Good morning.
Before you begin your day,
Let's extend the quiet and stillness of right now.
You've arrived in the hush of a new day.
Before the mind gathers its tools and maps,
Before the old stories stir,
Let's just pause and sit.
Let's see what it's like to simply experience.
And as a way of beginning,
Let's breathe deeply a few times together.
Fill the belly and then the chest and then release down through the chest a few times.
Filling the belly,
Chest and release.
Let that go and just feel.
Feel the weight of your body held by the bed or a chair.
There's nothing to do yet.
Nothing to figure out or fix or earn.
Let's just be in this quiet return to right here,
Grounding and settling and being.
Feel the breath move like a tide,
In and out,
Slow and generous.
Your skin may sense the air.
Notice whatever is arising in your direct experience of right now.
Notice the sounds.
Notice sensations in the body.
Be with the breath.
And when thoughts come in to start directing what's going to happen today or what happened yesterday,
No problem.
Simply begin again and come back to have this brief quiet time to set the stage for this new day.
Whatever is here is enough.
Let yourself have this time.
Gather attention in your heart space.
There's a listening in you.
Older than thought.
Wider than opinion.
Let it open and let the world arrive just as it is.
Each sound,
Each flicker of life,
Each breath,
Miraculously here.
Simply feel the aliveness of this moment.
You don't need to make sense of anything right now.
Just sit.
This morning,
This body,
This breath.
There's nothing missing.
The simple fact of being is more than enough.
And you might inquire into your heart space.
What would it mean to wake up and experience your life today with an open heart,
Fresh eyes,
Open mind?
Be gentle with yourself as that question just drops into your heart.
We're not even really looking for an answer.
The question is enough.
As our quiet time here comes to a close,
I invite you to bring a slight smile to your face.
Even if it seems silly,
Humor me.
Give it a try.
Just notice what it does to the feeling tone of you.
To your mood.
How does your body respond?
And now softly release the smile as if to drop it into your heart space.
And just notice.
Let's take a generous inhale and a long exhale.
All the way in.
And all the way out.
May you go easy and feel the fresh breath of a new day as you come out of practice and enter into whatever the day holds for you.
You can return to the inner smile and the energy of a deep breath at any time during your day.
And I encourage you to do so.
Thank you for your practice today.