We'll start by just getting comfortable where we're sitting or lying down.
And we'll set a couple of intentions for this 20 minute period.
One is to expand our awareness of our own body,
Our senses,
Where we are in the world.
And the second is to make room for balance and peace in our heart and equanimity so that we can walk through this somewhat flawed world and just make a straight line and not teeter-totter.
So we'll start by just becoming aware of where we are.
And you can do this with your eyes open or closed,
Focusing on something in your vision,
Something that you're seeing in a different way for the first time,
Something you've looked at a million times.
You can also do this with your eyes closed and pay attention to what it is that you're seeing.
And then when you're ready,
If you haven't already shut your eyes,
Go ahead and do that and see what else you notice with your senses.
Are you hearing things?
Silence?
Ambient noise?
Something outside?
Are there any other senses talking to you?
Do you have any tastes in your mouth?
Smells in the room?
Notice them?
You can name them.
Don't judge.
And now the sensation or the awareness of your body touching your seat,
Your feet touching the floor,
Your skin touching your clothes or the air.
It's so rare in our daily lives that we give appreciation and acknowledgement for our skin,
Our joints.
We only pay attention to the things that are squeaking,
The things that hurt.
But now I'm asking you to pay attention to all the things that don't hurt,
That feel good,
That feel fine.
You can also pay attention to the things that hurt.
No rules.
And imagine that your skin is lying on top of your muscles,
Your fascia,
Your bones,
Your ligaments.
You can give appreciation to all those hidden,
Invisible,
Invisible things.
Body parts that support you all the time.
Now become aware of the bones of your ribs as they are constantly moving to accommodate your breath.
Oh.
Feel them expand when you breathe in and feel them move back when you breathe out.
Those ribs are these beautiful,
Expansive lungs that take in the air on the in-breath and expel the air on the out-breath.
From a life perspective,
You take in all the things that you need to live on the in-breath.
And you let go of the things that aren't supposed to be inside you anymore on the out-breath.
How amazing is that?
So as you breathe in,
Think about what's nurturing you.
And as you breathe out,
Let go of something that doesn't serve you.
And that can be your anchor for our breathing today,
Or you can think of the Thich Nhat Hanh.
Breathing in,
I calm myself.
Breathing out,
I smile.
And when your mind wanders,
Just know that that's okay.
You can say to yourself,
That's okay.
That's what minds do.
And then you can turn back to your breath.
So I'd like you to bring your focus to the very top of your head.
This is the crown chakra,
Seventh chakra.
And of course,
The seventh chakra completes the cycle that we started a couple of months ago.
And the crown chakra is actually about completing and completeness.
So many of us are constantly searching for some deeper understanding of what we're doing here and how we're all connected.
That goes just beyond the day-to-day of life.
And the crown chakra is like our connection to that presence that can illuminate all that.
The symbol of the crown chakra is a lotus flower with a thousand petals.
It's like the opening of the petals leads us to this beautiful balance.
And when the crown chakra is blocked,
You can have trouble opening to new ideas or new situations.
Hard to have clarity,
Hard to focus,
Feeling detached.
So this is a wonderful practice to clear that out and have more of a sense of unity and completeness.
So bringing your awareness to the top of your head,
Imagine that there's a white light making a circle around the top of your head.
And that light is spreading down throughout your whole body.
Imagine sending that light all the way down into the earth like an anchor.
And at the same time,
Imagine a string of light coming out of the top of your head and going all the way up into the clouds into the heavens and hooking in there.
And if that image is not accessible to you,
No problem.
Just see if you can imagine that light all around you.
And as we all sit here together in that energetic line between heaven and earth,
We breathe.
And when the thoughts come or the planning or the concerns,
Just bow to them and tell them to go.
Tell them you'll get to them later.
Just like trees have this massive interconnected,
Invisible communication system through their roots,
We are also interconnected.
We share these energetic lines,
These unseen communities.
And doing this practice helps us remember.
So as you unhook yourself from the heavens,
Pull your energy back from the earth.
Come into this place and come back to the room you're in.
Give yourself a little wiggle or a little stretch where you need it.
And we can end with a big,
Deep breath,
Bringing oxygen to all our cells.
And when you're ready,
You can open your eyes.
Thank you so much.
And I'll leave you with my seventh chakra metta prayer.
May you walk on the earth and may your prayers feel complete.
