Welcome to this guided meditation of mindfulness and compassionate awareness.
Begin by finding the most comfortable seat,
Sitting in a place you won't be disturbed and accessing the uprightness of the spine.
Feel the dignity in your body and together let's take three deep breaths in.
Inhaling slowly through the nose and exhaling out through the mouth and again filling the lungs fully and a deep exhalation through the mouth like through a straw and again deep inhalation and deep exhalation and now place one palm inside the other on your lap and see if you can commit to the posture you've chosen for the rest of the meditation.
The body will want to move or find itches but see how much you can just feel those sensations and stay still even if it's just for a few seconds longer.
So now with your eyes gently closed bring your awareness to your scalp and imagine that your scalp can relax.
Soften your forehead,
Soften the space between your eyebrows,
Release the eyebrows and relax all the little muscles around your eyes,
Releasing the eyes and the eyelids.
Let that softness enter your jaw.
Feel the cheeks completely at ease.
Nothing to do,
Nothing to express right now.
With a tender kind of awareness feel your whole face,
Letting the face release and now bring your awareness to the two points where the breath first enters the nostrils.
So many places you can focus your awareness letting your awareness rest there.
Just pure sensation of air reaching your nostrils and begin to feel the breath as it enters the whole nose.
Maybe you can feel that the air coming in is drier and the air going out the nose is warmer like the body itself.
With interest and with curiosity can you observe this coming and going,
Your rhythm,
Your breath as you feel your body breathing.
You are connecting to every living creature also breathing in this moment.
Staying with that sensation for a moment longer and imagine that the nose could relax.
Imagine relaxing the sinuses and the inner ear and now bring that softness from the face down also to the throat and the neck.
We often store so much tension here.
Release the neck,
Release the throat,
Thank it for carrying around your heavy head and now tune into the throat.
Tune into the throat and see if you can notice the subtle sensation of the breath moving through the throat.
Can you observe with interest all the sensations that are there right at the throat that we don't always notice?
Maybe it's a slight dryness coming and going.
Is there emotion there?
Is there a sweetness there?
Letting go of the complexity of thoughts and the mind and being with the simplicity of your breath moving through your throat in this moment and the mind will wander.
The moment of mindfulness is the moment you bring your mind back to the breath and again letting the throat relax and release,
Keeping the face soft.
Let that relaxation also enter the shoulders.
Relax the front of the shoulders and the back of the shoulders.
Let your back fully lean against the chair.
Notice any sensations in the shoulders with compassion.
Notice any sensations in the back with that same warmth and compassion to your body and imagine you could release the collarbones and you could release the chest,
Keeping the chest light and buoyant and soft.
Begin with interest and with tenderness,
Watching the chest go up and down with the breath as if you were lying on the beach watching the waves move up and down.
Can you observe the breath in your chest with that same interest?
Connecting to your rhythm,
You're connecting to yourself.
Feeling into the breath more deeply with each moment and feeling into the breath with gratitude.
This breath that gives me life and let that awareness release and move your awareness into your left arm,
Your left hand,
Your left palm.
Notice how much you can feel in the palm of your hand and right at the tips of your fingers.
Is there a buzzing there?
Let the left arm and hand and palm release,
Feeling that comfort of one palm inside the other and move your awareness into your right arm,
Your right forearm and the wrist and the back of the hand and the palm of the hand.
And finally,
All the sensations you have right at your fingertips.
Just take a moment to notice them,
Giving your body the compassionate gift of your awareness.
You are also giving your body energy Now let both hands,
Both palms,
Both arms be heavy and move your awareness right into your belly and you might even place your hands on the belly so the hands can witness the breath.
Let your belly relax completely,
Staying with that simplicity of the belly rising and falling,
Filling with breath,
Noticing with the mind each inhalation and each exhalation and again observing the breath with curiosity as if you've never felt a breath before and now you get to feel this breath,
Enjoying this awareness,
Finding the sweetness of this awareness as you're connecting to yourself,
Just feeling the palms fill with breath.
Every time you return to the breath,
You are strengthening your intention,
Your intention toward whatever you care about.
And one more time,
Let the belly soften and relax your left hip and your right hip,
Releasing the pelvis.
Feel the heaviness of both legs and just release your weight completely,
Releasing the weight of your body,
Releasing the weight of your legs and feel into the feet,
Notice any sensations at the feet and now soften your whole body inside and out,
Release your whole body and thank yourself for having done this meditation practice and thank the mind for allowing you to do this practice when it could have spent the time distracting itself or entertaining yourself.
So thank the mind for letting you do this meditation.
And let's end with one more deep breath in,
Inhaling and a deep breath out through the mouth.
Begin to feel the air as it touches your skin,
Your feet on the floor,
And when you're ready,
Gently opening your eyes,
Knowing that you'll have less anxiety for the rest of the day,
More ability to connect for the rest of the day,
And a calmer,
Better mood for the rest of the day.
