Please find a comfortable seat and a posture that helps you to feel present,
At ease.
Allow your eyes to rest.
And now give yourself permission,
Full permission to take this time to practice,
To have space to breathe and to be.
To move into greater awareness.
Allowing yourself to observe yourself without reacting,
Without attaching to what you experience,
Without judging what you observe.
Start by feeling yourself sitting right where you are.
Feeling the contact that you're making with what you're sitting on.
Sense the ground underneath you.
And let it receive your weight.
Feeling its support and letting it come through you as energy.
Energy through your feet,
Your legs,
Your pelvis,
Your spine.
And then sense the space above you,
Letting your energy continue into that space.
And the space on the sides of you.
Can you let your energy continue into that space?
The space in front of you.
And behind you.
You can expand into the space all around you.
And invite your shoulders,
Your arms,
Your hands to fully rest.
There's nothing they need to lift to carry,
Hold or move in this moment.
And invite a relaxed belly,
A relaxed rib cage and chest.
Allowing them the freedom to move in response to your breathing.
Letting them be free.
The many muscles in your face can also relax,
Be at ease.
Your jaw,
Your lips,
Your eyes can be soft.
An easy brow.
Easy temples.
And now let your attention go to your breathing itself.
What's it like right now?
Notice its pace,
Its depth.
And however it is,
Just follow its rhythm.
Letting the breath breathe you.
Gradually see if you can notice more of the details.
Where it begins.
You might notice the top of the inhale,
The bottom of the exhale.
That moment of waiting for the next in breath to come.
Not controlling,
Simply following.
Connected to your body.
Now we will work with a few phrases.
You can silently say the first part as you breathe in.
And the second part as you breathe out.
You can use either the full phrase,
Or just the key words.
Starting simply.
As you breathe in,
I'm inhaling.
As you breathe out,
I'm exhaling.
I'm inhaling.
I'm exhaling.
Throughout this meditation,
And throughout this day,
Our breathing will change.
By simply following it,
It will change.
We can simply observe,
Notice.
I'm inhaling.
I'm exhaling.
I'm inhaling.
I'm exhaling.
Enjoying having this space to simply feel yourself breathing.
To not have to do anything more.
To not have to control or lead.
And the next phrase,
As you breathe in,
Steady in my breathing.
As you breathe out,
Grounded in the present.
Steady in my breathing.
Grounded in the present.
Steady.
Grounded.
Steady.
Grounded.
Grounded.
Being aware of our breathing,
We can feel a sense of steadiness in a constantly changing world.
Our breathing is there for us.
Aware of breathing,
We're in the present moment.
And we can feel grounded here.
Even as the ground moves.
We can be steady in ourselves.
Steady in my breathing.
Grounded in the present.
And the next phrase,
As you breathe in,
Aware that all things change.
As you breathe out,
Allowing change.
Aware that all things change.
Allowing change.
Or simply,
Things change.
Allowing.
Our body is constantly changing.
Our thoughts,
Our feelings,
Our sensations change.
The weather changes.
We can recognize that we need change in order to grow,
To heal,
To create.
Rather than fight change,
We can allow and trust in ourselves.
Trust in our paths and our connection in love.
Things change.
Allowing change.
And the next phrase,
As you breathe in,
Allowing change.
As you breathe out,
I remember to have humility.
Allowing change.
I remember to have humility.
Humility.
We can practice letting go and recognizing that we are part of something so much bigger.
The causes and conditions that allow anything to come to be or to not be are much bigger than ourselves alone.
We can learn to allow change,
To let go,
And to remember our connection to all that is.
In doing so,
We practice having humility.
We can soften and open.
We can connect with a more tender part of ourselves that is not grasping or fighting,
But flowing with.
Tender to our human condition.
Allowing change.
I remember to have humility.
To allow for impermanence.
To trust.
Breathing and being steady and grounded.
Allowing change and practicing humility.
We can have more peace.
Be more at ease.
And we can be a source of peace and help others to feel at ease.
I'm inhaling.
I'm exhaling.
Steady in my breathing.
Grounded in the present.
Aware that all things change.
Allowing change.
Allowing change.
Remembering to have humility.
And as we wind this meditation down,
Take a moment to give thanks to yourself for dedicating yourself to your practice.
For having the courage to stop.
To breathe.
To be with change.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
May you go gently into your next moment.
