Welcome.
Settling yourself into your meditation posture.
Feet flat on the floor or cross-legged.
Your spine is long and tall.
Sense of uprightness but no tension in it.
Rolling your shoulders back and down a few times.
Settling them on top of your spine.
Tuning into how your neck wants to be held and then adjusting your posture so that your head sits very gently without any tension or stress on top of your spine.
And then closing your eyes.
Making the intention to stay present as much as you can during this practice.
But knowing that your mind will wander,
That's what it's meant to do.
But each time that you notice that your mind has wandered,
You gently,
Easefully,
Full of compassion,
Come back to whatever part of the practice that we're in.
It's really important that at that point you don't beat yourself up,
Berate yourself.
Because what you practice grows stronger.
So what you practice in those moments,
If it's judgment,
Harshness or criticism,
That's what you're going to get more of in your everyday life.
So as your mind does wander,
Inevitably,
Practice compassion and gentleness.
Bring in your attention back time and time again.
So let's begin.
And we'll start with a very gentle mantra to call your presence and your energies into this moment.
And the first mantra is just for this moment,
I am safe.
Just for this moment,
I am safe.
As you say this mantra,
You don't have to believe it.
These words are being directed into your body,
Rather than trying to convince your mind of something.
So just for this moment,
No matter what's going on in your life,
You are safe.
Directing these words into your physical body,
To your emotional body,
To your nervous system.
Just for this moment,
I am safe.
Letting the words sink into your body,
Sink into your consciousness.
And then we're going to slightly adjust the mantra to just for this moment,
I am here.
Just for this moment,
I am here.
Again,
Directing these words into your body,
Into your emotions,
Your nervous system,
Mental body,
All aspects of you.
Just for this moment,
I am here.
Inviting your presence to come into this moment,
Because this very moment is all you have.
The future is a figment of your imagination,
And the past is over.
So with this mantra,
We're inviting your presence to come into the here and now.
Just for this moment,
I am here.
And then you can gently let go of the mantra and bring your attention now to your breath.
We take over 20,
000 breaths a day.
It happens automatically without us having to think about it.
But each breath is an opportunity to connect mind and body and to bring us into this moment.
It's bringing a sense of gentle curiosity to your breath.
What do you notice now as you breathe?
What sensations can you pick up on?
What movements in your body?
Perhaps an in-breath feels different,
Warmer or cooler than an out-breath.
Just noticing there's no right answers and wrong answers.
Just notice.
Dropping your attention now to the movement in your belly as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
Can you feel the skin of your belly next to your clothes?
And bringing your attention to the expansion and relaxation of your lungs and your ribs as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
What can you notice about these parts,
These movements,
These sensations?
And then gently moving your awareness to the rise and fall of your shoulders as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
Dropping your awareness now to your fingertips.
How can you feel the surface of your fingertips as you breathe in and as you breathe out?
Can you feel the air around your fingertips?
Or perhaps you can even feel the skin.
And then gently moving back to your mantra once more and combining the two mantras that we started with.
So it becomes just for this moment I am safe and I am here.
Again letting go of any objections that your mind might have to these words.
You're not trying to convince yourself of anything you're just dropping those words into your physical,
Emotional and mental bodies.
Just for this moment I am here and I am safe.
So bringing awareness now into the room.
Be aware that you're sitting here in a room.
And bringing your practice to a close whatever way that you wish to.
Opening your eyes when ready and slowly moving back into your day.
