Hello and welcome to your presence meditation.
Go ahead and get comfortable.
Make your way to a seat.
You can prop the hips up on a block or a pillow.
You could sit against a wall or on the couch to support the back.
You could always even lie down if that's what your body is calling for in this moment.
Take your time to make yourself comfortable.
Maybe the first place that you choose to go isn't necessarily right for you today and that's okay.
Honor that and then readjust.
Once you have found your seat,
Go ahead and close the eyes down,
Letting the eyelids soften.
Using this closing of the eyes as a way to turn off the external world,
Letting go of the stimulation that sight brings to us,
And allow yourself to see deeper into your internal world,
To be here with you and to get to know you better.
Start to notice how the body is feeling in this moment.
Are you clenching the jaw?
Are you furrowing your brow?
If so,
Can you release it?
Are you making fists with the hands?
Are the feet relaxed?
How are the shoulders resting on the back?
Do you feel like you're holding tension in the neck?
If so,
Can you roll your shoulders down at the back and sit up a little bit taller?
Notice how the breath is moving in and out of the body.
Follow the in-breath as you expand through the belly,
Growing a little bit taller.
Follow the out-breath as it leaves the body.
Maybe you feel yourself ground a little bit more into your seat.
Allow the breath to flow naturally,
Focusing on it to follow the breath in and the breath out,
But not trying to control what the breath looks like or feels like in this moment.
Let's take a clearing breath together.
Take a deep breath in and a deep breath out,
Allowing your breath to return back to its natural rhythm.
I'm starting to notice what's going on in the mind.
Notice the thoughts that are moving in.
Maybe there is a lot of them and the mind is going fast.
I recently heard someone say that the thinking mind is like the surface of water.
It can be turbulent,
It can move fast,
But if you go underwater,
You start to suspend yourself in calm.
You know that feeling of dipping your head underneath the water and sort of floating below the surface.
That is the goal each time we come to our seat in meditation,
To go a little bit deeper,
To sit with ourselves and to simply be here in this moment,
Present,
Not thinking about the past,
Not thinking about the future,
Not using the meditation practice as something that you have to do,
Like you're checking the box on your to-do list,
But to really,
Really be here.
And it's hard.
And that's why it is a practice,
That's why we have to keep coming back to it.
But it is so,
So worth it to find presence,
Even if it's just for a few minutes each day.
Because if we aren't present,
Then we are missing each moment of our life.
If we spend time worrying about what's going to happen in the future or reminiscing on what has already happened,
Then we aren't here to experience what's going on right now.
And the moment that we have right now is really the only one that matters,
Because the past has already happened,
It's already been there,
We've already been there,
And the future is a mystery,
Even if we are creating stories or scenarios in our head about how we think the future is going to go.
It's probably not going to go that way.
So we are robbing ourselves of each moment when we aren't here.
When we choose to let the thoughts consume the mind,
We're missing out.
And it is a lot easier said than done.
And again,
That's why it's a practice,
That's why we keep coming back.
And it starts with these little shifts,
These moments in meditation where we are fully present here and now.
And then we can translate those moments of complete presence to daily life,
To those moments in our days when it is hard to be present.
Life moves fast and sometimes it's hard to keep up,
But that is why it is all the more important to be present when life is moving fast,
So that we don't miss anything as it moves past us,
Through us.
And within the present moment we can be our true authentic self.
It's the place where our thoughts don't define us,
The place where we are able to be fully ourselves,
Without judgment,
From the mind.
Most of the time that comes from us,
From our thinking mind.
When we are fully present with ourselves,
That means we can connect deeper with those around us as our authentic selves.
I'll take a few moments in silence here and each time you start to distract yourself from this moment,
Start by coming back to the breath,
Coming back to tangible feeling in the body,
And let the thoughts that are trying to distract you pass by.
They'll definitely be waiting for you when you're done with this meditation.
You can come back to them.
So can you be here now knowing that it is a practice?
It's not going to be perfect and that is okay.
Keep coming back to your breath.
Okay.
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