And welcome to this intention setting practice.
This is a lovely practice as you start a new year.
Starting by taking a comfortable seated position,
Either in a chair with a straight back or on a cushion on the floor.
Your head should stay unsupported,
That'll keep you awake.
And you can pop your hands in your lap or on your legs,
Whatever feels most comfortable to you.
And if you feel okay to do so,
You might like to close your eyes now.
If you'd rather keep them open,
Just holding a very soft gentle gaze.
And through your practice today,
If you need to move around,
If you get uncomfortable,
Just shift.
That's absolutely okay,
You don't have to be a statue.
And turning your attention inward now to the breath,
Observing the inhalation through the noise if you can,
Mouth if you can't,
Down into the lungs and then the return journey of the air as it leaves your body.
See if you can start to deepen that breath now.
And see if you can get that breath all the way down into the belly.
Staying gentle though,
There's no need to over breathe.
There are no awards for the deepest breather so keep it comfortable.
Last couple of deep breaths now.
And letting go of your breath,
Returning to your normal breath now.
Knowing that you can use your breath as an anchor through your practice today.
When you notice yourself distracted by thoughts or something else,
Just return your attention inward to the breath and observe a couple of breaths and then slip back into the meditation wherever we're up to.
And you might need to do this again and again.
Some days are just like that.
And now is a lovely time to allow yourself to really occupy this very moment on this day,
In this season of your life,
Without rushing off or racing off to some other place.
Let yourself live in the moment and help yourself do that using your senses.
So starting by noticing any tastes lingering in your mouth.
You might like to swallow a couple of times.
And then see if there are any smells in the room.
And tuning into sounds you can hear.
And then noticing what you can see in that space behind your closed eyes.
You might think there's nothing there but when you pay attention you might see light and shade,
Shapes and objects.
And then moving on to touch.
So notice how your hands feel.
Notice the sensations of the clothes on your back.
Notice the hairs on your arms.
How do they feel?
And then gently bringing your awareness to your body as a whole.
Noticing the energy of your body.
Noticing where the parts of your body are standing out for whatever reason.
And then taking your gentle awareness and moving it through different parts of your body.
Dropping out of the head,
Down into the body.
So start by turning your attention to your big toes.
Second toes.
Third toes.
Fourth toes.
And then pinkies.
And the soles of your feet.
And the tops of the feet.
And the shins.
Bringing your gentle awareness.
Noticing your calves.
And the back of the knees.
And the kneecaps.
And then taking your attention up your thighs.
Notice whether you're holding any attention in your thighs and ask yourself if it's okay to let some of that go.
If it's okay not to hold on quite so tightly.
And then moving your attention up the backs of your legs,
Up the hamstrings,
To the bottom,
And the sit bones.
And seeing if you can sink a little heavier,
A little deeper into the position you're in.
And then taking your attention up the torso from the base of the spine,
Up through the lower back,
And the mid-back.
The curve of the spine,
The shoulder blades,
The tops of the shoulders,
Right out to the edges.
And if you're holding tension in your shoulders,
You might like to lift them up to the ears and drop them down a couple of times.
See if you can let go.
And then moving your gentle,
Kind awareness through the tops of the arms,
Biceps and triceps,
Elbows,
Forearms,
The backs of the hands and the fingernails,
And the heels of the hands,
And the palms of the hands.
And remembering to keep breathing.
And taking your attention now to the base of the neck where the neck and shoulders connect.
Moving a gentle,
Kind attention up the neck.
All those tiny little muscles that hold our heads up.
See if you can let go a little bit on the back of the neck.
You might like to imagine your head is as light as a balloon to get that sensation of letting go.
And taking your gentle,
Kind awareness now up across the back of the head,
The scalp,
The skull,
The brain,
And down to the forehead,
And the eyebrows,
And the space between the eyebrows.
And then the temples,
The eye sockets,
And the cheekbones.
And then the jaw joints.
See if you're gripping on tightly there.
Checking in with the jawbone,
The chin,
The teeth,
And the tongue.
Just checking it's all in a nice,
Easy,
Relaxed position.
Seeing if it's okay to let go of some of the tension you're holding there.
And now noticing how your body feels after you've paid it attention,
Noticed what's going on.
Noticing any sensation in the body.
Noticing if there are certain parts that want a little bit more care and attention,
And return to those now.
Notice if any tension has returned to a part of the body where you tend to store it.
And see if you can release it again now.
And remembering to breathe,
And letting go of your body connection now.
And letting yourself for a moment.
Imagine the year ahead.
Thinking about anything you're looking forward to.
Thinking of any milestones,
Big life moments ahead this year.
And letting yourself think about things you're worried about this year.
Thinking about any losses that you're carrying into this year.
There might be people,
There might be roles that you played,
Ideas,
Plans.
And as that all moves through the mind and the body,
You're going to start to ask yourself,
Your intuition,
Your gut,
To give you some guidance around a word or a phrase for you to hold onto this year.
Some phrase or word that's meaningful to you.
Just going to sit and breathe.
Listen to the music for a little while.
Just see what comes,
Don't force anything.
And you might like to let that go now.
And you might have come up with a word or a phrase that can be your North Star through the year.
You can regularly check in with yourself through the year.
And let this word or phrase guide you.
You might have come up with absolutely nothing and that's totally okay.
You might find that something comes to you later on in the day,
Tomorrow.
Just be open to whatever comes up for you.
And starting to gently reintegrate back into your day or your evening.
Taking in three deep belly breaths in your own time.
Noticing what you can see behind your closed eyes or in your gentle low gaze.
What you can taste.
And what you can smell.
And then bringing your awareness to your fingers and toes.
And bringing some gentle movement to the hands and the feet.
And extending that through the arms and the legs.
You might like to twist.
Just give the head a bit of a roll.
Just wrap the shoulders around.
Gently waking up the body again.
And if you don't have to race off,
The music will go for a couple more minutes.
But what a beautiful practice to start your year.
Well done you for taking some time to sit and to truly be with yourself.
Really well done.
So you you.
