Just letting all of it sink in.
The sounds,
Smells,
Hunger,
Whatever you come into this moment with.
Acknowledge,
Take stock,
Recognize stiffness in your joints,
Excitement in your smile,
Agitation in your mind,
Whatever it is.
It's how you are supposed to be right now.
There's no mistaking it.
Just come in to what you're feeling.
Give yourself the validation you sometimes seek from others.
Acknowledgement that you are in the right place,
Doing the right thing,
And you are essentially a decent person.
And that is enough.
As you come into that kindness,
Just breathe deeper.
Inhale deeper,
Exhale slower.
Maybe you pause between the inhale and the exhale,
And the exhale and the inhale.
Whatever helps you to slow down,
To bring relaxing oxygen into your body.
To use your breath to expand your ribs and chest and muscles,
Guiding it to let go.
Becoming more soft and quiet and even.
You don't shut off.
You don't wanna be silent.
You don't want your brain to stop.
You're not doing meditation wrong if thoughts come up.
But if you'd like,
You don't have to stay with those thoughts if they're anxious or fantasy or too far in the future,
Too far in the past.
You can just come back to this moment,
This seat,
Chair,
Couch,
Or bed.
My voice.
The sounds around you,
Or smells,
Or the physical sensations in your body,
Just returning ever and ever to this time of meditating.
Even being a little bored and daydreamy.
That's good,
Too.
That's enough.
If difficult or unsettling thoughts come up during this meditation,
Just breathe deeply,
Breathe through them.
Come back to my slow voice or your own heart or stomach.
We'll start with the most challenging first.
We're gonna think about things that make you flinch,
Make you distressed or turn away,
Even run away from.
Something as simple as a scary movie or a hard conversation or an unkind joke.
What do you experience those sort of things in your body?
What's your reaction?
The things you might like to turn away from as quickly as possible.
Do you actually turn away?
Or just internally?
Perhaps you notice that your face goes blank.
Wince,
Just notice.
Don't relive it.
And if the experience of imagining and sitting in that for a moment is too much,
Just don't do it.
Or just take a deep breath.
You've done enough.
You just wanna touch on that,
Notice.
Begin to imagine a way or a time when we could be less reactive,
Less phased by all of it,
More calm and capable of doing the right thing nonetheless.
Let that possibility in.
That'd be neat.
If we could be a little more calm in the face of pressure.
Coming back to yourself or listening to my voice or just feeling the moment and your surroundings and your internal processes as a guide,
As a cue.
You're lucky to have all of that.
We're gonna stop here.
Just start to think about what rescues you.
What fills you up?
What gives you resilience in the face of pressure and stress?
Where do you notice rescue and resilience and capacity in your body and your experience?
How do you find those things?
What's it like to be saved or rescued or to find the wherewithal within yourself?
You feel proud or grateful or interested,
Amused or surprised?
Those are curious reactions.
Be curious about yourself.
Breathing,
Coming back,
Coming back.
Returning to this moment and this meditation whenever you get lost and distracted as we do.
Always and forever as long as we're alive.
Let's consider what gives you sustenance and nourishment.
What feeds you?
When I say those words,
What comes up?
Do you sense it even in your belly?
Or just notice it as a charm,
A good feeling in your face or shoulders,
Down to your feet?
When we think about sustenance and nourishment and spiritual food,
Where is that?
What is that for you?
Can you breathe into that feeling?
Can you notice it?
Can you experience more deeply?
Your capacity even to feed yourself,
To sustain yourself without the world's intervention?
It's all yours.
Maybe you take a little gratitude in that.
What do you notice?
Where do you feel that?
A sense of being nourished.
Breathing.
Just coming back to the moment,
Coming into this meditation again with my voice,
With your body,
In your environment.
Comfy,
Still and cozy and quiet.
And we'll think of perhaps the most expansive experience,
Things that make you sing.
Physically or spiritually,
What gives your soul wings and song?
What lights you up?
What fills you with melody and harmony and rhythm?
Art,
Music,
Experience?
Wisdom and learning,
What fills you up with song and makes you sing,
Makes you vibrate?
Where do you feel the singing,
The ringing,
The melody?
Do you feel more joy,
Meaning,
Purpose?
Breathing into all these experiences,
Distress and rescue,
Nourishment and song.
What have you noticed through this sequence?
What has grown,
What has diminished?
What are you feeling right now?
Breathe into that for a while.
Blessings.
