Simply being present with the bodily sensations can be a gift.
Giving yourself the gift of just being here.
Maybe starting with the feet.
How do your feet feel?
They might be inside your socks or inside your shoes.
If you're barefoot,
Noticing,
Hmm,
Is there any air coming across the toes?
Simply feeling what there happens to be available for you to feel,
Even if that's nothing.
Registering a zero in the feet is perfectly acceptable.
And simply allowing the awareness to travel up into the legs.
Paying attention to the body in this way is one of the ways to settle in.
So it doesn't matter if you're feeling anything or not feeling anything,
If there's nothing there to feel.
You've put out your awareness moment,
Registered what was there.
And that's mindfulness.
So in the legs there might be just some kind of skin level sensation of your pant leg against your shin,
Perhaps.
Or there might be a deeper feeling inside.
Maybe a sensation of the muscle or the bone.
As you pay attention to the knees,
Hmm,
Maybe there's something going on with the joint inside each knee.
Or not.
Paying attention to each part of the body as a way of landing here.
Moving up through the thighs.
As the awareness comes into the lower part of the trunk of the body,
You might notice something in the hip sockets.
You might notice something along the tailbone.
Your buttocks might be resting against your bed or the chair or the floor.
Maybe there's some pressure that you feel.
Bringing the awareness up into the middle part of the body,
The waist,
The belly.
Bringing the awareness up into the chest.
In the front,
The breasts,
In the back,
The scapulas,
The upper back.
Inside,
Maybe you're aware of the spine,
Maybe you're aware of some form of movement along with the breathing.
Whatever's real,
Whatever's here for you to feel,
Simply feeling it.
Perhaps your awareness travels out to both hands.
Just noticing the fingers,
Palms of the hands,
Backs of the hands,
The wrists.
Anything having to do with your hands,
Just feeling them right now.
If they happen to be resting on your lap,
There might just be a little warmth where the palms are touching the thighs.
I'm giving some examples,
But it's really up to you to tune in to what's real in this moment.
And in a very simple,
Direct way,
Paying attention to that.
Registering what that is.
Bringing the awareness up through the forearms,
The elbows,
The upper arms,
And into the shoulders.
If today is a day where your shoulders feel relaxed,
Noticing that.
If today is a day when your shoulders feel some form of tension,
Noticing that.
And you might even bring things into high resolution.
You might notice left shoulder versus right shoulder,
If they're any different or the same.
You might notice a sharpness,
A dullness,
A warmth,
A coolness.
A mindfulness meditation includes just being with what's real.
So there's no need to change anything,
Just feeling it.
And then allowing the awareness to travel up into the neck.
If you happen to swallow,
Simply noticing that sensation as it occurs.
And bringing the awareness up into the head,
The jaw,
The mouth,
The nose,
The eyes,
The scalp,
The ears.
And then widening the awareness to include the entire body.
The head,
Neck and shoulders,
Arms down to the fingertips.
The spine,
The trunk of the body,
All the way down to the tailbone.
Hips,
Legs,
All the way down to the feet and the tips of the toes.
Seeing if it's possible to just be here,
Present with the body as it is right now.
.
Over the next few moments,
Coming to a sense of completion with this meditation for now.
And proceeding on to the rest of your day.
