So choose your posture where your back can be straight.
And allow your back to be fully supported.
And find a posture you can hold for about 12 minutes.
And I recommend putting one hand inside the other in a traditional meditation posture.
And as a gift to yourself,
Gently closing your eyes and letting those eyelids be relaxed.
I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for why they shouldn't be,
But still letting your eyelids be relaxed.
And release your forehead.
Fully release the space between your eyebrows.
Relax the muscles around your cheeks.
Feel the jaw,
Notice what's there in your jaw.
And maybe.
.
.
Let your jar relax.
Relax any tension in your neck and your shoulders.
Letting your chest be light and buoyant.
Feel your belly and relax your belly completely.
And for a moment,
Let your body rest easily.
No effort.
Release all your weight into the chair.
Complete attention on your body.
In this moment.
As an act of self-compassion,
Relax the back,
Noticing what's there and letting the back be as it is.
Imagine relaxing the arms and the hands.
Letting them rest easily.
Imagine softening your pelvis and your hips.
Feel the movement of the breath through your palms and fingers and hips and legs.
Feel the movement of the breath from inside your body.
Seeing if this movement of the breath reverberates through every cell of the body,
Gently,
Subtly,
But through every cell of your body.
And just stay tuning into the sensation of breathing.
Your ultimate act of inner strength.
Staying with your breath,
Keeping your awareness on your breath,
Returning to the breath when the mind wanders.
And see if you can stay with the breath like this for the next two,
Three minutes.
Again,
As an act of kindness,
The mind will always wander.
Just returning to the feeling.
To that deliciousness of feeling the breath.
Like you're biting into sweet fruit.
Every time you feel the breath.
Noticing that sensation returning to the breath.
Whenever the mind wanders.
And stillness.
Begin now.
And noticing where the mind is.
If it has wandered gently.
Bring it back to the breath.
Knowing as you're connecting to your breath.
You're connecting to every breathing creature on this earth.
Staying with your breath for one more minute.
And now from this awareness with our awareness focused,
Bring your hands right to your heart.
The hands are an extension of the heart chakra,
So you're just uniting heart to heart.
And feeling into this heart as lovingly as you can,
Reconnecting with the beat of your heart.
This heart of mine that's been through so much.
That keeps going through so much,
Just lovingly.
Feel the warmth of the hand there.
Feel that connection.
Like a loved one placed a hand on your heart.
Because a loved one is placing a hand on your heart.
And through that hand sending the heart the wish.
May you be safe.
Feeling that beat and sending the wish,
May I keep this heart safe.
May I protect and nurture this heart.
This heart that's so strong and so fragile and feel so much.
May I listen to this heart and give it what it truly yearns for.
And may I share this heart with other hearts.
And you can release the hand back down.
But now that we're kind of connected to the heart.
From this place of connection.
Ask yourself,
Your mind,
Your body,
But especially your heart.
Ask yourself the question,
What brings me here to this class,
To this practice?
In this moment.
And you don't have to know the answer or have a specific answer.
Just honoring the question.
Using the question as a way to connect to yourself.
What brings me to practice in this moment.
What brings me to resilience class?
In this moment.
And leaving space for an answer to emerge if it wants to or not.
And if it's hopeful,
You can put a hand back on your heart just if it feels good.
And asking yourself the final question.
If anything were possible.
How would I love to grow?
If anything were possible,
How do I want to grow?
From this course in general,
From life,
Our best teacher.
If I could wish anything for myself.
What would I like to learn?
How would I like to develop and grow?
And what would I really want for this heart?
And again,
You can keep the hand there or place the hand back down.
But we'll end this sitting practice.
With compassion meditation.
And now that you've sent compassion to yourself,
Imagine another being.
Child,
Adult,
Pet,
Animal,
Any being.
Who it's easy for you to send compassion to.
Imagining someone who has shown you love and care.
And welcome the image of this person into your heart.
And imagine this person smiling.
Imagine this person lit up and beaming from the inside.
And just welcome that image of a loved one.
And a moment of joy.
And send the wish for this person.
May you be happy.
From your heart to their heart.
May you be happy.
Just noticing the effect of this phrase as you say it in your mind.
And may you be healthy.
May you be safe.
And may you be spacious enough.
For all your challenges.
May you be a spacious container.
For all your challenges.
And end this way.
May you be free of suffering.
And now if you could wish for anything for this person,
What would you like to offer them?
Sending a few final wishes just from you to this person.
Weather for peace.
Or for them to see their own beauty.
Or for more moments of joy.
Just sending that last wish out.
And now keep an image of this person in your mind.
Keep imagining them.
And you are going to receive some wishes from this person.
So first,
Just imagine this person smiling.
And for a moment,
Hear them say your name.
Hear them say your name with all the warmth in the world.
Feeling how safe your name feels in their mouth.
And hearing your name pronounced.
I loved one.
Maybe imagine their hand on your shoulder.
And feel an energy of being supported.
That for a moment with this person.
You can be completely yourself.
And maybe with that hand on your shoulder,
Hear this person say to you,
Send the wish to you,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
And may you be a spacious container for all your challenges.
In this way,
Finding peace inside yourself.
And outside yourself.
And now thank this person for your wishes.
For getting the opportunity to receive a big part of compassion,
And for sending compassion,
For giving compassion,
The other big part of compassion.
Thank this person for giving and receiving.
Thank your body for relaxing.
And for being here.
Thank your mind for every moment of meditation.
And thank your heart.
For making life possible.
And just in a brief listening meditation,
Open your ears to sounds in the room.
You will hear one sound of a bell.
Listen to its sound with interest,
With curiosity.
And when you can no longer hear it,
Coming back,
Opening your eyes.
