Wake Up Week: Monday - Beginning With A Mindful Intention

Good morning.

Thank you for joining me in the first session of Wake Up Week.

Let's begin with some moments of mindfulness and setting an intention to guide you through the week.

Finding a comfortable and wakeful sitting posture,

Sitting up straight and tall,

And allowing the body to settle into stillness.

Bring the eyes to gently close,

Or if you prefer,

Lowering your gaze to the floor in front of you.

Bringing your attention to this experience,

Acknowledging your presence in this space.

What is present for you right now?

Acknowledging the full range of what is happening from moment to moment.

Feeling is happening if there are thoughts present.

Hearing is happening if there are sounds present.

Feeling is happening if there are emotions or physical sensations in the body.

Letting go of any need to do anything about this experience,

And allowing things to simply be the way they are.

And then when you're ready,

Letting your other senses settle into the background,

And bringing your awareness to the body in this sitting posture,

Breathing in and breathing out.

You don't have to breathe a certain way.

You don't even have to change the breath.

Simply allowing the breath to find its own natural rhythm.

Following the sensations of the air entering and leaving the body.

At the nose,

The back of the throat,

The lungs.

Resting your attention on the movements of the breath in the body.

At the shoulders,

The chest,

The belly.

And as you rest in this stillness,

Watching the body breathing in and breathing out.

Take a few moments now to explore bringing to mind an intention that could guide you through the week with more awareness,

Kindness,

And connectedness with what serves you and what nourishes you.

There is no need to force anything in this experience.

And seeing if it's possible to let go of any judgment towards what is unfolding moment by moment.

Simply exploring what you would like to align yourself with this week.

Allowing this intention to be meaningful and supportive.

This intention may be vague at first,

And that's okay.

Inviting gentleness and patience to this practice.

Allowing this intention to gently crystallize into a few words that resonate with you.

Gently holding this intention in the mind and tuning into the body.

Feeling any felt sense of this experience in the body as you allow this intention to settle more deeply into awareness.

And then when you're ready,

Taking three mindful breaths and paying attention to the breath entering and leaving the body.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Breathing in and out.

And one more time,

Breathing in and breathing out.

And allowing the eyes to gently open or widen.

Thank you for practicing with me and have a mindful day ahead.