
Letting go of anything you don't need.
Deeply in,
Easy out.
About 40 more seconds of deep and easy breathing.
Trying the body to be released over to gravity,
To the supports of the chair and the floor.
Allow your body to release its weight over to these supports.
Deeply in,
Easy with the breath.
Easy with the body,
Easy with yourself.
Ten seconds.
One more.
And easy out.
Now,
Keeping the eyes closed,
Allowing your breathing to return to a normal rhythm,
I just want to simply invite you to check in once again and just notice if anything stands out to you in this moment without searching for it,
Without trying to identify.
Just allow what's here to be here.
Without any additional judgments,
Things are better or worse,
Good or bad.
Just noticing but stay in the noticing.
And when you're ready,
Slowly allow the eyes to open.
