I'm gonna invite you to find a comfortable seat.
If you have a chair with a back,
You can even allow your back to just rely on the back of the chair.
Feel how it feels to be comforted,
To feel supported on your back.
Now ring the bell to start and to end.
So if you want to,
You can close your eyes or just keep them open.
And if you decide to keep them open,
Find a soft gaze.
Just relaxing the eyes.
And even if you have your eyes closed,
See if you can relax the eyes from the inside.
Relax the muscles behind your eyes.
And as you get into this sense of relaxation for your eyes,
Bring your attention to the soles of your feet.
Touching the ground if they are.
An awareness of the felt sense rather than the concept of feet onto the ground.
What's the sensation on the soles of your feet?
Feeling yourself grounded and supported by this earth beneath us.
And slowly,
Slowly walking your attention from the soles of your feet up to the palms of your hands.
And you might have your hands open with the palms facing up or just the palms on your lips.
However it is that your hands are at this moment,
Just feel it from inside.
Bringing a sense of curiosity to the sensations that are there.
And again,
Slowly,
Slowly walking your awareness.
Your attention inside the body from your hands to your heart space.
This area on your chest and on your back.
Right at the center.
And just for now,
Notice what's there.
Maybe there is a sensation,
Maybe there isn't.
So see if you can just keep your awareness in this space right at the center of your chest without expecting to feel something,
Just being there.
Allowing awareness,
Attention to be at your heart center.
And kindly allow whatever sensation that is there to be acknowledged,
Recognized and welcomed.
It can be normal that we don't stay long enough in our hearts.
That we fast go somewhere else to our minds,
Thinking or even other sensations in the body.
Let's see if you can just be in your heart center,
Even if nothing is there yet to be felt.
And slowly,
Slowly,
With kind attention,
With kind attitude,
See if you can bring your breath to this area.
Allow the breath to expand the chest,
The rib cage and the back.
Making more room,
Making more space to the heart.
There's no need to force the breath or control the breath to be longer.
Just invite the breath to be around your chest.
Just breathe naturally.
Just inviting the breath as the breath is awareness to come to this place,
To this space of the heart.
Start to pay attention to how your body wants to be when you bring awareness to your heart.
Noticing if there's any movement,
If there's any opening or closing movement that the body wants to engage with.
Becoming aware of the language of the body.
Just being aware of the language of the body.
And just being aware of the language of the body.
And as you become aware of how the body wants to respond to this awareness of the heart,
Allow the body to move and to act how it wants to.
As you remain mindful of the movement.
So for me,
My heart is communicating with the body to maybe open,
Open the arms,
Open the chest.
Rotate out my shoulders and my arms to allow space in the front for the heart to breathe.
And lean back,
My back on the back of the chair.
Relying on the support of the chair.
But it might be different for you.
It might be that you want to close and you want to bring the shoulders in and protect the heart space,
Which is going to naturally open the back of your body.
And just connect with this language that is silent of the heart and the body.
And if your natural movement was to close the front,
Roll the shoulders in and maybe enter this cocoon,
See if you can slowly,
Slowly with kindness,
Invite the body to open.
And you can start by then bringing the collarbones up as you breathe in.
Or bringing the belly and the chest forward as you breathe in.
Also allowing it to come back in as you breathe out into this natural flow of expansion and contraction.
And if it is available to you,
To let the body be fully open,
Whether you're inhaling or exhaling.
Let the chest be open,
Let the shoulders roll out and back.
Let the belly rise up and just feel the sensation of that movement of this position in your body,
Especially in your heart space.
Allowing the breath to very kindly and softly find the space,
Open up your chest.
And if it is hard for you to be in this position,
Try to bring the hands around the heart.
So you can bring the left hand,
The palm right at your heart space.
And in fact,
All of you can do that right at this moment.
Also bringing the right hand onto the top of your left.
But keep the chest and the shoulders open here.
Keep the breath coming into your heart.
As you feel the nurturing warmth of your hands on your heart.
And maybe you can offer your heart the sense of,
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay to be open.
In fact,
It's when you're in your best,
It's when you're open.
And I appreciate your openness,
Dear heart.
And notice how the heart responds,
How the body responds when you offer those words of compassion and gratitude.
When you say it's okay.
Maybe even when it's hard,
Even when it's painful,
You are your best,
My dear heart,
When you're open.
And I am my best when my heart is open.
And again,
Invite the awareness from inside to be present to what's happening right now.
All the sensations,
Maybe the immediate and reactive responses that we tend to have.
As we open somatically,
As we in our bodies open the heart and remain open.
When we allow our hearts to be fierce,
As they are naturally.
And we embody our fierce hearts.
And if you want,
You can bring the hands back to your laps or where you want to put them.
Or if you want to just keep your hands on your heart,
You can.
And continue to be present to what's present,
To the sensations,
Even to thoughts.
Recognizing that you are present to whatever it is present.
You simply know of those sensations,
Of those thoughts,
And you remain open,
Spacious to all that come and go.
Still inviting the breath to expand the space of the heart.
And again,
If you want to just keep your hands on your heart,
You can.
Taking deep breaths and noticing the sensation of deep breaths in the body.
And including in your awareness,
Not only the awareness of the heart space,
But the awareness of your hands,
Of your feet,
Of the back of your eyes.
Just surrendering to this moment.
Remind the body to relax into this moment of awareness.
Sharing the words,
It's okay.
It's okay to be open.
In fact,
I am my best when my heart is open.
And as I ring the bell to finish this practice,
Allow yourself to come back slowly and for the awareness to remain with an open and spacious,
Fierce heart.
And again,
Just surrendering to this moment of awareness.
