Today I'd like to offer up a meditation.
So this is an opportunity to settle,
To rest,
To perhaps reflect.
An opportunity to come out of that sort of headspace and come into body and sort of perhaps come into that more expansive part of the mind rather than the sort of focused,
Narrowed thinking part of the mind,
Which is obviously an incredibly valuable part of our mind as well.
But just for today,
Perhaps it's an opportunity to allow that part just to switch off and rest for a while and come into our more expansive place.
So I'm going to begin with a little settling focus on the breath meditation and then I'll share this reading.
And the invitation as always is just to see where it takes you.
So let's begin.
So take this moment to settle.
Close your eyes or lower and soften your gaze.
If you're out walking,
Doing this meditation,
That's a wonderful thing too.
So just allow your gaze to soften without taking your attention to any one particular thing and just notice your breath.
Notice your breath on the inhale.
Do you feel it in your nostrils?
Perhaps as it comes down the back of your throat,
Through your chest,
Maybe you notice your belly expanding with the inhale.
Your chest just pushing out slightly as your lungs inhale that fresh nourishing air.
Notice the breath on the exhale,
The belly and the chest softening back perhaps.
Maybe you notice warmer air inside your nostrils as you exhale that cool air as it comes in and that warmer breath as it goes out.
Just stay with this for a few moments,
Just noticing what you notice and where you notice it.
And if you notice any sounds in this moment,
There's no need to follow those sounds and just notice them,
No need to label them.
Just let them pass by and stay focused on your breath,
Noticing whatever you notice,
Noticing wherever you sense your breath and wherever you sense it is okay.
There's no rules here.
And now just bring your attention to your shoulders.
Do you notice any movement there as you breathe?
Do your shoulders rise and fall with the breath?
Are they still?
Do you notice a softening in your shoulders as you sit or lie here now?
Are they drifting just a little bit further down?
Or do you notice tension in your shoulders?
Whatever you notice,
Simply notice.
We're not trying to change anything,
We're just being with.
Now your arms,
What do you notice?
How is it to bring your breath all the way through to your fingertips?
To bring that breath in and just feel it moving down through your arms all the way into your wrists,
Your hands and your fingertips.
Perhaps there's a sensation of energy here,
Maybe even a tingling in your fingers or not.
Whatever you notice is okay.
Maybe you notice your arms rising and falling with each breath.
Move your attention now to your chest,
Your upper back,
Your ribs,
Your belly and notice the rise and fall of your breath,
The expansion and contraction of your ribs.
The feeling of those muscles just moving and accommodating each breath that you take and then releasing back as you breathe out.
And come into your hips and your pelvis now.
Breathe deep into your hips,
There can be a sweetness here as we allow your breath to unlock any tension there.
Feel how it is to direct your breath into your hips.
Perhaps you notice a softening or a delicious filling of your hips as your breath comes in and emptying as your breath leaves your body.
Now bring your attention to your legs.
Is there a sensation of your breath in your thighs,
Your knees,
Your calves,
Your feet?
Bring your breath all the way through your body into the tips of your toes.
How is it to breathe so deeply that your breath fills your body and release it all the way up through your body and out through the crown of your head?
Again a deep inhale all the way to the tips of your toes and the ends of your fingers and exhale with a sigh.
And again a deep inhale all the way to the tips of your toes and the ends of your fingers,
Feeling the gentle energy of that breath as it fills your whole body and then releasing with a sigh.
And allow your breath to soften,
To return to your own rhythm and pace whatever that feels like today.
And the invitation here is to keep your eyes closed or your gaze softened and to stay with this feeling of your breath with the rise and the fall,
The inhale,
The exhale and just listen to the words of this meditation.
What comes,
Comes.
What is,
Is.
What other words flow,
Feeling,
Allowing,
Releasing,
Being,
Presence,
Accepting,
Falling into the now,
Seeing what is and being present with it.
What are the learnings?
What are the teachings?
What is this listening?
Who is speaking right now in this moment here?
Who am I feeling?
What am I resisting?
What can be released?
Fear,
Anxiety,
Care and loss.
Accepting my own choices made for me.
Creating a new pattern.
There is not just one way.
There is this way and that way and a million,
Billion other ways.
And all I can do is feel into my own way.
Disentangled from others truths.
Only and always owning my own.
Understanding that creating a new path means others become free to create their own too.
None need to be followed though we can walk alongside for a while.
And now I am crafting a new way.
I am embracing my whole self.
Accepting that what others and I thought was who I am,
How I am was simply a part of the process.
And seeing that now this uncomfortable discomfort,
This reimagining,
This expansion out in the wide and vast unknown of myself is also a part of the process.
Not a destination.
This is simply a tiny step.
Albeit feeling like a giant leap.
And the moon here feels fitting.
For we are just a tiny speck on a tiny rock in a giant vastness of everywhere.
Where everything happens all at once.
Where there is no time.
No hierarchy.
No limits.
So this part is just a blink in the eye of a millennium.
Nothing more.
And yet in this moment it is all that is.
And so deserves everything I can bring it.
My fullest most ardent attention.
A total being with.
And my endless gratitude for showing me how to pay my attention with my most open heart.
