Taking a few deep breaths,
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling from the mouth,
A full exhalation where you can feel the air from your abdomen all the way down,
You know,
Deep in your belly,
Being released and also entering.
With each breath,
Noticing how you settle into your seat and the rise and fall of your shoulders,
Gently releasing any thoughts that you have in your mind to draw your awareness to the presence of the breath in your body.
Now,
Noticing where you feel and sense the breath,
Choosing an anchor,
A place that you can return to,
To feel grounded.
For many,
This is the breath.
For me,
Often it's feeling the soles of my feet against the ground,
Noticing the physical presence of the earth supporting the feet.
So let's take a moment to settle the mind and see what you're naturally drawn to.
As thoughts arise,
Return to this place,
Whether it be the breath in your chest,
The feel of your feet on the ground,
To experience the body in the present moment.
Gently release any hold that the mind has on the thoughts,
Turning your awareness back to being in this practice.
Invite the mind to have some stillness,
Seeing how your breath and your anchor reside.
Today's practice has us in an inquiry.
I'd like to pose a question that I have an invitation for you to think about.
This question resides around endings.
When an ending occurs in our life,
What space or opportunity does that present us?
What opens for you?
And here you can think about a circumstance,
Situation,
Or endings in general.
What opening or space can you find in the beginning that follows that ending?
As you're noticing the space and what's showing up for you in this inquiry,
See where it shows up for you in your body.
The connection between beginnings,
Space,
Opportunity,
And endings.
Where do you feel that strongly in your body?
If at any time the inquiry is too much,
Return to the anchor,
Whether it be the breath,
Feet,
Or hands.
Rest in that experience.
Notice if there's a particular situation or circumstance that your mind is drawn to in thinking about beginnings,
Space,
Endings.
See if there's a particular attachment to any component of that storyline that you're carrying.
And from these thoughts,
Let's shift to creating an aspiration.
Here an aspiration is taking something from what you've examined for yourself in the space of beginnings,
The closure of endings,
And then framing it either in a sentence or a phrase or a thought for what you wish to see for either yourself,
These beings,
For the universe,
Putting it out there.
Now let's return our attention when you're ready to the breath,
Noticing the inhalation and exhalation again.
Taking a few deep breaths and taking a few minutes to close whatever last thoughts you might have surrounding either the inquiry of endings,
Beginnings,
Or the aspiration.
Placing our awareness again back into the body.
In the last few minutes of our practice,
Let's take a moment to offer some gratitude again for coming to practice,
But for any other beings in our lives.
It can be those that are living or non-living,
Our ancestors,
Our space.
See if you can picture them,
All that which you're grateful for in front of you as a visualization.
And offer whatever thanks or words of gratitude that you might have for all that's in your field of visualization.
Gently allow that visualization to leave your mind as well.
Offering again some stillness.
When you hear the bell,
You can take a moment to sit in silence and return to our gathering.
