Just settling into your body.
Situating yourself in such a way that you feel grounded.
For today's practice to do that,
I ask that you shift your weight from one leg to the other.
If you're seated in a chair like I am,
Or you're putting pressure all the way down one leg to your foot so that it can feel the earth below it.
Pushing up with equal pressure on either side,
Shifting your weight.
And then finding a central balance or at the end of the shifting.
Or at the end of the shifting,
You feel grounded in your body wherever you are.
Today we're centering our bodies in such a way that first we're shifting our weight from side to side.
Now I'd like you to shift it forwards and backwards as well.
Just again to find that central channel where you feel most settled and supported by the ground below you.
Well,
Sometimes I do this by centering on the breath.
Today I want to center on the physical stability of the body seated however you're seated.
So side to side and forward to forward with your legs.
Again,
Feeling the surface of the earth pushing at the bottoms of your feet.
If you're seated cross-legged or lying down,
You can still feel this along the backs of your legs and the backs of your heels.
Or perhaps the side of your feet depending on what posture you're seated in.
And when you feel yourself settled in your body,
Let's sit here for a few moments and take some more deep breaths and then allow your breath to gently return,
To return to that rhythm that seems calming to you in this practice today.
Today we're holding space for whatever thoughts that are arising and observing these thoughts.
Allowing our mind to gently even go to these thoughts to see where our energy is lying.
For the next few moments,
Gently invite the thoughts to enter.
Notice them as an outsider,
Perhaps visualizing them as entering a sphere around you,
Coming into this circle that you're placing.
A circle that's a three-dimensional sphere with thoughts coming into it and thoughts leaving as they choose.
See what energy these thoughts are holding.
Notice any attachment you might have to certain thoughts,
A sense of grasping or clinging.
And become present to when you're pushing away other thoughts.
Become present to any energy that these thoughts might be holding.
See where that energy resides in your body.
Let your thoughts carry both a mental and physical energy with them.
In this practice today,
I invite you to visit and notice where both of these energies come together.
I sometimes find visualizations to be helpful.
So for today's practice,
In my mind,
I'm visualizing a sphere where I'm seeing thoughts entering into this sphere.
And I'm seeing myself sitting at the center of this sphere and watching where those thoughts are impacting me.
Whether they're coming directly to my heart and softening my heart.
If they're impacting my breath and my lungs.
Or perhaps they're staying in my mind.
And here I'm visualizing my mind as racing with thoughts entering.
And then I see myself as a clear image where thoughts enter and then the thoughts leave as easily as they entered.
They can dissipate and go back away from this sphere that's surrounding me and I'm able to visualize them entering and exiting.
What remains is a sense of the energy that these thoughts carried and that's what I'm trying to tap into to become closer with.
To understand what mental patterns I'm placing on these thoughts.
Now that you've become present to that mental energy,
Again,
Draw it back into your physical energy and see where it's residing in your body.
How are these thoughts manifesting for you?
Once you see that pattern,
You can take a step back from these mental images and shift to seeing them as thoughts that are coming and going.
Entering and exiting.
Creating a lightness now around those thoughts that you were observing with intention before.
Now letting them surface however they choose to surface.
And also letting them go as easily as they're coming in.
For this part of the practice,
You might consider labeling the thoughts as positive,
Negative,
And neutral.
Those that you're attached to and clinging to.
Those that you're pushing away.
And those that are just residing as thoughts.
Let's shift back into our bodies.
Become present again to the balance that you're holding in your seat,
However you're situated.
The same grounding movement that we did in the beginning can be done now to help us see how the earth is supporting us and supporting us from both a physical standpoint but also from an energetic view.
That the thoughts that we're carrying,
The emotions and the physical sensations can also be supported by the earth.
Visualize this as the earth itself supporting you with warmth,
With energy that's flowing up through your body.
If you've retained that visualization of the sphere,
You can see it as the earth wearing light,
Supporting you from below and around and surrounding you.
That you can release your thoughts,
Your worries,
Anxiety,
Any of your energy to the earth that's here to support us.
Take a few deep breaths.
Relaxing any tension that you might be holding from the thoughts.
Relaxing your jaw and the spaces of your eyes in between your eyes.
Letting go of anything that arose during this practice.
Releasing any tension that you might be holding and becoming centered on the breath and the body these final few minutes.
And lastly,
Offering some gratitude for yourself for coming to this practice,
Taking the time to sit.
And then think of whatever else you're grateful for in your life.
Perhaps the people that you encounter,
The other beings in your life,
It's the situations that are arising.
Whatever it is that has your energy and your attention,
Can offer some gratitude for that as well.
We can even offer gratitude for those things that are challenging in our life because it offers us an opportunity to practice,
To see how the mental images impact our physical body and our energy.
Then I invite you to sit for another moment when you hear the bell and then you can return.
