And begin by bringing a sense of letting go into your body.
Releasing any tension that you notice,
Maybe in the shoulders.
Can be helpful to have the shoulders back and down while maintaining a straight back.
You can check in other areas that tend to be hot spots in the body for tension.
So the stomach,
Letting go of the ab muscles.
You can feel into the hands,
Releasing the grip.
And then bring this sense of letting go to your breath.
Letting go of the need to control your breath.
Let your body breathe itself.
And begin to notice the sensations of your body breathing,
So the lungs expanding and contracting.
You might even notice the temperature differential from the in-breath and the out-breath of the air that enters your nose.
You might find that the mind wanders that a problem you were worried about earlier in the day has come back,
Or you're trying to plan the rest of the evening after our meditation.
Whenever you notice that,
Just bring your mind's attention back to the object of attention.
So right now,
The movement of the breath.
And then begin to notice the sound in the room and any sound you can hear outside.
Just start to wake up to the noise in this present moment.
And now bringing your mind's attention,
Gathering it,
Moving it to the upper half of the face,
Starting with the muscles around the eyes,
The muscles that control the eyes.
There's nothing to look at right now.
You can relax from the inside out.
And notice what sensations appear as you let go of those muscles.
What are the raw sensations?
Tingly,
Warmth,
Coolness.
What happens when you let go?
Now moving your mind's attention down to the bottom half of the face,
The cheeks,
Lips,
The jaw,
Relaxing from the inside out,
Letting go,
And then noticing what sensations appear.
It can be helpful to imagine the shape of a smile on the face.
And then bringing your mind's attention down through the throat and the neck,
Letting go from the inside out.
Feeling in the shoulders,
So both shoulders at the same time,
Feeling the bones and the cartilage,
The muscles.
And letting go and noticing.
Moving your mind's attention down through both arms,
Down through the wrists,
And then landing in the hands,
And really inhabiting the hands with your intention or your attention,
Letting go from the center of the hands.
And see if you can notice that the more you let go in the hands,
The more you can feel.
Now bringing your mind's attention to the center of the chest,
So side to side,
Right in the middle,
And then back a little bit towards the spine.
Sometime this is referred to as the heart center.
Just explore what raw sensations are at that point.
Is there a flow of energy?
Is there some warmth?
Is there some pain?
And again,
If your mind wanders off trying to explain the emotional resonance,
Why it's there,
Just gently guide it back to the raw sensations.
Just feel what's in the chest.
Now moving your attention down through the ab muscles and the stomach,
The lower torso,
And doing some letting go.
So many of us carry pressure that we've internalized to look a certain way in this society.
There's an opportunity to just be yourself.
Now,
Moving your mind's attention down through each leg at the same time.
And then feeling the feet from the inside out.
And trying to feel the supportive quality in the feet,
How they hold you up.
And then feel where your feet are touching the floor or the cushion,
The places where there's contact.
And then begin to expand your attention down to noticing the floor,
How it's holding up your chair or the cushion you're sitting on.
And then expand your mind's attention even more into an open awareness,
Noticing the body and all the sensations and feelings.
Taking a step back and observing the body.
You might also notice the movement of the breath.
And you might even open a little more to start to let in sound.
Relax back into this open awareness.
And then seem you're kinda listening with a sense of in Somalia.
In this open awareness,
Thinking is going to feel like a narrowing of your attention.
It narrows into words.
Whenever you notice,
Just open back up,
Relax back into this open awareness,
Noticing the body,
The breath and sound.
In this open awareness,
Just open back up,
Relax back into this open awareness,
Noticing the body,
The breath and sound.
In this open awareness,
Just open back up,
Relax back into this open awareness,
Noticing the body,
The breath and sound.
If you find yourself judging yourself for not staying in the moment,
Just know that that's normal.
Every time our mind leaves the present moment,
It's an opportunity to practice.
Just do it.
It's okay to take time out of it.
In these last few moments,
See if there's anything that tightened up.
Do some more letting go in the stomach,
Shoulders,
Maybe even your face.
Do some more letting go in the stomach,
Shoulders,
Maybe even your face.
Do some more letting go in the stomach,
Shoulders,
Maybe even your face.
Do some more letting go in the stomach,
Shoulders,
Maybe even your face.
Do some more letting go in the stomach,
Shoulders,
Maybe even your face.
With the sound of the bell,
Just open your eyes when you feel ready.
Do some more letting go in the stomach,
Shoulders,
Maybe even your face.
