So I invite you to find a seated position that embodies steadiness and ease.
Begin by taking a few deep breaths,
Full inhalation followed by a sighing exhalation.
With each exhale,
Allow any obvious tension in the body or the mind to dissolve.
Allowing the breath to return to a natural,
Easy breath.
Relax your legs and begin to feel that your lower body is connected to its seat,
Heavy and grounded.
And that there's a feeling of lightness or liftedness through the spine,
A kind of embodied alert posture.
And it's useful to begin a mindfulness practice by checking in with the current state of your body and mind.
So the Buddha instructs us to observe whether the body and mind are distracted right now or steady.
Angry or peaceful.
And just observe honestly,
Without any judgment associated with what you find.
Is there an experience of being excited or worried?
And contracted in the body or the mind or released?
And just breathing in a steady,
Easy fashion,
Allowing whatever you find to be,
Just as it is,
Without preference or prejudice for the way things are right now.
With each breath,
Become a more spacious host for reality as it's showing up,
Moment by moment.
So that even challenging experiences,
Whether it's a constriction or a tightness in the body somewhere,
An anxiety or a depression in the emotions,
Or maybe some difficult thoughts.
That we can acknowledge those experiences with loving kindness.
And in this sort of practice of radical acceptance,
We make peace with reality.
So bringing the mind to rest in the body,
Invite the mind home to the body now,
And feel the breath in the lower belly.
Gentle swelling of the abdomen on the inhalation and a sense of relaxing on the exhale.
And let your awareness calmly abide now in the lower belly.
Breath by breath,
Aware of the unique texture and depth of each breath.
Moment by moment,
Watching each breath flow in and out.
The quality of spacious loving kindness.
Namaste.
