So I invite you to settle into this moment wherever you find yourself.
Just noticing where you are,
The state of your body and breath and pulse.
Do you feel heavy or light,
Tense,
Relaxed?
When you start this meditation is your breath fluid or maybe stoppered in some ways?
We're not judging or trying to change it.
Just noticing where we came in to this meditation.
Taking stock and then as we take stock we can settle down and go a little deeper,
Get a little slower,
Even allow boredom to creep in from the edges.
Just to be still,
To pause.
If you're in a place to do so and it's comfortable for you,
You can gently let your eyes close,
Start slowing down,
Expanding your breath all the way in.
Letting your breath out gently,
Not forcing,
Just allowing.
Drawing the breath in longer and deeper,
Letting it out slower.
Letting go.
Breathing in,
Finding weight in your ankles,
Resting them securely.
Breathing down into your tailbone.
Just listening to the world around you.
Opening just one vertebra,
This big one,
And let it settle and soften.
Using your left eyebrow.
Maybe that will cause the right to relax as well.
Imagine a gust of air,
Not one close to you,
Maybe several yards or meters away or even farther.
Maybe outside the space in which you are right now.
Imagine something drifting by.
Innumerable molecules that are part of the fabric of creation.
Just see if you can lure them closer to you.
Inhaling,
Try to pull it closer,
Pull it into you,
This particular moat.
Draw in their magic with your inhale.
Holding your breath for a few moments.
You don't have to hold it as long as I'm about to speak,
But just hold it in and when you do,
Feel the world,
The entire universe supporting your breath,
Watching out for you,
Giving your breath shape within your body.
Using it briefly after the inhale,
Letting go.
Now with each exhale,
Release.
You might say to yourself actually the word release or let go or forgive or submit or liberate,
Just let the breath go and let go of all the things that might bind you.
Claiming to settle in.
So that'll be our cycle.
Pulling in from what is special,
Magical,
Mysterious,
Holy around you,
Pulling it all the way in with ease.
Pausing maybe two count,
Four count,
No count.
Just to feel the world and the universe around you supporting,
Shaping and holding your breath.
Then as you let go,
Release.
Find freedom.
And I'll cue you for a while and then we'll just breathe gently with occasional cues.
And I'll probably cue you again just to let you know that we're coming close to the end of our time.
We'll conclude with bells.
So starting far outside your body and your environment,
Imagining a special zephyr,
A gust of air,
Even a collection of molecules and drawing it in,
Drawing in what is special in the world.
Breathing and letting the universe shape and sustain your breath.
And then on the exhale,
Releasing.
Maybe even saying the word release or freedom or letting go or surrender.
Pulling in magic and grace.
Pausing,
Feeling the support and structure and architecture of the world around you and letting it out,
Surrendering.
Breathing in grace,
Pausing with support,
Letting out surrender.
Inhale to grace.
Pause with support.
Inhale with surrender.
Inhale to grace.
Support,
Surrender.
Inhale to grace.
Returning to the sensory experience of your breath and the sensory experience of your body and environment if your mind starts to wander as it will.
Going back from the cognitive to the sensory.
Bringing in the beauty of the world.
Holding and being supported by the world's beauty and letting go of it because you cannot own it.
It's not yours to possess.
And the beauty,
Holding with the support and surrendering the beauty.
Becoming to breathe.
Breathing in grace.
Returning to your breath anytime you drift.
Anytime you wander into unhelpful thoughts,
Just come back to this moment.
That's the practice,
Returning.
Breathing in grace.
Lead.
.
.
For the remainder of our time together,
Draw in the awe of the world with your inhale.
Pause,
Hold,
And be held by the awe of the world.
As you exhale,
Let it go.
And as you exhale,
Let it go.
And as you exhale,
Let it go.
Pause.
Pause.
