And starting with three breaths at the same time together that are a little longer,
A little deeper than normal.
So breathing in,
Filling the lungs,
And then slowly breathing out.
Again,
Breathing in,
Feeling sensations of fullness,
And then breathing out slowly.
And finally,
One more time together,
Breathing in nice and slow,
Almost as if you're breathing with the whole body,
And then a big,
Slow letting go.
Letting go of all the thoughts from earlier in the day,
Letting go of the need to control the breath,
Letting the body breathe itself,
Letting go of any worries or anxieties about what happened today or what's happening in the future,
The to-do list,
Any sense of unfinished business,
Knowing that it's going to come back,
There's always more work to do.
Noticing the movement of the breath,
The chest rising and falling,
Just feeling that,
Watching that,
Noticing how it feels when the air travels down through your sinuses,
Your throat,
And then back up again.
What does that feel like?
And feeling the air leaving the nostrils or the lips.
It's cool on the way in and warm on the way out.
Bringing a sense of letting go into the body,
Inviting different places of the body to relax from the inside out,
Around the eyes and the forehead,
And around the mouth,
And the back of the neck,
Inside the shoulders,
Inside the hands,
And the stomach area,
The ab muscles,
The lower abdomen,
And then the legs and the feet.
I'm starting to send signals to the mind through the nervous system that it's okay to relax right now,
That it's okay to slow down,
That it's okay to not have to accomplish something or get something just right,
That you can just be.
The theme tonight is the sense of belonging and the sense of worthiness and how they relate.
Trying to feel in your body a sense of not having to do anything to be worthy.
Maybe that's not in your body right now.
It's okay.
Turning your attention outward and noticing sound.
Getting inside the room,
Letting the sound come to you.
Noticing sound outside the walls,
Further in the distance.
Then bringing your attention back into the body and noticing your feet on the floor,
Whatever your feet are touching below you.
Does the floor feel cold?
Does it feel warm?
Soft?
Hard?
You might also notice your seat in the chair or the cushion or whatever you're resting on.
Noticing the floor and feeling down into all the support below the ground,
As far down as you can imagine.
And see if you can notice the stability and the solidity.
It can be helpful to imagine you're sitting on a cushion,
A huge cushion,
And sinking down just a little bit into the earth.
You're being held.
Just see if you can also notice a part of your experience that feels a little fresh,
A little new,
Different than a few minutes ago,
Different than before you sat down this evening.
Maybe it feels a little bit more spacious or open,
Clear,
At ease.
Maybe you can savor that for a moment.
There might also be a part of your experience that feels indifferent,
It feels stuck.
There's some tightness.
There's a sense maybe that something's off,
Not quite settled.
Maybe like there's something happening elsewhere that's more important,
Needs attending to.
The trick there is to allow that to be here as well.
It's tempting to turn what feels problematic into a problem,
But it just adds to that feeling of stuckness.
Let's see if you can allow it to be here.
It's all part of the aliveness inside of you and outside of this present moment.
You might also notice that the mind can easily drift away and you start to think,
Remember,
Worry,
Judge your experience.
That's just what the mind does.
It's going to keep doing that over and over again.
When you're lucky enough to catch it,
Notice that,
Oh,
I'm not meditating.
I'm not back here in this present moment.
It's not a forceful move.
You don't need to force yourself to pay attention again.
It's actually letting go,
Opening back up,
Checking in with the body.
Is there any tension that I can invite to relax?
What does my breath feel like right now?
Have I lost touch with that stability below me that's holding me?
What sounds do I notice?
You're re-relaxing back into the center of your experience,
The part of you that isn't changing.
It's always the same.
It's a witness.
It can be helpful to note silently in your mind the word thinking or thought.
Every time you're lucky enough to catch yourself thinking,
This can create a little space between you and the thoughts.
So,
Oh,
I'm thinking.
Let me come back.
Oh,
There's a thought.
Let me come back.
Ask where to go.
Every so often you might want to check in intentionally with the body,
Some places that might be holding some tension in the face,
Around the eyes,
Or the mouth,
Back of the neck,
The shoulders,
The stomach.
Just letting go from the inside out as much as comfortable for you.
If it's helpful you might try to embody a posture of a strong back and a soft front.
So not straining the back,
But not collapsing.
Just keep coming back.
And if you're feeling any sense of curiosity you might inquire around the thoughts and you're lucky enough to notice that you're thinking you may label them positive,
Negative,
Neutral.
Is there an emotional quality to the thought?
It's really a feeling tone.
It's not an investigation of more thought.
We're just dipping our toes into getting to know our inner experience,
The inner landscape.
You might realize,
Oh,
I'm thinking.
It's a negative tone to it.
It didn't feel so good.
Again re-relaxing,
Noticing again the body,
The breath,
And sound.
And with the sound of the bell you can notice the sound and then open your eyes when you're ready.
Take five more seconds.
Gif.
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Calculus,
Grumbling exercise and
