I'll start with a bell.
I would start with just breathing.
You might close your eyes.
You can be standing,
Seated,
Or lying down,
But using less mental and physical energy is always nice.
Using this time to be more relaxed,
Less active,
Less in conflict with gravity,
And more allowing the earth to take you in is a nice physical embodiment of a meditative state internally.
Letting your shoulders down,
Your hips sink in,
Your feet get heavy and even.
Taking in the quiet,
Never silent,
But still with some small reverberations,
Bird sounds,
Mechanical noises,
Your own breathing.
Attuning to that quiet and its little perturbations,
The polyphony and whoosh of small sounds,
Listening.
And like quiet,
Your body can't be perfectly still like a stone.
It's always vibrating and adjusting and twitching,
But come into a deeper stillness,
A lower energy state,
More relaxed.
Feeling heavy and heavier as gravity does more and more of the work and you do less.
You'll get distracted.
It's a sign that your neurons are working,
That you are alive and your brain is functioning.
You don't need to fight that or resent it,
And you can always come back.
When you are distracted,
As you will be,
Come back to the sounds,
Your body.
You could use my voice as a focus or start to notice your breathing.
Deeper in,
Slower out,
Deeper and slower.
Just keep coming back.
There's no shame or slight in getting distracted.
We all have fantasies and worries.
Those are cool,
But you don't have to stay there.
You can keep returning to your center,
To your body and breath.
Our skin is our largest organ and the membrane that separates our self from other,
Somewhat permeable,
Breathing,
An interface with the world.
And we're going to scan it as a kind of mindfulness,
Noticing and giving thanks for skin.
Start with your scalp,
Where your hair follicles connect,
The skin that protects your cranium and therefore your brain.
Maybe it's tense or furrowed.
You don't have to judge,
Just notice the skin of your scalp.
How does it feel?
Isn't it neat that it's there,
Keeping you intact?
Your face,
The skin you show to the world the most,
Your brow,
Temples,
Cheeks,
Nose,
Lips,
Chin,
Neck.
Through this skin,
We express our thoughts and feelings,
Show joy and regret.
How thick or heavy is it?
How light?
Maybe you want to soften your jaw and at the same time bring your face into a slight smile.
Vital skin.
Breathing,
Feeling your heaviness,
The gravity on you,
Slowing down.
Grateful for all the skin above your neck,
Let's consider the skin of your neck and shoulders,
Sealing in muscle and flow of blood and air,
Containing you and your ability to move your head,
Lift things with your shoulders,
All that skin wrapping you up,
Sealing you in kindly.
Do you notice any tension,
Perhaps an itch,
A softness,
A relaxing?
Maybe a feeling that doesn't exactly have a word.
You could say a word of praise about that skin before we move on.
Thanks for all the work the skin around your neck and shoulders does.
It's grace and beauty.
Follow your skin down your arms,
Under your armpits,
Over your elbow,
Across your forearm,
Enveloping the muscles of your arms,
Strength and vigor supported by that external layer.
Does that skin feel cool or warm?
Stiff or loose?
Playfully be curious with it.
What is your skin like?
Breathing all the way out to the extremities of your skin,
All the way,
Filling your body,
Right to your edge,
Right to the skin.
In your wrist and hands,
The skin of your palm,
The back of your hands,
Around your cuticles,
Fingertips,
Between your fingers,
Hot,
Clammy,
Soft and smooth,
Rough with work,
Calloused.
Just notice the skin of your wrist and hands.
Breathe out to it.
Stretch it all.
And be grateful for the skin of your arms and hands,
The ability to grasp,
The ability to hold and embrace.
Feel your skin.
We'll consider the chest,
Torso,
Belly and back now.
Large swath of skin,
Wrapping in internal organs,
Giving you capacity to twist and move.
Breathe and support yourself.
Notice all around your skin.
Holding you in.
Enveloping you.
Attending to your core with this outermost layer,
Interfacing with the world beyond.
Can you feel cloth,
Air,
Sweat?
Just notice.
You don't have to be overly precise,
Just attentive.
Curious.
Take a moment to appreciate your skin as container for torso.
And we'll descend your hips and midsection.
The skin all around,
Front,
Back,
Side to side.
Its pleasures and delights.
Strengths and toils.
Finding the middle of your skin.
Breathing into it.
Filling up your hips all the way to your skin.
Extending to the limits of your volume.
Breathing and settling down.
Staying with the quiet and the stillness,
Gentleness.
The skin of your upper leg to your knee,
Wrinkled and straight.
Strong and robust.
Containing some of the biggest muscles in your system.
Can you imagine the skin cells,
Hair follicles,
All the way to the edge?
The flex of the skin around your knee parts and joint.
Amazing.
Breathing all the way down,
Deeply.
Continuing to the skin between knee and ankle,
Covering your shin,
Your calf,
All the lower leg.
Rippling and holding for strength.
Flexing.
Adjusting.
Is it cold or ticklish?
Heavy and warm?
What do you notice about this?
What do you notice about the skin at the bottom of your leg?
How do you feel toward it?
Express concern,
Attention,
And gratitude for all of the skin of your leg.
All the work it does to hold you up and hold you together.
Taking a moment of blessing.
And last,
We'll go out from our ankle to our feet,
To our toes.
Skin that moves and flexes,
Twists and turns.
Top of the foot,
The sole of the foot,
Between your toes,
Around your toenails.
Hot,
Sometimes sweaty,
Often uncomfortable,
Always beloved and useful.
Breathe into that skin,
All the way out to the edge.
Continuing to breathe and scan all of your skin,
All around your body,
All of its blessings.
Breathing and scanning,
Scanning and breathing until you hear the closing bell.
Maybe you can tickle yourself with your attention.
