Hi my name is Julie.
This is a 10-minute meditation to help you center into that inner feeling of calm.
So find a comfortable seat.
I would suggest to sit either on a chair with your feet on the ground or you can cross your legs and sit on a bolster or some cushions to elevate your hips.
Make sure you are comfortable and make sure your spine is nice and long.
Ideally not resting on something so you're really sitting up straight and holding yourself.
And once you're comfortable you can place the hands on the thighs or on the knees and close down your eyes.
Just take a moment to come into the body and come to the breath and simply deepen the breath here.
Just find a few breaths that are a little bit fuller,
A little bit deeper and a little bit slower.
Starting to invite that curious mind to really notice the movement of the breath in the body.
And taking a breath now from the very base of the spine,
Slowly up the spine as you inhale all the way up the spine to just above the crown of the head and then hold the breath at the top unless you are pregnant,
Just keep breathing.
Otherwise hold the breath at the top and pause and then open the mouth,
Let it go.
And again a really slow breath from the base of the spine,
Slowly up the central channel of the body all the way up to just above the top of the head,
Pausing at the top,
Soften the shoulders,
Soften intercell,
Open the mouth and let it go.
And we're gonna take one more just even slower,
Slow down that inhale from the base of the spine,
Just sipping the breath into the body as you draw the breath up the spine,
Elongating through the spine,
Elongating through the breath,
Holding the breath when you reach the top,
Pausing,
Sitting up tall,
Softening and then open the mouth when you're ready,
Releasing and letting go.
Allowing the breath to move in and out of the nose now.
Just begin to observe,
Observe the breath,
Observe the mind and notice sensation in the body.
As thoughts come into the mind which they will do inevitably the whole time,
We're just gently bringing our attention back to the body,
Back to our breath and get really curious about your body and your breath in this moment.
What is it like to rest your attention in your body and your breath?
Simply allow the breath to move freely as if the breath is breathing you and the whole body and the breath are moving into the foreground of your awareness and the thoughts will always be there but they're just beginning to quieten as they dissolve into the background,
Seeing if we can connect to that sense of calm and stillness within.
As we connect to the now and to awareness itself we transcend the thoughts in the mind and when we do that we connect to this still point within us,
This abiding sense of calm.
Can you feel that within yourself?
What is your experience?
And every day is different so don't worry if today the mind is very busy,
That's okay.
Whatever the experience is today it's the right experience but the invitation is just to feel a little bit more into the awareness itself,
To rest there and to allow the thoughts to dissolve into the background.
What is it like to rest your attention on sensation in the body and on the breath?
What's it like to not be lost in thoughts?
To give ourselves full permission to be connected to this sense of presence?
And as thoughts come in we observe and we invite them to dissolve back into the background wherever they came from and simply come back to who the body and the breath,
This quality of just being with what is.
Resting in this inner feeling of calm and we observe ourselves with the sense of non-judgment and compassion.
As we notice the mind wandering off we just gently bring it back to center,
Getting more and more familiar with what it's like to rest in center,
To rest in the stillness,
In this inner feeling of calm which each one of us has.
Observing the whole body this whole moment,
Have a sense of softening the edges of the practice,
Softening the mind,
Bringing the left hand to the heart and right hand to the belly,
Connecting to body and breath,
Finding that inner and outer smile like you're smiling to yourself but also the world around you and opening the eyes,
Keeping the sense of being present,
Being aware even with the eyes open and can you invite this feeling of calm even with the eyes open,
Can we connect to awareness itself and take one more big breath,
Inhale all the way up the spine all the way to just above the crown of the head,
Hold the breath and open the mouth and let it go and release the hands when you're ready and we'll finish here,
Thank you so much for joining me
