Making yourself comfortable.
Arriving in your seat.
Feeling your feet on the floor.
Feeling your body in your chair.
Your back against the chair.
And as you take in a full deep breath positioned above your body.
Let your arms and hands hang off your shoulders.
Release the gripping from your fingers and wrists.
And as you take in a full deep breath for your body.
Ask yourself how am I feeling now?
Become aware of the pace and flow of your mind.
The thoughts streaming through.
Is there a place where your mind tends to go today?
Narrowing your focus now to your breathing.
Become aware of the pace and flow.
Explore the capacity of your inhale and your exhale.
Zoom your focus into where you're feeling your breath most.
It may be the soft space at the top of the lip.
The way the cool air hits the back of your throat.
The way your chest expands and contracts.
Allow your full attention to be in the full sensation of your breathing.
Allow yourself to be encompassed by the way your body feels and takes in each breath and releases each breath.
Breathing in you are accepting life,
Energy.
Breathing out you are releasing anything that doesn't serve you.
Breathing in you are accepting you as you are.
Breathing out you are letting go.
Letting go of the stuff,
The debris,
The clutter.
Inhaling your inhaling space.
Breathing letting go of anything that is crowding your space.
Bring to the forefront of your mind,
Sitting in your living room,
What does the feeling of home feel like?
Imagine yourself now getting up,
Reaching for your coat,
Reaching for your front door,
Looking down at the threshold and becoming fully aware of one foot after another stepping over the threshold.
Imagine as you close your front door behind you.
Become aware of the shift in light,
The breeze as it hits your face.
With full conscious awareness,
Placing one foot with full intention after another.
Listening,
Feeling,
Raising awareness to everything that you're doing in that moment.
Perhaps you're hearing the crunch crunch of the gravel.
You make your way down the street and as you do so look around.
Look at the sky,
Look at the trees.
Perhaps you give a little nod hello to your neighbor as you make your way down to your favorite cinema.
Before too long you are standing now in front of the cinema.
You look in front and you take in the sight that's in front of you,
Preparing yourself for stepping in to a new experience.
You go and queue up,
Purchase your ticket.
Perhaps you buy yourself some popcorn and a drink and then you queue up to the ticket stand.
As the ticket man takes your ticket he says to you,
Enjoy your film.
And you look at him and you go,
Thank you,
I will.
And as you leave him behind you enter into the passageway and you become aware of the hallway,
The doors to the auditorium in front of you and the light and the busyness of the day behind you as you place one foot consciously in front of the other making your way to the auditorium.
The light and sounds and busyness of the day are fading behind you and you take this time in transition between each action.
As you push open the doors find a seat towards the back of the cinema.
As you scooch your sit bones into the chair,
Place your popcorn down on either side,
You look around and take in the sight of the auditorium.
Imagine that the seat that you're sitting in is the back of the head and the screen in front of you is the eyelids of your eyes.
And you become aware of the space between you at the back of the cinema and what you are going to see on the screen.
And as the lights dim and the curtains draw and the screen flickers on it's three,
Two,
One,
Your attention is drawn focusing on the screen.
And on your screen I invite you to project onto it any thought,
Feeling,
Sensation,
Emotion,
Memory that pops up in your mind.
Project it onto the screen and watch the flutter of thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
Impressions.
And like any film,
Like any story,
Everything has a beginning,
A middle,
And most importantly an end.
So if your story becomes stuck,
If the thoughts become reoccurring,
You can use your breath,
Your exhale to push the story along,
To let it go and allow some space between the next one that comes up.
Allowing your breath to be the mechanism that moves the film along.
And if at any point you become overwhelmed by the story,
Raise awareness to the distance between you and your seat and your screen.
And as you watch whatever comes up for you,
Maybe you see words,
Maybe you see colours,
Impressions,
Perhaps even you hear the sounds projected onto the screen.
As you do so,
Become aware of the associations,
Watch how one thought leads to another and goes down a trail,
Or perhaps how a thought or a story lands on you,
How it affects your breathing and your body,
Or there's an emotional rising.
And if at any point it becomes all too overwhelming,
You have your breath with you to create a little buffer space,
That distance between you and the story you tell yourself.
And if your mind wanders away from your screen,
Notice where it's been drawn to,
Notice that pulling sensation in your body.
And gently,
With the same affection and kindness you would a young child,
Coax your attention back,
Back to the screen,
Back to the centre of your focus.
Knowing the story or the feeling,
Impression,
Memory that is on the screen,
Allow that to draw to a close now.
And you watch the credits roll up,
Your body becomes aware of an ending.
The lights come on,
The curtains draw,
And you look around and remind yourself of where your body is.
And as you get up and head towards the doors,
You push the doors open back into the hallway.
And with full presence,
With full awareness,
Placing one foot intentionally after the other,
Making your way to the light of the day,
Aware of the distance between the previous experience and your embarkment on the next.
The light of the day becomes more remarkable,
The sounds louder.
But with each breath and each step,
You are aware of the transition space between each experience.
Your eye catches the ticket man on your right and you say to him,
Thank you for the experience.
Making your way to the doors and as you push the doors of the cinema building open,
Become aware of the breeze of the day,
The light,
And with conscious awareness,
Making your way back home.
But this time you're coming at it from a different angle,
A different perspective.
Perhaps you become aware of something else,
A different neighbor,
A new building,
A different angle of the trees.
Before too long,
You are in front of your front door.
As you slip the key in and turn the handle and place one foot after the other over the threshold,
Becoming aware of you entering into your safe haven,
Your home,
Your safe place,
Pushing the door closed behind you.
You're separating yourself from the busyness of the day,
Entering into a place that is just yours.
Getting some movement back into your fingers and toes,
Gently moving your head to side to side and rolling your shoulders.
Become aware of the light passing through your eyelids as you flicker them up and take in the sight that's in front of you,
Becoming more aware of the day,
The time.
In a full,
Energizing deep breath,
Ready to enter into the rest of your day.
