Thank you for joining me for this guided meditation.
To start,
Get settled in a comfortable seated position.
Allow your eyes to close or find a place where you can rest your gaze with soft eyes slightly downward.
Start by giving yourself a moment to simply arrive in your body in this moment just as you are.
In your body in this moment just as you are.
Connect to the ground underneath you.
Simply allow the ground to take your weight and support you so that you can feel stable and solid.
Almost as if the ground is coming up to meet you.
From here find an easy length through your spine from your tailbone all the way up between your ears with as little effort as possible.
From this grounded place see where you can consciously let go of tension whether it's habitual tension or tension specific to today or this moment.
Any places where you might be holding,
Contracting or using more effort than is needed.
Let your shoulders and your arms rest.
Your hands can be relaxed and easy on your lap.
And allow your chest to soften.
Now bring your attention to the muscles in your face and see if you can let your jaw relax,
Allowing some space between your upper and lower teeth.
Open in the corners of your eyes,
Behind your eyes.
And invite yourself to let go of any effort between your eyes or into your forehead.
Not needing to work hard or to figure anything out.
Not needing to plan or go over or fix.
Truly invite yourself to have this space and this time to simply be.
To breathe in the present moment just as you are.
And if you haven't already,
Shift your attention to your breathing,
Which means simply start to experience each breath.
Following each inhale and each exhale.
Taking just one breath at a time.
Follow its natural rhythm so you don't need to control it.
However it might be right now.
Sensing the belly and the chest rise and fall.
And as we do this,
We'll listen to the sound of the bell.
Simply let the sound float in and fade away.
The sound of the bell.
The sound of the bell.
The sound of the bell.
And now working with some phrases,
You can coordinate the phrase to your inhale and your exhale.
Saying it silently to yourself every now and then.
Experiencing this inhale.
Experiencing this exhale.
Here simply this inhale,
This exhale.
As you breathe in,
This inhale.
As you breathe out,
This exhale.
And see if you can stay with the full length of the breath in and the full length of the breath out.
Noticing those moments when the inhale turns into an exhale and the exhale turns into an inhale.
And if your mind wanders once you notice it,
Just let yourself begin again.
Take this breath.
Arriving in my body,
I breathe in.
Arriving in this moment,
I breathe out.
In my body,
In this moment.
In my body,
In this moment.
In this moment,
I breathe out.
Knowing that each time you come back to your breath,
You're coming back to your body,
You're coming back to this present moment,
This very moment of being alive.
In my body,
In this moment.
Breathing here,
Staying here.
Breathing,
Staying.
Breathing,
Staying.
Giving yourself this gift of simply staying with your breath in the present moment.
Not needing to go anywhere.
Not needing to plan or go over or change.
Simply breathing here,
Staying here.
As you breathe in,
Observing the waves in my mind.
As you breathe out,
Being the water.
Observing being.
Observing being.
The waves can be thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations.
We have this moment to observe them without attaching to them.
We don't need to follow them or figure them out.
Observing just being.
Resting in this quiet I breathe in.
Breathing in this stillness I breathe out.
Quiet stillness.
Quiet stillness.
Breathing in.
Breathing yourself full permission to rest.
To rest in the quiet.
To let your body rest in stillness.
And before we close this meditation,
I invite you to take a moment to genuinely thank yourself for pausing and for practicing.
You can notice as you let the light back in,
Movement back in,
If anything in you feels different from when you first began.
Your sense of yourself,
Of your surroundings,
Of your breathing.
Just noticing and be gentle with yourself as you move on.
Thank you for your practice.
God bless.
