As you complete the third of your full breaths,
I invite you to notice how the breath naturally enters and exits,
Inviting the return of a breath pattern that feels calm and centered.
Take a moment to notice your posture,
How you're seated or lying down.
Shift your weight from one side to the other so that you center yourself,
Noticing,
Again,
What feels comfortable for your body this morning.
With your next breath,
Notice the quality of the air as it enters your nostrils,
Honing in on the sensations of the breath,
Noticing if it's warm or cool,
Moist,
Dry.
With your next breath,
Trace the flow of the air through your nostrils into your sinuses,
Your throat coming down into your lungs,
Deep into your belly.
And let's spend a few moments noticing this entire pathway,
The rise and fall of your shoulders,
The expansion of your abdomen.
Notice the experience of the body breathing without any judgment of what the quality or consistency is,
Opening up a gentle awareness to the breath,
And letting go of any thoughts that can settle into the body,
Being present to the moment.
Now,
With the breath as your anchor,
I'd like to begin a body scan,
Starting with the soles of your feet,
The experience of your feet.
If they are on the ground in a seated position,
You might shift your weight from one foot to the other to really presence yourself to the ground,
Supporting the weight of your body.
If you're laying down or your feet are in a cross-leg position,
A lotus position,
Notice any sensations of the air,
Any surface that's in contact with the soles of your feet.
If you view this practice as being grounded in the breath,
You can see yourself as rooted in your soles of your feet.
And notice the experience along your toes,
From the soles of the feet,
Coursing upwards into your ankles,
And the muscles of your legs.
And here,
Drawing the energy of the earth into your feet.
Notice how the energy of the earth can enter that space and relax the muscles.
As you take a breath,
Drawing the energy from the earth and noticing the breath from lungs both meeting in the spaces of your legs,
Becoming present to your lower extremities as a whole.
What is the experience of being seated?
The weight of your body on your hips and your pelvis.
Notice if you're carrying any tension in these areas and take a moment to draw the breath into the spaces that could use a little bit of relaxation or releasing of tightening.
Take a moment to reconnect with the energy of the earth from the soles of your feet.
And draw it upward now to your lower back,
Noticing any tightness and tension or softening along your spine.
And as you draw your awareness from your pelvis to your lower back,
You can course it forward towards your abdomen and the inner organs of your belly,
Noticing the spaces as well as the organs themselves and how the energy of the earth can course itself within this area so that your breath and your body connect.
And if you choose,
You can place a hand on your belly to feel the breath as it takes hold in your abdomen,
What we often call the lower root chakras.
And with your next breath,
Draw the energy upwards into your chest,
Noticing the experience of the breath in your diaphragm,
The ribs,
Your intercostal muscles and the muscles along your back.
Here,
Take a moment to really attune your mind and your breath to noticing the experience in your body and the rise and fall of your shoulders as your chest expands.
And again,
Letting go of any thoughts,
Allowing yourself to be present with the body in this moment.
Now,
From the chest and the rise and fall of your shoulders,
If you draw your awareness up into the throat,
The muscles along your shoulders and upper back,
And with your next breath,
Softening these areas that often hold tension,
Sometimes from the night.
You may even choose to roll your shoulders to bring some awareness to that area.
Notice the muscles along the inner aspect of your throat,
And with your next breath,
Draw your attention from,
Again,
The bottoms of the soles of your feet all the way up your legs with the energy that you carry forth up through your body until it settles in your throat.
And seeing the connection of the earth,
From the ground,
Rising forth upward.
Combined with the breath centering in your throat region.
And let's spend a few breaths in silence in this region,
Really becoming present to the experience of the breath in the throat.
Notice the quality of the breath.
In this region,
Bring your awareness to your mouth,
Jaw,
Any tension you might be holding along the cheeks,
The spaces of your sinus.
Using the next breath to deeply draw into your sinuses and relax the space below your eyes.
See if you can relax the muscles of the eye themselves.
And here,
If you're meditating with your eyes open,
I invite you to lightly close your eyes.
Your eyes,
If they've been closed,
The invitation is to loosen the grasp of your eyelids so that you can feel the muscles of the eyes themselves relaxing.
And bring the same awareness to your eyebrows,
The area of your temple,
The space between your eyebrows.
And drawing the breath into the entirety of your face.
And with your next breath,
I invite you to,
Again,
Draw forth from the ground the energy from below the soles of your feet upward so that they course through your body until they meet the energy of the breath in your face,
In your nostrils.
Noticing that meeting point of the breath and your mental awareness of your body being rooted in the earth.
With each exhalation,
Just letting go into your body and noticing your body in its entirety full of energy.
With your next breath,
I invite you to let go of all thoughts and sit in the experience of this awareness.
And when you hear the bell,
I invite you to take three deep breaths.
I'd like you to set an intention for how you want to show up for your day.
Maybe an aspiration,
Something that you're placing out to the universe.
And also notice what it means to show up.
To show up for these spaces.
