Welcome to week two of Month to Meditate.
This is a longer version for those of you that have a day that you'd like to sit with your senses a little longer.
And taking a moment to deliberately arrive to your practice today.
Acknowledging all you've had to do to get here.
And enjoying the knowledge that no matter what else happens today you will have taken the time to gently connect with yourself and just be.
And taking a comfortable seated position in a straight backed chair with your feet on the ground or on a cushion on the floor.
Whatever your position,
Ensuring that your spine is straight and even.
Nothing forced,
Nothing trying too hard.
Placing your hands in your lap or on your legs,
Whatever works for you right now.
And taking a moment now to wiggle around and ensure you're in a comfortable position that will support your practice.
And of course if you need to move during your practice that's absolutely okay.
And if you feel comfortable too this is a beautiful time to gently close your eyes.
If you'd rather not,
Just keeping your gaze low,
Soft and gentle.
And continuing this sense of arriving in this present moment with some deep belly breaths.
Paying attention as you inhale through your nostrils and exhale.
Noticing how it feels in the body as you deliberately slow that breath.
Bring it down through the lungs,
Deep into the belly if you can.
And knowing you can return to your breath as an anchor through your practice today.
You will get distracted by thoughts,
It's a very normal part of meditation.
Don't be agitated by this,
But simply notice when thoughts arise.
And in a relaxed and carefree way,
Gently let them go.
Using the thoughts,
Letting them go and returning to the anchor of your breath.
Really bringing yourself now into the present moment.
Leaving the past behind.
Putting all thoughts and planning around the future aside for the moment.
Simply bringing yourself into this room right now.
This is easier said than done.
Many of us are planners,
Doers,
Drivers.
Always pushing to the next thing.
Sometimes you've had the experience where you plan something and look forward to it.
And then when that something arrives,
You've not really been fully present,
You're already thinking ahead to the next thing.
I wonder if you've had that experience.
And racing through life in constant perpetual forward motion is no way to live.
Using your senses is a fantastic,
Beautiful way to force yourself to stop and really occupy this present moment of your life.
So let's begin with sound.
And gently moving your attention to smell.
Observing any fragrances in the room.
And how about taste?
Can you observe any lingering tastes in your mouth?
And bringing your attention now to sight.
Really focusing in on that space behind your closed eyes.
And observing what can you see there?
Ini And only And moving on to touch.
Notice how your body feels in the position it's sitting in.
Notice the feeling of the air on your hands and face.
Noticing any sensations that are standing out for you in your body right now.
And then deepening into your body connection.
Observing your body.
Just holding it in a gentle,
Kind,
Loving awareness.
Not trying to change anything right now.
And tuning in to your head and face.
Noticing your scalp.
Crown of your head,
Your skull.
Your skin.
Your forehead.
Eyebrows.
Eyelashes.
Your cheeks.
Your jaw joint.
Your jawbone.
And your lips and tongue.
Moving your awareness down your throat.
To your collarbone.
Out across the shoulders,
Just noticing.
You may find you naturally relax the parts of your body as you pay them attention.
You don't need to force anything,
But if that happens,
That's absolutely OK.
Taking your attention out to the shoulders.
Down through the upper arms.
To the elbow.
The inner elbow.
The forearms.
Your wrists.
Your thumbs.
Pointers.
Middle fingers.
Fourth fingers.
And little fingers.
Returning to the torso.
Moving your attention down your back.
Shoulder blades,
Mid-back.
Down to the base of your spine,
Your tailbone,
Your bottom.
See if you can let go a little.
Sink a little deeper into your position.
Don't need to work so hard.
And then moving your attention,
Your gentle awareness,
Down through your hips,
Your thighs.
Your kneecaps.
Your lower legs.
Your heels.
The arches of the feet.
The balls of the feet.
The toes.
And the skin on top of the feet.
And noticing if there are parts of the body that are standing out still for whatever reason.
And just bringing your gentle,
Loving awareness to those parts of the body for a little longer.
And now bringing to mind a moment,
A day,
A time in your life when you felt really alive,
Really happy,
Really content.
And use your senses to occupy that moment again.
So looking around,
Visualizing where you were when you felt so good.
If you can't think of anything quickly,
Just imagine.
Maybe imagine being on a beautiful tropical island somewhere.
What do you see?
And in this beautiful time,
What do you hear?
And what smells were in the air?
What tastes did you experience?
And what could you feel in your body?
Maybe related to temperature.
Maybe you swam in water.
Maybe you had a massage.
Just bringing to mind the sensation of touch as it applies to this visualization.
And when you're ready,
Letting go of your visualization.
Letting go of your visualization.
And just sitting in silence for a moment or two,
Letting the effects of the meditation move through your body.
Oh no.
Oh nice.
Oh no.
You you you you Gently beginning your return to the room with some deep breaths noticing the sounds in the room again what you can see behind your closed eyes and how your body feels sitting in the chair or on the cushion and bringing some gentle movement to your fingers and toes extending that up through your arms and legs stretching and twisting maybe giving your head a little bit of a roll your shoulders a little bit of a roll waking the body back up noticing how the body and mind feel after this time of connecting and sitting quietly and when you're ready you might like to gently open your eyes and if you don't need to rush off just sit for a little longer enjoying the music for a little longer congratulations for completing another beautiful session well done,
Thank you for meditating with me
