Coming to an alert but comfortable posture here.
If you're in a chair,
Your feet on the floor,
Spine upright,
Tucking your chin,
Almost like there's a string pulling out through the top of your head that's just keeping your spine really long.
You might roll your shoulders up and back,
Finding some length across your collarbone.
And if it feels comfortable to you,
Closing your eyes,
Otherwise just taking a soft gaze ahead of you at the floor,
Perhaps at some surface,
Taking a deep breath in and out.
You might put a hand over your heart and check in with yourself here just for a few moments.
What's asking to be seen right now?
It might be an emotion,
A thought,
A sensation.
Rather than trying to do anything differently than exactly what it is,
You might offer yourself a phrase like,
May I hold this to with kindness?
Or this is what is here right now.
This is what is here right now.
If it's resting on your chest,
You can gently let your hand rest back in your lap.
Paying attention to the sounds in the room around you.
They might be quiet,
Subtle,
Or quite loud and feels distracting,
But can you bring all of it and any sound into your practice?
Just noting the sound.
Taking a few moments here to feel into the space around you,
Quite literally the air on your skin.
Do you have a sense of where you are in space,
Even with your eyes closed,
Or your eyes casting down?
Do you feel your clothing on your skin or fabric?
Or the sensation of pressure of whatever surface your body is touching?
This is here right now.
Bringing to mind warm,
Glowing,
Beautiful sunshine.
Just kissing the top of your forehead.
You don't have any worry about overheating or getting sunburned or anything like that.
This sunlight that you're imagining just feels perfect and warm and soothing.
Anywhere that that imagined light touches softens in your body.
Starting at the top of your forehead and the crown of your head.
Imagining that light and that softness coming down through your forehead.
The sides of your head,
The back of your head.
Softening through your eyebrows,
The space between your eyebrows.
Softening through the temples right above your ears.
Softening your eyes and their sockets,
Your eyelids.
Softening through the bridge of your nose and your cheekbones.
Softening through the bridge of your nose and your cheekbones.
Softening through the point where your jaw meets your ears and all the way around the back of your head.
Softening the rest of your cheeks,
The nostrils of your nose,
Your upper lip.
Imagining that warm,
Gentle,
Softening light coming down across your bottom lip.
Softening your tongue and your mouth and your whole jaw.
Your lips might even part a little as your jaw is so relaxed.
Feeling that softening through the back of your neck,
Around the sides of your neck,
Into your throat.
You might swallow here,
Move your tongue around a little bit just to feel the added softening that that brings to the front of your throat.
Feeling even 1% more softness through the rest of your neck into your upper back.
Softening into your shoulders.
You might even do a few of these.
Softening into your shoulders.
You might even do a few shoulder circles here if they hold a lot of tension there.
Or you sit a lot in a car or a train at home.
Softening through your upper back,
Through your upper arms,
From your neck to your collarbones.
Letting this imagined light just melt away the tension.
Softening through your ribcage and the front and the back.
Softening through your side body.
Through your arms,
Touching your side body,
Like your triceps,
Biceps.
Softening your elbows and your forearms.
Feeling that warm light into your wrists,
The backs of your hands,
Each finger,
Your thumb,
The palms of your hands,
Just softening.
Sliding your attention back into your torso,
Softening through your belly and your middle back.
Your lower back.
Softening into your hips,
Your glutes and your pelvis.
Into your seat on the surface.
Into the big joint.
Big joints where your legs meet your hips.
Softening through your thighs,
Front and back.
Into your knees,
Your shins,
Your calves.
Letting that move down through your ankles on each side,
Through your heel,
Into the sides of your feet,
Down through the top of your foot,
Out to each toe.
Feeling that softness on the bottoms of your feet.
Feeling the connection of the ground beneath you,
Wherever your body is touching the surface,
Wherever there's a sensation of pressure.
Letting it hold you.
And even if you're 20 floors above the ground,
Any kind of material between you and the earth,
You're still being held always by the earth.
Sending a bit of gratitude to the earth for always holding you,
Being so steady.
Just unwavering support.
If you're feeling lost in your head at any point during the day,
Going forward,
You can always come back to this sensation of touch with the earth.
Send a little bit of gratitude and reciprocity for the support that the earth is holding everyone in your community,
Your loved ones,
Everyone,
Including the other than human beings around us,
The trees and the rocks,
All the animals.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be happy and healthy.
May all beings live with ease.
You might bring a hand back to your heart,
Checking in again.
What's asking to be seen right now?
This is how it is right now.
Thank yourself for taking the time to practice.
To do something just for yourself,
But that will have such a beautiful ripple effect in the world.
When you're ready,
You can gently open your eyes and come back into the space that you're in.
Thank you for practicing with me.
May you live with ease.
