So today we're going to do a basic mindfulness of body,
Mindfulness of breathing practice.
You can begin by finding a comfortable position.
Either seated,
Standing,
Or lying down.
If you're seated,
Something that for you feels naturally upright and dignified,
Yet relaxed,
Not needing to rigidly hold on.
If you like,
The eyes can remain open but downcast,
The soft gaze,
Or if you prefer,
Gently closing the eyes.
And taking some moments now to feel and sense the earth beneath you.
Beneath the furniture,
The cushion,
The floor,
The foundation of the building.
There's the earth.
You're ultimately supported and held by the earth.
And sensing that,
Feeling the weight,
The gravity.
And bringing your awareness now to the space above you.
Beyond the ceiling,
Beyond the building,
The sky.
The vast openness.
And feeling the length and strength of your spine,
From tailbone to head.
Your strong back.
And the soft open front.
As you're ready,
Letting your awareness rest on any physical sensations all along the surfaces of your skin from head to toe.
Contact points between your seat and the surface that you're on.
Any areas touching floor,
Furniture.
The weight and texture of your clothing.
The air temperature on your skin.
Perhaps feeling the movement of air through the nostrils or the parted lips.
And as you're ready,
Sensing deeper into anything you can feel internally.
Perhaps sensations around digestion,
Pulsing,
Tingling,
Numbness,
Aliveness,
Tightness,
Tension.
Maybe finding your heartbeat,
Maybe not.
Entire body is sensory all the way down to and including the bones,
Just with a gentle curiosity.
Feeling anything,
Anything you can sense.
And just as the body generates sensations,
The mind will generate thoughts.
Ruminating,
Planning,
Fantasizing,
Other distractions.
What's no problem?
And you notice that you're distracted or caught on a storyline.
Just gently noticing that,
Celebrating that moment of mindfulness.
And gently redirecting back to this river of sensation.
You may be curious about that.
The invitation is to let it be as it is.
Not needing to push anything away,
Not needing to grab onto or cling to anything.
And there's a few suggestions for dealing with unpleasant.
Perhaps lean into that sensation,
Explore it,
Name it,
And lean back out.
Or if something is too unpleasant or you find yourself overwhelmed,
You can redirect to an area that is perhaps pleasant or even neutral.
It might be stabilizing to bring your awareness to the sounds around you.
Or perhaps a sensation in your hands or your feet on the floor.
And always in these practices,
You can open your eyes,
Reorient to the room that you're in and come back to that which grounds you.
Returning to the practice as you're ready.
So the invitation is to stay emotionally balanced as best you can.
Empowering yourself to stay within your own zone of resilience.
Thank you.
As a direct extension of this mindfulness of body and sensation,
Gently bringing your awareness now to your breath.
Where is it that you feel the breath?
Wherever it is,
Allowing the awareness to rest there.
The breath now serving as an anchor to the present moment.
When thoughts and distractions arise as they will,
Gently noticing that and simply coming back to this breath.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The breath now serving as an anchor to the present moment.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Helping an open,
Kind,
Compassionate awareness with this practice.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All of the thoughts and distractions to arise and dissolve sensations,
Sights,
Sounds,
Smell,
Taste,
All of it coming and going like passing clouds in the sky.
Simply holding it all in your open,
Compassionate awareness,
The way the sky holds all weather patterns.
Now just being,
Moving away from doing into being.
Just resting.
All right.
Getting to close the practice.
Just to offer yourself acknowledgement for taking this time for being here.
