Let's begin inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth,
Taking three deep breaths,
With each breath settling into being here now,
Relaxing into a normal rhythm of the breath,
Noticing the quality of the breath as it enters your nose,
Perhaps feeling the moistness or the dryness of the breath,
Noticing it as it enters into your throat and into your lungs,
The physical rise and fall of your chest and your shoulders.
Take a moment to relax the muscles of your neck and your shoulders.
If you need,
Noticing any areas of tension in your body and breathing into those areas.
Bring your awareness to the ground and where your body meets the ground.
If you're seated,
That will be your feet,
Having them firmly planted.
If you're lying down,
Notice where in your body you notice the presence,
The bed or the couch,
Whatever you're lying on,
The floor and where it meets your body.
Since I'm seated,
I'm going to use the prompts of being seated in a chair.
Do what feels natural based on your position.
For me,
I'm going to start with focusing on the bottom of one foot,
Noticing how the earth feels,
Feeling the presence and the weight of my foot on the earth,
On the floor,
The carpet,
Whatever is below.
With my eyes closed,
Envisioning myself drawing energy from the earth that's supporting this leg,
Supporting my foot.
If I'm lying down,
I might feel the pressure of the bed or the couch on my heel.
Again,
Notice and feel the energy rising from the earth supporting me,
Feeling my foot from the inside,
Any tightness in my muscles,
Any temperature sensations that I'm feeling,
It's cold or warm,
Allowing the breath to enter into that space.
So with each breath,
Drawing the energy from the ground into my foot,
Now drawing it upwards into my leg,
Noticing any tingling or any tightness,
Any softness in the area of your calves,
Now your knees and drawing it further up into your legs.
Now,
Since we began with one foot,
I ask that if you haven't already,
Draw your attention to the other foot,
Noticing sensations on the bottom of this foot or in the heel,
Feel the support of the earth below you,
Holding you,
Drawing yourself to the connection you have with that below you.
Now breathe into drawing the energy in your leg and in your foot,
Going up towards your knees and your thighs,
Becoming present to any variations between the sensations in your right side and your left side,
Perhaps shifting your awareness between the two and settling with the ground,
Allowing enough space and room to be able to support all of you.
Draw your awareness of the breath rising and falling and now draw it down into the point of contact with the earth,
Bringing the energy forth from your feet to your knees to your thighs,
Up now to your pelvis and your abdomen and into your chest,
Where you're drawing the breath,
With each breath relaxing into being held by the support of the earth around you,
Wherever you feel its presence,
The strongest.
Noticing if you feel a warmth or coolness with this experience,
Whether it's in the feeling of the tightness or the muscles that are relaxing or in the breath as it enters and exits your body,
Become present to the experience of the quality of the breath and the quality of the sensations of the breath in the body,
Shifting with ease between the energy sensations of the body being held by the earth and the body breathing.
Noticing any thoughts or judgment that's happening while you're sitting,
Allowing yourself to gently return to the breath,
To return to the sensation of being held by the earth that's supporting us.
Whatever this experience is,
Just allowing the experience to be as any thoughts or distractions in your environment arise,
Returning to being here in this community of practice,
Experiencing the energy of the breath and of the earth that's supporting the breath.
As thoughts arise,
Anchoring yourself to where you feel your connection with the earth the strongest,
Returning to either where your feet are planted,
Where your breath is taking this energy,
The practice is coming back from our thoughts to these anchors.
Let's take a few moments in silence to experience the breath.
Experience being held in silence.
In these final minutes,
I'd like to take the grounding from our feet and draw it upward to support all of us,
Our entire body.
You can visualize this either as light coming from your feet all the way up into your heart center and then it through into your head and surrounding all of you.
You can view it as the breath drawing that energy upward and feel the warmth of being embraced in this energy and allow yourself to relax into it.
We hold ourselves in tightness and with expectations of what others have of us and what we have of ourselves.
And in this practice,
We allow ourselves to release all of that,
Just allow ourselves to be as we are,
Recognizing that the earth has enough healing and warmth and energy to support us,
To support all of us in this community and our families to offer healing and warmth that we can draw into our bodies now.
Now when you hear the bell,
Take a moment to offer some gratitude for yourself for showing up for yourself,
For this practice,
And then some gratitude for this community of practice and to the earth for holding us within this space of practice.
