Welcome to this meditation which will help you move from should to possibly could.
Let's make a start.
So firstly you should,
Just kidding,
You shouldn't do anything.
You don't have to be a certain way.
There is no must,
No should,
No have to in this meditation.
My invitation to you is to find a comfortable position.
A seated posture that's pleasant for you.
Or perhaps you prefer to lie down or you prefer any other way to move yourself,
To place yourself.
And please feel free to always do what is right for you in the moment during this meditation.
Even when the guidance tells you to do it differently.
So if it's possible for you right now,
Closing your eyes,
If you hadn't done that already.
Or lowering your gaze a few feet in front of you.
And possibly you meditate with your eyes open.
It's all good,
Just be you.
Starting to let go of shoulds and musts.
Choosing for yourself.
Shaping the meditation in such a way that it feels exactly right for you in this moment.
You're allowed to do it the way you want to.
Beyond any ways in which you have convinced yourself that a meditation should be.
Perhaps another way is better suited today.
In this very moment.
Moving away from what you're used to.
Venturing into new territory,
Perhaps.
And if,
Like me,
You have had a few shoulds and musts in your day today,
Perhaps you notice this in the body right now.
Seeing if you can connect with how the body feels right in this moment.
Perhaps there is tension.
In the face.
The jaws.
Around the eyes.
How are the shoulders?
Have they perhaps crept up towards your ears during the day?
Noticing what is present in the torso.
The chest.
The heart area.
The back.
The belly.
And if you want this,
Perhaps there is an opportunity to soften the body a bit here and there.
Lowering the shoulders.
Letting the belly be soft.
And if you check in a little further down,
Perhaps noticing how your sit bones are connected to what you're seated on.
Pillow.
Floor.
Mat.
Perhaps the comfort of your bed.
And the legs.
The feet.
What can you notice there?
Perhaps you think the body should feel a certain way.
This could be a conscious thought or perhaps unconscious.
Maybe there should be more relaxation.
More lightness.
Or less of this or that.
And maybe you're noticing how perhaps my guidance to soften evokes or stirs something inside of you.
For example.
And what would it be like if the body can be exactly how it is right now in this moment?
Tense or relaxed.
Or restful.
Or restless.
And from this acceptance of everything being exactly as it is,
Perhaps you'd like to make the choice to allow or to grant yourself something.
What do you wish for your body?
For how the body feels in this very moment?
This is a very different approach to when it comes from a should or a must.
Which essentially is non-acceptance.
And as a next step,
I would like to invite you to gather your attention and bring the focus to the movement of your breath.
Consciously choosing a place where you can sense this movement most strongly and letting your attention rest there.
Choosing that place as an anchor for your attention.
Perhaps at the nostrils.
In the throat.
The rising and falling of the chest.
Or the movement of the abdomen.
Or perhaps an entirely different place.
You choose.
And from that anchor,
Sensing how the breath enters the body.
And how the breath exits the body.
Following the process of the inhalation.
Noticing when the attention is led to something else.
A thought,
A sound,
An emotion.
Perhaps a bodily sensation.
And then making a conscious choice to bring your attention back with a kind and relaxed attitude to the anchor of the breath.
Learning again and again that the difference between must and may is your attitude.
It brings kindness.
It brings relaxation.
In a way you could see the attitude of must or should or have to as the meditation police.
A police that's ready to bring your attention back by force with a rubber bat or a whip even.
Seeing how that's a different way of being to when you're allowing yourself to be.
Now if you prefer you can keep the attention on the movement of the breath or you can choose to release your focus.
Sitting with an open awareness for the last minutes of this meditation.
Registering what attracts your attention from moment to moment.
Perhaps a sound,
A bodily sensation,
A thought,
An emotion,
Perhaps a smell or a taste.
Noticing it,
Naming it and that's all you do.
Nothing more,
Nothing less.
And also noticing your shoulds,
Your musts and your have tos in this part of the meditation.
Is there perhaps something you think you should do?
Some way you think you should be?
Or does the meditation have to go a certain way?
Should it be more quiet around you?
Warmer,
Colder?
Should there be more guidance or less?
And what if you choose to let all these shoulds just exist as events in the mind?
Random thoughts,
Not facts.
Releasing the wish or the urge to do something with it.
And how wonderful is it to not have to do something in particular right now?
Simply registering what enters your field of awareness and zooming out again.
Meanwhile,
Being aware of your posture.
Your inner posture,
Your outer posture.
And by registering all of this,
Also becoming more and more aware of you,
Of yourself.
Becoming aware of,
Aha,
This is how I act,
This is how I react.
And perhaps bringing a smile to that.
I am Savior.
