Let's go ahead and just begin with a few deep breaths.
Inhale through the nose.
Take a few breaths where you forcefully exhale out of the mouth,
Clearing any energy that you might be holding from nighttime or any thoughts that you might be holding from the daytime.
And gently invite your breath to return to natural rhythm,
Noticing how it manifests in your body,
The ebbs and flows of the air entering your nostrils and exiting,
Exiting from your mouth or your nose,
Whichever you choose.
Let us gently follow the breath,
Drawing it in through our nostrils to our cheeks,
Our eyes and the area between our eyes,
Becoming present to any tension that we might be holding in these spaces,
The tightening of our eyelids,
Loosening our hold,
Allowing the light to gently penetrate through our eyelids in such a way that it's unfocused and yet we're recognizing that there is light on the other side of our eyelids.
If our eyes are open,
Softening our gaze such that we relax the focus,
Relax the muscles around our eyes and even those in our eyes so our pupils are not constricted,
Noticing what it feels like to breathe into our eyes.
Now I invite you to notice what emotion your eyes hold.
What happens when you breathe into your eyes and relax the spaces of your eyes?
Do you notice joy,
Sadness,
Anger?
Does any particular emotion arise that you're carrying within your eyes?
Now draw that awareness further down to your jaws,
Relaxing the muscles of your jaw and your mouth,
Noticing your tongue and the space that it holds within the mouth and any tension that you might be holding in your throat as you breathe into these regions.
Notice what emotions you hold in your throat.
In my culture we call this the throat chakra,
An area that fosters and holds speech,
Strength and that we often hold silent.
Just spend a moment in silence breathing into this area and noticing what arises for you.
Is this an area that's wanting to be opened,
To be released?
Perhaps it's one that you've been having open for a while and now it's time to settle into that throat chakra to become more intentional in your speech.
Now draw the breath even further down into the chest and feel what it feels like to have the rise and fall of the breath.
When you take the breath into the chest,
Allow your heart space to open so that you're feeling not only the lungs and the breath entering your lungs,
But also the beating of your heart.
If you'd like,
Place a hand on your chest so that you can feel that heartbeat and the chest rising and falling,
Both in synchronicity and the asynchronous nature of that.
What emotion arises for you in this heart and lung space?
See if you can breathe into that and soften the areas of your chest and your heart.
If you find that your energy is stuck in one of the previous chakra points,
Feel free to go back to that and breathe lightly into that space,
Loosening that space as well.
See if you can notice the breath as energy flowing from the inhalation through each of these places,
Each of these spaces in the body.
Drawing it more deeply now from the heart chakra down to your belly.
If you choose to do so,
Place a hand on your belly,
Feeling what it feels like to again draw that energy down and notice the sensations of the belly.
Notice any tightness that you're holding in your gut.
Relax that area,
Breathing into it,
And then dropping down further into your pelvis.
A few spaces below your navel into what could be considered your root chakra,
That which grounds you,
Which holds you stable,
Which carries a lot of our energy,
Our power,
Our sense of strength and stability.
Draw the breath deeply into that center.
Notice what emotions arise when you presence yourself to that space that's grounding and rooted.
Now draw that energy and breath even further down,
Noticing the sensations of your legs,
Calves,
Your ankles,
And then your feet.
If you're seated such as I am on a chair,
Your feet are the ones that are stably held on the ground,
On the earth.
If you're lying down,
You can still feel this with your heels,
Or even if you're seated in a in a lotus position,
You can feel it with the sides of your feet on the ground,
The way that they hold that energy and draw it from the ground up.
This is the final place where we notice the breath as again it enters our bodies and comes deeply down,
Now all the way down to our feet.
Notice what emotion you may be carrying in your feet and relax any tension that you feel in the muscles of your toes,
Of your ankles,
The soles of your feet.
Our feet spend much of their day carrying us.
A moment to notice,
Notice when you allow them to release that burden of carrying the rest of the body,
What arises.
And now I invite you to envision yourself,
Picture yourself in front of you with all these different bases of energy,
From the spaces of your eyes and your forehead,
To your throat,
To your chest and your belly,
Your pelvis,
All the way down to the ground.
And relax and breathe into the energy that's all of you,
That's all of these chakras combined.
Noticing any tension you're still holding in your body from examining each of these regions and allowing the breath to flow into all of these areas,
Relaxing your entire body.
If a visualization is helpful,
You can visualize again your entire body with these chakras,
These areas of energy that are glowing,
Relaxing all of you as this glowing warm white light.
Breathing that in for a final few minutes,
Sitting in silence,
Allowing whatever emotions,
Feelings,
Visualizations that arise to arise.
Now in the final minute of our practice,
Let's take a moment to show some gratitude for the space,
For a community of practice,
And for anything else that we're feeling grateful for today.
We dedicate the merit of this practice for all beings.
I invite you to gently open your eyes when you're ready and when you hear the bell.
