Please find a seated position or lie down on your back.
Make yourself comfortable.
Gently close your eyes and relax your whole body.
Breathe naturally.
We start by taking a moment to set an intention for your practice today.
What you are now is what you have been.
But what you will be is what you do now.
So all the choices that you've made up to this point have brought you here.
And where you will be depends on the choices that you make in this moment and everywhere.
In this moment and every moment.
Keep your eyes closed.
Lift up through your spine if you are seated.
Find contact with the surface supporting your body so that you feel really grounded.
Relax your face.
Soften skin around your eyes and mouth.
Relax your jaw.
Shoulders and arms are relaxed.
Take a moment to feel your body.
From the head to the toes.
And toes to the head.
Feel whatever there is to feel without any judgement.
Without wanting it and needing it to be other than what it is.
No analysing.
No judging.
Simply sensing.
Observing.
Proceeding with equanimity.
Bring that same equanimity to your thoughts.
Notice what you are thinking about.
There is no right or wrong thinking about what you are thinking right now.
There is no good or bad.
There just is.
It is what it is.
Simply welcome it and accept it.
Feel whatever there is to feel whatever emotions are going through you.
And the way it is.
And then notice your breath.
The breath is the link between the mind and the body.
So whatever you are feeling,
Whatever you are thinking about,
This affects the way you breathe.
But it works the other way around as well.
So when you change the pattern of your breath,
You start to change what you feel in your body and your mind.
Take a long deep breath.
Slow breath in.
Long breath out.
Take one more deep breath in.
Hold.
And slow breath out with a long sigh.
Good.
Now imagine somebody you admire.
It could be a family member,
A friend,
Somebody from history,
Or a character in the book.
Doesn't really matter.
What's important for you is to recognize what it is that you admire about that person.
What are the qualities that you admire in that person?
Is it their passion?
Is it their strength?
Is it their integrity?
Their perseverance?
Their belief in themselves?
So whatever the qualities you recognize in that person are qualities that are already within you.
Otherwise,
You won't be able to recognize them at all.
Not only that.
The qualities want to emerge and grow stronger.
They want to evolve into what you will be.
So it becomes our intention.
Phrase your intention as an affirmation.
Allow yourself to use the present tense so that you formulate your intention as an expression of present reality.
Rather than stating your intention as a future event such as,
I will overcome self-doubt.
Instead,
Allow your intention to express itself in the present tense as,
I'm confident in myself.
If it feels like too much of a stretch to go from self-doubt to confidence in one leap,
Maybe simply set your intention today as,
I'm willing to change.
Or,
I have an open mind.
Whatever qualities you've chosen,
You repeat to yourself a few times mentally.
I am,
I have.
Feel it resonate through your body.
And imagine that every cell in your body is like the cells of a sponge.
And the breath is the water coming to soak the sponge.
Now bring your intention on the inhalation.
Take a deep breath in.
Feeling every cell of your body receiving this message loud and clear,
Soaking it up.
Apply your intention and then exhale,
Let it go with a sigh.
Good.
Trust the moment.
And trust that just like you plant a seed in a garden,
And you let nature take care of the rest,
Then your intention has been planted.
Then set your intention aside and see how it returns to you later and grows stronger.
At the end of practice today,
Or in your life as you go about your day.
Now,
Please gently turn your awareness back to the room.
And when you are ready,
Slowly,
Very slowly open your eyes.
