Let's begin by lying down.
And take your time with it to get comfortable.
Let the floor come up to meet you.
And place what you need on the body.
Like a blanket.
Support under the knees.
An eye pillow.
The arms are gently relaxed by the sides.
The palms are open facing towards the sky without any effort.
Let the eyes close and let the outer world soften around you.
There's nowhere else you need to be.
There's nothing you need to make better right now.
For the next little while,
It's only this body exactly as it is tonight.
Let this practice be an offering of care.
Not correction or improvement.
And within this offering,
We'll set an intention for the practice tonight.
Listen to the heart.
And let this not be about what you think you should want.
But about what your heart already knows it wants to feel inside this body.
Maybe it sounds like I'm at home in this body.
I trust this beautiful imperfect body.
Or simply,
I belong here,
In this body.
Let your own words arrive,
Simple and present.
Something that you can feel in your heart.
Not just think with the mind and whisper it inwardly three times now.
Like you'd whisper to somebody you love.
Now let go of the words.
And begin to sense your body not as something you see.
But as something you feel from within.
Not the image of what it looks like.
Just the feeling of being in it.
Begin to sense the body underneath the thinking about the body.
That beautiful aliveness that's already here and already breathing you.
Allow your attention to gather in the face.
Feel the forehead smoothing.
The tiny muscles behind the eyes letting go of looking.
The jaw unclenching.
The tongue releasing from the roof of the mouth.
This face doesn't need to be perfect tonight.
Let it be unmade.
Natural.
Imperfect and therefore beautiful like everything in nature is.
Let the attention move down into the neck.
The shoulders.
The arms all the way into the fingertips.
Just feel the sense of releasing.
Now move the attention down into the chest.
Feel the front of the chest softening.
The tissues underneath the heart beating inside without you having to earn it.
This chest has breathed you through joy and grief and everything in between.
So let the breath move here on force.
Let the attention spill into the belly.
Not to notice what it looks like.
Just to inhabit it.
For a lot of your life you might have held a lot here.
Maybe it's been measured and pulled in.
But tonight,
Can you let it be natural?
Let it be round,
Soft,
And exactly as it is.
Feel it gently rising as the breath enters.
And gently falling as the breath leaves.
Now let your attention soften into the hips.
Like a wide,
Deep bowl.
So much of your life lives here.
There's no need to make anything different to belong.
Simply feel the weight of your hips meeting the earth beneath you.
Feel them heavy.
Support it.
Allowed.
Let the attention soften into the thighs.
So often this place is judged and compared.
But from the inside,
They're just warmth and strength.
And they've carried you through every season of your life.
Let them rest.
Let them be exactly as they are tonight.
And soften the attention all the way down into the toe tips.
Feeling the support of the earth beneath you.
And the support of the whole body at once.
Notice the body as one continuous,
Tingling,
Fluid field.
There's this beautiful aliveness here.
It's not a thing to make better.
It's just this body.
Exactly as it is.
Part of the living world that was given to you.
Now bring your attention to the breath.
But not to control it.
Simply let yourself be breathed.
Feel how breath enters and the body receives it.
How breath leaves and the body softens.
You're being breathed by the same current that moves through the forests.
Because you're not on earth.
You are of the earth.
Your bones are of her minerals.
Your blood is of her water.
And with each inhale,
The inner body brightens a little like dawn.
And with each exhale,
The outer image of the body softens a little like dusk.
In hell inhabiting the body.
And exhale,
Softening the way you see it.
In hell belonging.
And exhale appreciating.
Do that a few more times on your own.
You don't need to be perfect to be natural.
In nature,
Nothing is perfect.
And everything is gorgeous precisely because it's imperfect,
Alive,
And itself.
So let your body be itself tonight.
Let it be exactly as it is.
And let that be enough.
Now,
If you want to go deeper,
Bring to mind one place in your body that's felt hard to be with.
Connect to just one place without getting caught up in the story of it.
And instead of looking at it from the outside.
Move the attention into it.
Yield into its inner surface.
And feel it from within a sensation.
As temperature.
As pulsing.
And stay with it.
You're not fixing anything.
You're just bringing your presence here.
Just breathing with it.
And ask yourself,
What does this place want tonight?
Not as something to improve.
But maybe it's asking for just a little warmth.
A little bit more breath.
A little bit more presence that says you don't have to be different to be cared for.
And whatever it is,
Let that sense of caring pour into this space.
Not from your mind,
But from your own aliveness meeting itself.
And just notice how it feels to give love and attention to these places within that you've abandoned for so long.
Maybe there's a little more space.
A little more softening within.
And now let your attention on this place dissolve.
And let the whole body be felt as one field again.
Resting on the earth.
Breathing itself.
Being breathed.
And return to the heartfelt intention you made at the beginning of practice.
The one you whispered to yourself.
And offer it three more times now.
Not as words to achieve.
But as a truth to remember,
Planting it into the tissues,
Into the earth of you.
And now let go of the intention.
Let go of the practice.
Rest is the awareness that fills this body.
Rest in the truth that the body is nature.
Rest is nature that's aware of itself.
There's nothing to do.
Nothing to make better.
Only this gorgeous,
Imperfect body held by the earth.
Softening.
Belonging.
And at ease.
And as I go quiet,
You can remain here.
Continue to be hell.
Continue to be cared for.
Continue to soften all by yourself.
You're soft.
Alive.
And home.
I'm sending you all the love.
