Please find your way to a comfortable position,
One that allows you to feel both present and at ease.
And see how can you find for yourself a relaxed,
Effortless way of being through your body.
It can be helpful to sense the ground underneath you through the contact that you may make with your feet or your legs.
Or feel the contact of your pelvis on what you're sitting on,
Knowing that what you're sitting on is supported by this earth.
And it can receive your weight,
It can hold you,
Support you.
Invite yourself to let go of any unnecessary effort or holding in your body.
It might be effort that you needed just before this,
But now you don't need it,
And you can let it go.
You can really let it go.
Allow your eyes to gently close if you would like.
And sensing the back of you,
Feel the support of your spine,
From your tailbone,
All the way up between your ears.
And allow your energy to continue through the crown of your head,
Endlessly up to the sky.
So you can feel grounded,
But you can also feel light.
And right now,
Your shoulders,
Your arms,
Your hands,
They can all rest.
They don't need to move or lift,
Carry anything in this moment.
Instead,
You can just find your way to stillness.
What's it like just to be still?
And check in with your abdomen and your ribcage.
And just see right now,
Are they moving as you breathe?
Or if you sense yourself holding them in,
Can you let them be soft and free to move in response to your in breath and your out breath?
There's no need to hold yourself in right now.
In this very moment,
There's no need to guard or protect or harden yourself.
And now bring your attention to the muscles in your face.
And see what effort in your jaw you can let go.
Is there any tension around your lips that you can soften?
Not needing to reach out with your senses,
The muscles all around your eyes,
They can be relaxed.
Your temples,
Your brow can be relaxed.
Allowing a spacious forehead,
Not contracted in thought.
In this moment,
There's nothing you need to figure out.
Nothing more you need to be or do.
And be clear in your intention simply to notice when you have drifted into thought.
Thoughts about what might be coming next,
Or what's already transpired or what you want,
Or drifting into fantasy.
And instead,
Allow yourself space just to be here now.
In this stopping,
You can hear sounds come and go.
You can feel yourself breathing.
That rise and fall of subtle movement in your body.
Let yourself drop into your breath's rhythm.
And simply following along with its pace,
Its depth.
Feel it change on its own.
There's nothing you need to make happen,
Just listen to its song.
And whenever you notice you've drifted away,
Simply smile at that awareness and enjoy returning.
What a pleasure just to come back to the present moment.
And now we'll work with a handful of phrases that you can coordinate with your in-breath and your out-breath.
The phrases give your mind something to rest on,
While your body can rest on the sensation of breathing.
And you can use either the long phrase or the short phrase.
Breathing in the first part,
Breathing out on the second part.
We'll begin very simply.
As you breathe in,
I'm breathing in.
As you breathe out,
I'm breathing out.
I'm breathing in.
I'm breathing out.
Or simply in,
Out.
Feeling one breath at a time in its entirety.
And see if you can stay with the full path of the breath in.
Notice it turn.
Feel the breath as it leaves your body.
That subtle pause that happens before the next in-breath comes.
And again,
Nothing you need to make happen.
Simply follow along.
Enjoy its pace,
Its rhythm,
However it is right now.
I'm breathing in.
I'm breathing out.
As you breathe in,
Aware of my breathing.
As you breathe out,
I invite myself to slow down.
Aware of my breathing,
I invite myself to slow down.
Breathing,
Slowing down.
Breathing,
Slowing down.
You've given yourself this gift right now of space and time where you can simply feel yourself breathing,
Where you can allow your body and your mind to slow down.
Not needing to do more.
Not needing to get anywhere else in this moment.
Breathing,
Slowing down.
As you breathe in,
Slowing down.
As you breathe out,
I can find space between my thoughts.
Slowing down,
I can find space between my thoughts.
Slowing down,
Finding space.
So as we slow down and pay attention,
We notice when we've drifted into thought,
And then we let the thought go,
And there's space.
Can enjoy that space before another thought comes,
However brief it may be.
Slowing down,
Finding space.
There's often so much more space than we realize,
And our busy minds can take up a lot of space.
But every time we let a thought go,
We give ourselves space.
Space just to be,
To experience this moment.
As you breathe in,
Quieting my mind.
As you breathe out,
I find more clarity.
Quieting my mind,
I find more clarity.
Quiet,
Clear.
Quiet,
Clear.
When we come back to our breathing,
Allow ourselves to slow down.
Have space.
Our mind can get quieter,
And we have more clarity.
Can see more clearly.
And you might feel what it's like just to say those words.
Quiet as you breathe in.
Clear as you breathe out.
As you breathe in,
Slowing down,
Finding space,
Feeling clear.
As you breathe out,
I grow calm.
Slow,
Space,
Clear,
Calm.
Slow,
Space,
Clear,
Calm.
Knowing that you can give this to yourself.
Slow,
Space,
Clear,
Calm.
And as we wind this meditation down,
You might take notice of anything that's changed in you from when you first started the meditation.
Is your breathing any different?
Your sense of yourself,
Your body,
A feeling,
An energy.
And be gentle as you go into the next moment.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Be well.
