So please find your meditation posture for today.
I'll give the instructions for sitting on a cushion or on a chair,
But please listen to what your body needs for today.
If that's lying down,
If that's standing up,
If that's some sort of movement,
I trust you to determine that for yourself in this moment.
Feel your body.
Just feel it this morning.
Welcome it.
Acknowledge the effort involved in sitting and appearing to do nothing,
But we know better.
We know that this is a very active process.
Create the space with your body to have a full breath.
Create the space with your body to be with yourself for these next few minutes.
And for the next few minutes,
Just think of your body as the sort of beginning,
Middle,
And end of this practice of intuitive eating and meditation.
Without it,
Those other things don't exist.
See if you can find that balanced middle ground of rest and effort,
Relaxation and upliftedness,
Rooting down,
Lifting up gently,
Strength and softness.
Release any tension or gripping that is not essential to that balance.
Let the eyes rest gently open.
I sometimes think of this as just the ultimate symbol of I'm here and I'm not leaving.
I'm not leaving myself.
Feel your breath coming in through the nostrils and moving out through the nostrils into the space around you.
You might notice how good it feels to breathe and to just notice that you're breathing,
To be there with it through each kind of micro moment.
As you feel your breath,
You continue to remain awake in your body,
In your environment.
You continue to see through the eyes and hear through the ears and feel inside and around you.
You continue to think that is not a problem.
Lucky for us,
The mind creates thought.
Some of it feels helpful,
Some of it doesn't,
But it's all just thought.
It doesn't necessarily determine our reality.
It doesn't necessarily mean anything.
We can let the mind do what it does.
We can be accepting of it in all of its different states by practicing accepting it the way it is right this moment and then repeating that process each time we sit.
We start to notice that we can both be very present,
Feeling the breath in the body and aware of what's going on.
We don't need to forcefully exclude anything.
At times,
Our thoughts capture our attention and take us completely away from feeling the breath,
And that is also fine.
It's such an important part of the practice because inevitably,
If sometimes we're here,
Sometimes we're not here.
Sometimes we get swept away.
Sometimes we're not here.
Sometimes we get swept away.
And while the body is always present,
The mind can be elsewhere.
So our job is to notice.
Notice when we can acknowledge that something has changed,
Acknowledge that the mind was not synchronized with the body,
And then release whatever thought took you away gently,
Precisely,
Without judgment,
Walking or escorting your attention back to the feeling of the breath so that you can take a fresh start.
We'll practice like this together for a few more minutes in silence.
Bring your practice to a close.
Drop the technique.
Thank you so much for sitting together.
