So begin by finding a comfortable position in the chair or on the cushion,
One that allows you to relax and begin to bring a sense of letting go into this moment,
But one that also allows you to have a sharp mind,
To be curious.
And bring that sense of letting go to your breath.
Let go of the need to control your breath.
Just let your body breathe itself.
Then you can bring the sense of letting go inside of your body.
You're almost bringing it out of the body from the center,
From the inside out.
There might be tension in the shoulders.
You can do some letting go there.
There might be tension in the ab muscles,
The lower torso.
And then bring the sense of letting go to the idea that you need to be on guard,
That you need to be managing yourself and your experience.
One way to do that is to invite sound into your awareness.
Just notice the sound in the room.
There's sound outside.
Begin to wake up to the aliveness in this moment.
You might even imagine yourself in your home or bedroom.
See if you can notice a sense of being at home in this room right now.
Now I invite you to bring your mind's attention into focus,
Bringing it to the upper half of the face,
The muscles around the eyes.
Letting go in these muscles,
There's nothing to look at right now.
Also noticing what sensations appear as you let go.
Is there warmth or coolness?
Is there tingling?
What shows up?
Now bringing the mind's attention down to the mouth,
Cheeks,
Jaw,
Lips.
It can be helpful to imagine the shape of a smile on the lips.
Then let go and then notice the raw sensations.
Now guiding your mind's attention down through the throat,
The neck,
And then into the shoulders,
Both of them from the inside out.
Imagine your shoulders as blocks of ice melting into water.
And now moving your mind's attention down through both arms at the same time,
Down inside the wrists and then into the hands.
Really try to release the grip on your experience.
There's nothing to manage right now.
And see if you can notice that the more you let go in the hands,
The more sensations appear,
The more you can feel.
And then bringing your attention inside of the chest,
So right in the middle from the side to the side,
But also towards the back near the spine.
You might notice a place of tenderness,
Some sort of sensation in this area,
Or you might not.
Just be curious about what's going on.
So many of us lean forward throughout the day,
Planning,
Being impatient about the next thing on our to-do list.
So we often put a lot of energy and attention towards the front of our body.
So it could be helpful to feel towards the back of the chest and even to the space behind you.
See if that can help center your balance.
Now bringing the mind's attention down into the abdomen,
The lower torso,
And again releasing the ab muscles,
Which tend to be tight.
You don't need to look a certain way for anybody right now,
Just be ourselves.
And moving down through the upper legs and the inside out,
And the knees and the calves,
The lower legs,
And then feeling inside of the feet,
Really inhabiting the feet.
And now I invite you to start to expand your awareness.
So maybe notice the places of connection with the floor or the cushion where your feet are touching.
You might even notice how the floor is supporting you.
You might expand a bit more to feel the whole body sitting in the chair or on the cushion.
Head to toe,
The sensations and feelings,
The movement and rhythm of the in-breath and out-breath.
You'll soon notice that it's difficult to stay in this open awareness.
Your mind tends to fixate planning,
Worrying,
Remembering,
Thinking.
Whenever this happens and you notice,
Gently guide your mind into opening again,
Feeling the whole body,
Noticing the movement of the breath.
And practice is coming back over and over again.
Heart.
It might be helpful to expand a little more and invite sound.
Sound in.
Sound in.
Sound in.
Sound in.
Sound in.
In these last few moments,
Check in with the body and see if there's any places of tension that you can let go of.
The shoulders,
The stomach,
The face,
The hands.
Sound in.
Sound in.
Sound in.
Sound in.
And when the bell sounds,
Open your eyes when you feel ready.
Sound in.
