Coming into a comfortable enough posture.
And again,
And really with everything we're doing,
Finding a posture that's fairly comfortable so you're not struggling with pain in your body is really helpful.
And this instruction that John uses a lot that I love too is just bring your attention out of your thinking mind and into your body.
And it's sort of dropping the center of gravity down.
And you can take a few deeper breaths.
Just to feel the sensation of breathing.
Notice what that feels like,
The direct sensations in your body.
And then you can get a sense of your whole body.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
And you can take a few deep breaths in and out.
Sort of big picture,
How are you feeling?
And then narrowing or kind of grounding your attention,
We're gonna move our awareness through our bodies.
We'll start at the top of the head.
There are two aspects to this body scan.
One is just to feel.
To notice what's here.
And there's also the invitation or opportunity to really connect with any tension or holding.
And to invite that to soften and release.
You can imagine the tension just kind of melting,
Flowing down through our bodies into the earth underneath us.
So the two elements of feeling,
Greeting,
Being with,
Exploring what's present,
And also inviting softening,
Release.
If it's helpful for you,
You can practice this with the breath.
On the inhale,
Exploring and connecting,
Feeling.
On the exhale,
Softening,
Releasing.
So inhaling,
Breathing into forehead,
Temples,
Eyes.
You can imagine it kind of like you're just moving from the top of the head down and filling in your head with this connection,
This interest,
Curiosity,
Presence.
And also inviting it to soften.
Making your way down through your whole head at your own pace here.
And then moving down through the throat and neck to the shoulders.
Really allowing yourself to feel,
To really connect and be curious about what's here,
To allow your body to reveal maybe even more subtle sensations.
And letting your attention flow down through the upper arms and all the way down the arms at your own pace to the hands.
And really feeling your hands.
I find that my palms and hands are often a place of a certain subtle contraction,
Tightness.
And then moving the attention down through the chest and upper back,
Torso.
So just at your own pace,
Connecting with the whole torso all the way down to the hips,
The heart,
The lungs,
The belly,
Digestion.
And letting the attention move down into your hips,
Hip bones,
Legs,
Upper legs.
And at your pace,
Just filling up the whole leg down to the tips of your toes with connection,
Noticing the sensations.
And inviting and softening.
Release of even subtle layers of holding.
Shifting your attention now,
Just noticing if there's any emotions present.
Just subtle,
Pleasant or unpleasant.
Neutral.
Anything,
Any positive or difficult emotion.
And just notice what it's like and just let it be.
And then also noticing thoughts.
So just becoming aware of the mental,
Content mental landscape.
What kinds of thoughts are happening.
The mood of your mind.
