And let's begin by taking a deep breath in.
And a long slow breath out.
Deepening your inhalations.
And lengthening the exhalations.
And allowing the body to respond to a long slow exhalation.
Starting to feel the body settling.
Beginning to come into this present moment.
And finding your seat of meditation.
Feeling the feet resting on the ground.
Feeling that contact and support.
Feeling the backs of your legs and your buttocks on your chair or cushion.
And you can start to feel a sense of being supported,
Of being grounded.
Allowing the body to settle.
And out of that stability,
Feeling a sense of elongation through your spine.
Having an openness.
Maybe taking your shoulders up,
Back and down to allow the chest,
The heart to be more open.
And release any obvious areas of tension.
Perhaps in the jaw or face,
Or the neck or shoulders.
Relaxing the abdominals and low back.
Finding a place that you can feel grounded and supported.
Yet alert and relaxed.
And bringing the awareness now to the top of your head.
And allowing the muscles that surround the skull to relax.
Noticing any sensations.
The head and forehead.
Softening the eyes.
Letting the eyes fall to the back of the eye socket.
The sense of receptivity,
Of non-doing.
Allowing your jaw to relax.
And feeling into the sensations of the mouth,
Tongue,
The gums,
The teeth.
Noticing any sensations there.
Moving your awareness down to the neck,
To the shoulders.
Just softening,
Allowing the shoulders to melt away from your ears.
You can imagine ice melting to water.
Moving the awareness down the arms.
Feeling the length and volume of the arms.
All the way into your hands.
Noticing any contact that the hands have.
Noticing any temperature.
Feeling inside the hands.
Maybe feeling some vibration or tingling.
Maybe some heaviness or lightness.
Feeling that sense of pulsing.
Moving the awareness now up to the chest and to the heart.
Feeling the front and back.
Noticing any sensations here.
Relax your diaphragm and your abdominals.
Feeling down into the pelvis and into the hips.
Then all the way down the length and volume of your legs and into your feet.
Feeling in the whole of your body sitting here.
Noticing the breath naturally moving in and out of the body.
The breath is breathing the body.
Allow your mind to rest either on the breath or the body.
As thoughts or distractions come,
The moment you notice them,
Just very gently bring the awareness back to your breath or your body.
Just taking a few moments.
And allowing your awareness to open up and expand to hearing or sound.
No need to search out a sound,
But if a sound arises,
Just have some awareness of that.
Noticing it began,
Noticing when it's there,
And noticing when it fades away.
And perhaps even noticing the silence in between sounds.
And can you ask yourself what kind of mood is present at this moment?
What kind of mind state is here?
Maybe you feel relaxed and content.
Maybe a little irritated or frustrated.
Just taking a moment just to see what's the mood,
What is your mind state at this moment.
And then just noticing what are the physical sensations of that mood.
If you're feeling content,
Perhaps it's just a sense of ease and peace,
A sense of relaxation in the body.
If you're feeling a bit irritated or agitated,
Maybe there's some tension in the chest or in the throat,
Some tightening.
Whatever mood or mind state is here.
Just noticing what does that feel like.
You might notice that there's a stronger emotion or feeling that's present.
And if that's the case,
Then we will apply the acronym RAIN,
R-A-I-N,
To recognize,
To allow,
Investigate,
And the N,
Not personal.
So we'll apply that if you have a more pressing emotion.
And if at this moment there's not,
Then just continue to be with the breath,
Your body,
The sounds.
Every once in a while noticing what mood is present.
But if there is a bit of a stronger emotion here,
Can you recognize what is that emotion?
Is there some worry or fear?
Maybe some sadness or loneliness?
Maybe some anger?
Just see if you can recognize what emotion is here that's present for you at this moment.
And then an A,
Allow.
Can you allow this emotion to be here?
And sometimes with things like worry or anxiousness,
The first inclination is really to resist it and push it away.
And if it is really strong,
Maybe the best thing is to go back to feeling your body sitting here,
Your hands resting.
Or ask if it's okay.
Is it all right?
Can I allow?
Whatever feeling is here to be here.
And then moving into I,
Investigate.
What does this feel like in your body?
What are the sensations?
If it's anger,
You might feel tight or hot,
Constricted.
If you're feeling sad,
You might feel some heaviness or pressure in the chest.
Investigate for you what are you feeling physically at this moment?
What does that emotion feel like in your body?
Being aware to not get caught up in the story or the thoughts around the emotion.
But rather,
What is your direct experience of the emotion here now?
And as you investigate,
Bringing some compassion,
Some kindness,
And really a nice interest in what really is here,
Curiosity.
And finally,
N is not personal.
You see the emotion came and it'll change,
It'll pass on.
You are not the emotion.
The emotion is just moving through you.
Bringing a little bit more space between you and the emotion.
And then bringing your awareness now back to your body sitting here,
Feeling the ground,
Feeling the support of your chair,
Cushion,
Feeling the hands resting.
Take a slightly deeper breath in and a long breath out.
And bringing your awareness into the breath and the body sitting here.
And then maintaining this awareness as you move into your daily activities.
