Let us begin with three deep breaths,
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth,
Releasing any tension that you feel and allowing yourself to settle into your seat.
Take a moment to adjust your posture.
In today's meditation,
I'd like you to hold your posture in such a way that you're offering your body some dignity,
That you have an open channel of breathing from your nose and your mouth down through your throat and your chest to your belly.
That channel can be vertical if you're sitting upright like me or for today's practice you can also be lying down.
Just being aware of how the breath is entering and exiting your body.
Gently allow your breath to return to a natural rhythm and become present to where you feel it most strongly,
Whether that be in the inhalation at your nose or the exhalation at your mouth or even deeper with the movement of your chest or the rise and fall in your abdomen.
We can begin this practice with the breath using it as an anchor,
Noticing as thoughts arise in our mind,
Allowing those thoughts to appear and then gently bringing it back to our breath.
We can now turn to our body and to the feeling of this breath within our bodies,
Noticing the sensation of the breath,
Quality of the breath.
I'd now like you to turn to visualizing a smile.
Notice how even as I say the word smile your mind maybe reacts to that.
Allow your forehead to relax.
Notice how your brows get smoothed as you bring a slight smile to your lips.
Soften the eyes and as you do so you might notice a fluttering of the eyes or light entering and exiting the eyes.
With the smile you might notice how your tongue fills your mouth,
Can relax the root of your tongue and notice the sensations of the lips and the mouth as you bring the smile to your face.
Visualize the smile now spreading from your mouth,
Your tongue and the inside of your mouth to your throat and your neck.
Notice the warmth of it and the aliveness of the sensations along the inner aspect of your mouth and then bring that smile even further down to your shoulders and allow your shoulders to roll back and fall away from your neck.
Relaxing,
Feel the muscles along your neck and your shoulders from the inside.
Imagine the warmth coming from that smile that's on your face down into your neck,
Into your shoulders.
Bring that curve of that smile into every breath that you take.
As the breath settles into your belly you can even visualize that smile spreading down into your chest and into your belly.
Allow yourself some time to spend with the breath as it enters your chest and your heart area so that that lightness of the smile,
That heat and warmth of it enters your heart as well.
You might notice with every breath a relaxing of the muscles in your face and a drawing in of that smile downward.
If thoughts or strong emotions arise,
Just allow them to be here and as you bring your awareness back to your breath and that felt experience of the smile,
Notice as those thoughts dissipate.
If there's a persistent thought that needs attending to,
Rest with it.
Allow it to remain in your presence.
You can offer some of this kindness and warmth that the smile is generating to yourself,
To the thoughts that are arising,
You know,
Bringing some kindness to whatever arises.
Bring this smile now to your heart.
Smile now down to your hands,
The warmth.
Notice if you can feel your hands from the inside,
Any tingling or sensations.
Now imagine the energy flowing from the smile down your throat,
Your chest,
Your hands,
All the way down to your feet and to the earth that's below it,
That's warm and vibrant.
Notice that this smile can envelop you,
That it is part of the earth that you sit upon.
It's part of this vast wakeful space we're residing in,
Allowing ourselves to feel compassion and kindness for ourselves through the simple act of the physical smile as a way to open to what lies deeper within.
We can refresh the smile as we end this meditation,
Bringing it back to our mouth and our eyes,
And then putting it out into space,
Bringing that kindness to a moment in our lives that might be challenging,
Challenging,
Offering ourselves some care and compassion,
And using that energy that we feel in this meditation to bring that forward and bring that outside of ourselves to all sentient beings,
To anyone that's also suffering,
Wishing,
Offering a wish or a prayer to ease the suffering of all those in this space and beyond.
Now in a moment I will ring the bell marking the end of our meditation.
At that time I ask that you remain in your position until you feel ready to return to the day,
Being still with the positive energy and that lightness that the smile brings to us,
That natural happiness that arises when we relax our muscles and allow that smile to expand beyond the physical and into our bodies.
