Taking a few deep breaths,
Let us begin with a mindful check-in,
Feeling into our mood and our thoughts this morning or this evening,
Noticing what emotions reside,
Acknowledging whatever is being felt and letting it be,
Bringing your awareness to the thoughts,
Sensations,
Feelings that may be lingering from nighttime or remaining present from the day,
Noticing these thoughts as you would notice clouds passing in the sky or waves passing in the ocean,
Noting them as thoughts arising,
As feelings,
Sensations,
Not pushing them away and yet not clinging to them either,
Gently allowing a natural clearing to arise.
We begin with recognizing that thoughts arise naturally and as naturally as they arise,
They can leave our field of view or focus.
Today's practice is to notice,
Notice with awareness,
The sensations,
The thoughts,
The feelings that are arising and letting them be.
Now gently withdrawing from this mindful check-in,
Let us bring our attention to the breath,
Being mindful of the breath in our abdomen,
The rise and fall of our belly on inhalation and exhalation,
Breathing naturally,
Breathing with awareness,
Becoming present to that rise and fall,
The inhalation and exhalation of our abdomen,
Noticing the breath entering the body,
Being drawn deep down into the abdomen,
Into the areas of your belly button and your pelvis,
Noticing that flow,
Becoming present to the natural rhythm that your body is selecting.
Now gently withdrawing the awareness from your breath,
Shift our focus to a body scan,
Feeling into the body,
Into the world of sensations,
Perhaps the thoughts and emotions that arise around the sensations by bringing our awareness to the soles of our feet,
Noticing how they're landing on the ground if you're seated as I am,
Or if you're lying down,
Becoming present to them at the place where they reside on top of the surface,
The heel of your foot,
The soles of your feet,
Drawing your focus of awareness to your heels and your toes,
The sensation on the top of your foot,
The backs of your feet,
Rising through the ankles,
Noticing any tingling or energy that you feel upon that area of contact with the ground.
Now drawing that energy and awareness up,
Draw it towards your calves,
Noticing your right calf and your left calf,
Your shins and the fronts of your legs,
Drawing these sensations and thoughts and emotions up to your knees and to your thighs,
Feeling the muscles along the backs of your thighs,
Your quadriceps,
The muscles along the sides,
Your IT band and at the tops of your legs,
Where your hands may be resting,
Drawing your awareness and your presence to all the energy that resides in your extremities and your lower half,
From the soles of your feet,
Through your ankles,
Up your shins and your thighs,
All the way to your pelvis.
As you become present to these areas,
You might feel your mind associating with stories or thoughts,
Tension or pain,
Perhaps even anxiety that resides within the body,
Within the structures that are holding you,
Supporting you.
Just acknowledge these thoughts,
Allow them to be,
Become curious,
Letting what resides in the sensations of the body to reside there.
Now we draw this awareness from our lower extremities into the core of her abdomen,
Into the organs of our gut,
The area where we often hold tension,
Where we feel those butterflies,
Become curious to what is residing there now,
Noticing with compassion and awareness,
The felt sensations of your abdomen.
And now gently withdrawing your awareness from your abdomen,
Drawing it externally to the muscles supporting your abdomen,
Those of the lower back muscles,
Along your pelvis,
Acknowledging and noting any tension you hold along your lower back,
Rising up through your back and upper back and mid back,
Drawing your gaze and your awareness to these areas.
If you're able to soften them,
Allowing them to soften.
And if you notice the tension resides there and that the softness does not come willingly,
Just acknowledging that as well.
Letting that be,
Drawing that awareness to your spine,
Noticing how the spine connects below to the pelvis and above to the shoulders,
To your neck and to your head,
Becoming present to the structural framework that is your body,
That holds those muscles of your back,
The organs of your abdomen,
Feeling the energy that resides within your spine,
The thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations that travel and traverse the spinal cord,
This pathway of energy that brings those tingling sensations throughout,
All the way down to the extremities.
Now gently turning that awareness from the structures of the back,
The body,
Inward to the chest and to your heart,
Allowing whatever is calling to be heard,
To be heard.
Any emotions,
Thoughts,
Sensations,
Fears,
Anxiety that reside in your chest or in your heart,
Letting that be.
With compassion,
With a gentleness,
Become present to the breath entering the chest and the heart space,
The rise and fall of your lungs and ribs.
We now draw this awareness upwards from our heart and our chest to our throats,
To our larynx,
To our voices,
To an area that often holds tension,
Emotion,
Becoming present to the muscles of the neck,
Noticing the sensations along your throat,
Up to your lower jaw.
If you're familiar with yoga,
This is the throat chakra and holds great significance in yoga.
What arises for you as you become present to the sensations of this area?
Notice if there's an opening,
A tightness,
Perhaps even a sadness.
Whatever arises,
Allow it to be.
Being gentle with yourself.
Now gently draw your awareness to your jaw,
To your mouth,
Your tongue,
Sensations of the face,
Your cheekbones and your eyes,
Space under your eyes and between your eyes,
Your eyebrows and temple areas,
Forehead,
The spaces between your eyebrows where the third eye,
Particular chakra resides.
Now take it all the way,
Your awareness to the top of your head.
From your head,
We flow down,
Down the sides of your head,
Your ears,
Your neck,
To your shoulders.
Because it's from the top of your head that we often hold that tension that draws down the neck to the shoulders.
Bring it down,
Down our arms to our elbows,
From our elbows to our forearms,
To our wrists.
So feel that entire connection,
Our head down through the neck to our shoulders,
Arms,
All the way down now to our hands,
To your hands and your fingertips.
Notice any tingling you might feel there,
Any warmth or coolness,
Sensations of the hands.
Bring your palms together,
The equivalent of a prayer posture so that your hands feel each other.
Take a few deep breaths in this posture,
Becoming present to all the sensations of the body,
Noticing any thoughts or emotions and allowing those to be.
And in this final moments of this meditation,
Offering some gratitude for this practice,
For showing up for yourself,
For allowing what arose to arise,
And for this community of practice.
