So let's begin with 1,
4,
7,
8 breath.
Inhaling for 1,
2,
3,
4.
Hold 2,
3,
6,
7.
Exhale out through the mouth for 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Closing your eyes gently.
Feeling into your body,
You,
A part of nature.
So allow yourself to release into the present moment.
All of nature rests.
Allow yourself to relax.
Relax any tension around the eyes.
Relax any tension between your eyebrows and in your scalp.
Relax any tension in the back of your head and in your jaw,
In your neck,
In your shoulders.
Let your chest be light.
Relax the belly completely.
Feel the whole body resting in the chair,
Enjoying this stillness.
And now tune into the sensations of the breath.
Tuning into breath,
You're tuning into life.
And tuning into the cyclical nature of life.
The ebb and the flow.
The coming and going,
The transformation.
It's all there in your inhale and exhale.
Staying with the breath as your connection to life,
To nature,
To yourself for the next few minutes.
Staying connected to that coming and going,
That rising and falling,
That releasing and accepting of the breath.
If the mind wandered,
As an act of self-compassion,
Bring your mind back to the breath.
Connecting to the breath,
You're connecting to all life everywhere.
And now from your expansive awareness,
Put your hand on your heart.
Feel into the heart.
Feeling into the emotional state of the heart.
Sometimes in the heart it's winter,
And sometimes it's spring,
And sometimes it's fall.
Sometimes it's the summer of the heart.
Being with your heart,
Meeting its season as it is.
Accepting your heart fully as it is.
What you accept becomes your source of strength.
Accepting the cycles of your heart as your source of strength.
You can put your hand back down if that feels comfortable for you.
And think of a difficulty you're going through right now.
Maybe you're not sure what to do in the midst of a certain difficulty.
Think of that situation.
And now ask yourself,
What would I do if I truly loved myself?
If I truly loved myself,
How would I handle this?
What would I do?
And staying with whatever comes up for a few moments.
And now ask yourself,
If I were really connected to myself,
Not to myself as I'd like to be,
But to myself as I am.
If I were connected to myself as I am right now,
What would I do?
How would I handle this situation?
If I were really connected to reality as it is,
Just as it is,
How would I resonate with it?
What would I do right now in this situation?
And finally,
Ask yourself the question,
What would it be like to treat everything that happens in my life just as it is,
With a sacred curriculum designed by a compassionate universe and sending gratitude for the curriculum?
And now wish for yourself.
Wishing for yourself,
May I practice kindness toward myself always.
May I be safe and keep myself safe.
May I always be on my own side,
No matter what the challenge.
In every difficulty,
May I always stay true to myself,
To my values,
To my heart.
And may I always know that I will always come out of every challenge stronger,
Stronger than I came into it.
Take a deep breath in.
Take a deep breath out through the mouth.
And set the intention to be with yourself in all your complexity and deal with reality in all its complexity and work with other human beings in all their complexity.
And just letting that intention sink in for a moment.
And now,
As you feel ready,
Listening to the bell,
Opening your eyes.
