Begin where you are.
Find yourself in your setting and context.
Notice your emotional state.
How do you feel?
Emotionally and physically?
Where do you find yourself at this moment?
Take notice of that experience with awareness without judgment?
Extending grace,
Generosity,
And curiosity to your embodied self?
Asking the kind and unfussy question,
How am I doing?
Letting your body settle?
Into a more still place?
Letting your mind be embraced by the quiet around you,
Which is never quite silent?
Coming into your breathing,
Your pulse,
Your metabolism,
Where they are at this moment?
Beginning to slow those processes down,
Just a hair,
Maybe 5%,
Maybe even 10% slower?
Into a restful and relaxed position?
Guiding your breath into any places of your body that are stiff or tight or perhaps even clenched?
Giving those spots permission through your breath to let go?
Bring your attention to your right ankle,
Its bones,
Joints,
Tendons.
Imagine a place in your right ankle,
Roughly spherical,
A couple,
A few inches across.
A safe space in your right ankle,
Like an enclosed city,
Its own refuge,
A space of softness and security that you can go to to be sheltered.
You contain this refuge within you anytime you might need it.
And you can return to it again.
There's a similar space in your left ankle.
Small and round,
Safe and secure.
Notice the bones and structures of your left ankle,
Functioning as though their own enclosed world,
A refuge and a rescue for you.
In any time of trouble.
You can retreat to this sacred space whenever you feel stress.
Bring your attention to the bones and joints of your right wrist,
The volume of the thing,
Its mass.
Imagine a small,
Sweetly colored,
Spherical space in that wrist.
A place of protection and security within you,
Part of your geography.
You can go there when you need to.
If you experience distress,
You can come into this refuge.
A similar refuge can be found in your left wrist.
A small and safe space.
It contains not only the bones and cartilage of your wrist,
But also an enclosed world of security.
Its own sanctuary.
Attend to the center of your chest,
Your sternum,
And behind it,
Your heart.
Strong and safe.
Confident and secure.
Like an enclosed city,
A place of refuge.
A space within you to return to and retreat to in moments of distress.
Another space of refuge just for you.
And within your head and mind,
There is one more.
All those millions of neurons.
All of those muscles of face and scalp.
A zone of safety for you alone.
Your own private domain where you can feel secure.
Take stock of those places of refuge.
Left and right ankle,
Left and right wrist,
Heart and mind.
And know that they are always there for you.
Blessings.
