You can close your eyes if that feels comfortable.
If not,
You can softly gaze a few feet in front of you.
And begin by bringing a sense of letting go into the body.
So from the inside out,
Start to relax any tension you carried into the room.
Maybe in the shoulders.
You can let the shoulders fall back and down if that's comfortable.
You might check in with the lower torso,
The ab muscles.
Many of us hold tension there throughout the day.
So do some letting go there.
And then bringing this sense of letting go to the breath.
And just starting to notice the movement of the breath in the body.
Letting go of the need or the pressure to breathe deeply or meditatively.
Just letting the breath follow its natural rhythm.
And then starting to wake up to the room and the sound and space of the room.
And I invite you to sharpen your mind's attention and collect it.
Bring it to the movement of the breath again.
But find one place you can really feel yourself breathing.
So it could be the chest expanding and contracting.
So you're just witnessing here.
Or it might be the air traveling through your sinuses.
Or in your throat.
And it could be the temperature change at your nostrils or your mouth.
So when you breathe in it's cool.
When you breathe out it's warm.
And just rest your attention on that one place.
And you'll notice that it's difficult to stay put with the mind.
And there might be a problem that you're trying to solve or some plans you need to make.
Or maybe a conversation you had where you feel a little guilty for what you said.
And the mind just wanders.
Tries to problem solve.
And that's okay.
Whenever you notice that your mind has wandered,
It's almost like waking up out of autopilot.
Just guide your mind back to this one place.
The movement of your breath.
And just keep coming back.
And now I invite you to bring your attention to the muscles around your eyes.
Now we're going to move the attention through the body.
And as we do the body scan,
Bring that sense of letting go.
And then notice what sensations appear.
So around the eyes,
What happens when you let go?
Is there tingling?
Is there warmth?
What is the raw sensation that appears?
And again,
When the mind wanders,
Just guide it back.
Now moving your mind's attention to the area around the mouth,
The lips,
The jaw,
The cheeks.
And either imagining the shape of a smile or putting a small smile on the face.
Just helping to relax those muscles.
And again,
What sensations appear?
Now bringing your mind's attention down into the shoulders.
And letting go from the inside out.
Now moving your mind's attention inside the hands.
And releasing the grip.
There's nothing to hold on to right now.
What can you feel inside the hands?
Now moving your mind's attention into the lower torso,
The ab muscles.
And maybe even allowing the stomach to expand when you breathe in.
A little bit more of a deeper breath.
And allowing yourself just to be here,
To fill up this space.
Now moving your mind's attention down through the legs,
All the way on the inside of both.
And then landing in the feet.
And now I invite you to expand your attention a little bit and notice the floor.
Notice the places where your feet are touching the cushion or the floor.
And then notice how the floor is supporting you.
It's holding up your chair or your cushion.
And that you can almost lean back to rest in the support.
Really try to find a balance here.
And as you continue to expand your attention and your awareness,
Begin to notice the whole body.
This whole field of presence and awareness.
And it can be helpful to notice the movement of the breath in the body as well.
Okay.
And if it feels doable,
You can start to allow sound into the picture.
So kind of stepping back with the mind and witnessing the body,
Breath and sound.
And when the mind wanders,
Which it will do,
Should feel like a narrowing of attention.
Thoughts are so much smaller than this open awareness.
Whenever you notice that,
Just let go of the thoughts and then open back up.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
And keep coming back.
Okay.
Okay.
And in these last few minutes before the bell,
Just check in with your body again.
Yeah,
It's are you might have tensed back up the shoulders or the stomach.
Maybe the back isn't as straight as you could be.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
And with the sound of the bell,
Just open your eyes when you feel ready.
