A meditation practice for letting go.
So doing our best to arrive in this room that we're in.
On this seat that we find ourselves.
And in this body.
Taking our time to arrive in this moment.
To be here now.
Becoming aware of our body.
And the contact this body is making with surface areas.
Aware of how this body meets whatever's beneath it.
Perhaps allowing ourselves to feel held and supported by whatever is beneath us.
Tuning into sensations in the lower part of our body.
In our feet.
In our legs.
Our thighs.
Our hips and our pelvic area.
Becoming aware of sensations of contact.
Perhaps with clothing.
Or pressure.
Maybe there's some areas of tingling.
Maybe there's some tension that we can notice.
Perhaps we can intentionally soften.
And let go.
Any muscles that we're holding onto just right now.
Sensing into the lower half of this body.
Aware of the weight.
And the sense of being grounded from the bottom half of this body.
And as we begin to move our attention to the top half of our body.
Seeing where we can create some length in our spine.
As it lifts out of the pelvic area.
So we naturally create some space,
Some opening in the front of the body.
Allowing the shoulders to drop down and back.
Softening if we're able to.
Allowing the arms and the hands to be loose.
Soft.
Aware of the back of our neck.
Creating some length here.
Perhaps feeling into the back of the head and the top of the head.
Maybe imagining a piece of string from the top of our head.
That's holding us.
Lengthening our body.
Tethering us.
And as we move our awareness to our face.
Detecting any areas of tension.
Perhaps in the eyebrows.
We can try to soften in the eyebrows and the eyes.
Maybe the jaw.
Always give the jaw a wriggle.
Loosening and softening.
Letting the tongue rest on the roof of the mouth.
Beginning to notice our body breathing.
And gently and kindly.
Moving our attention to follow this flow of breathing.
Just allowing this breath to be just as it is.
Whether it's shallow or quick or laboured.
Or deep and long.
There's no right or wrong way to breathe.
We're just meeting our breath wherever it is just right now.
Noting what happens as we pay attention to it.
Becoming aware of any tension builds up in the body.
And choosing as best we can to soften.
To let go.
To allow.
To allow this time for ourselves to sit.
To be still.
To pause.
To breathe.
To just be.
To simplify our lives in this moment.
To practice letting go.
Of anything that's come before.
What's due after.
To just be here now as best we can with this breath in this moment.
Knowing that as long as we're breathing there's more right with us than wrong with us.
Just breathing.
Softening.
Allowing.
Practicing a quality of kindness towards ourselves.
Towards this breath.
Towards this body.
Knowing that we will get distracted.
Carried away.
This is what minds do.
Seeing where we can just pause to notice.
Come back to this breath.
And just be.
Just as we are.
In this moment.
And on the next breath in.
We'll breathe in as deeply as our lungs will allow.
Making some space in the front of the body.
And as we release we can do so with a sigh.
Letting the shoulders drop.
Letting the body soften.
Doing that two more times.
Taking a deep breath in.
And breathing out with a deep sigh.
Emptying out the lungs.
For our final breath in.
And a deep sigh releasing.
And softening.
And letting go.
Sensing into the whole of this body as we sit here.
Just acknowledging.
Everything that's right about this body just right now.
Acknowledging this time.
This pause.
This softening in the body.
Beginning to sense any sounds outside of this body in the room around us.
And as this meditation comes to an end I'll ring the chime.
We can slowly open our eyes.
Chime.
