Come into a comfortable spot.
Settling down into your place of meditation.
Noticing the pull of gravity as a gentle reminder to settle in.
Notice your environment,
Dry or damp,
Hot,
Cold,
In between.
Take gratitude for any measure of comfort.
Make any last adjustments to make yourself more comfortable if you need to.
Settle in,
Notice your body.
Many places you might be tense.
With a generous awareness,
Maybe you want to express gratitude for that tension because it came from some sort of necessary or perhaps pleasurable exertion.
And invite it to release.
You don't need to be strong right now.
Settling in,
Coming into a deeper and personal sense of quiet.
Noticing the immediate and natural pace of your breath.
And beginning to slow it down just a bit.
Noticing the immediate and natural pace of your breath.
And beginning to slow it down just a bit.
You don't need to put any pressure on yourself to achieve a sublime state of meditation.
We're just going to sit or lie down and allow.
Maybe boredom creeps in,
Stray thoughts.
Accept them as guests.
Notice them.
Don't hold on to them and let them drift away.
Breathe in a little bit more deeply.
And out a little more slowly.
Expanding the breath into more of your body.
And using the breath as you exhale to slow time.
A deeper stillness.
A more serene quiet.
Invite them in.
Getting heavy.
You might notice your pulse.
You could imagine it or maybe you even sense it in your chest or neck or wrist.
See if you can detect it without touching.
And let it dance.
That can be a focus too if you get distracted.
A place to return to.
In addition to your breathing and your pulse,
Your metabolism can be a focus.
You might notice the weight of your belly.
The subtle movements of digestion.
Grateful for all of the energy it provides you.
Just let your attention swirl around your bodily systems.
And take note of your environment.
And when you get distracted,
Not if,
But when you get distracted as is natural and unavoidable,
Just come back to the present systems.
There must be some question or concern that's been on your mind.
It's natural in life to fixate,
To seek solutions.
Most of the time it's important.
You can name that question or not.
You can just acknowledge that there are questions.
And over the course of the meditation we're going to open our awareness to admit new answers.
Your breathing settling into a deeper stillness,
A more profound quiet.
Multiple times we're going to draw in and then expand progressively outward with our awareness.
We'll start with a few deep breaths.
Draw your focus deep inside.
You don't need to squeeze or clench.
You can just pull in.
And then let your awareness expand right to the edge of your skin,
Right to the boundary between you and the world outside.
What do you notice at this degree of awareness,
At this space of expansion?
Be curious.
Let yourself be playful as you explore this expansion of awareness.
You're breathing.
You're getting heavy.
You're getting light and soft.
And then we'll draw back in.
Without squeezing,
Just pull your awareness inward toward your center.
Hold it there as you breathe.
And then let your awareness open up past your skin,
Maybe into the feet or meters outside of you or the entire room in which you sit or lie down.
Explore the space.
Perhaps a solution is lurking in this space.
Maybe not.
You don't need to know.
You can just playfully examine.
Drifting back to your breath,
Your circulation,
Your metabolism,
Draw inward.
Pull your focus internally.
And then let your focus expand casually out into the entire building in which you find yourself.
What's in this building that might help you to answer a question that's been on your mind?
You don't have to find the answer.
You're just gently preparing the mind by cuing our awareness for creative solutions.
Letting your mind's eye playfully drift around the space,
Considering all the possibilities.
Keeping your thoughts open.
And then when you get distracted,
Just come back to your breath.
Breathing in deeply,
Out slowly.
Feeling gravity on your body.
Settling into your immediate space.
Drawing your focus internally,
Pulling in.
And then expanding your focus even more broadly still into your environment,
The neighborhood around the building in which you find yourself.
The woods,
The streets,
The water,
The air.
Let your thoughts drift outside,
Delicately probing your environment for answers.
You don't need to be anxious.
You're not going to find an answer.
You're just letting the world know you're looking and becoming attuned yourself.
What's out there that might help you?
Expanding with a generous awareness.
And coming back into this moment with your breath and your body.
Draw in.
Pull your attention and focus deeply inside of you.
Hold it one last time and then let your awareness expand as far as it can go.
Your city or town,
State or nation.
Let it drift out.
Attuning to the greater world,
Listening and attending for solutions.
They are out there.
You may not be able to see them,
But we can prepare ourselves.
Letting your attention drift and expand and radiate outwards.
Continuing to let your awareness extend until our closing bell.
Belling.
