So you can choose to do this particular practice lying or seated.
You might find that it's helpful to do it in a seated position because it will help you to access it throughout your waking day life.
Whichever position you choose,
Please take a moment to make yourself as comfortable as possible and settle into stillness and become aware of your body and the space occupied by your body and become aware of the region of the abdomen and notice the movement of the abdomen as you are inhaling and exhaling.
You might sense an expansion and contraction in the region of the abdomen.
Notice any resistance in the breath as you inhale and exhale.
Notice any moments where it feels like the breath is efforting or straining in some way.
See if you can begin to relax the effort of the inhalation and relax the effort of the exhalation,
Dissolving any resistance that you might encounter in the streams of breath.
This resistance is actually the accumulation of years upon years of protecting ourselves,
Guarding,
Armoring.
We harden the belly each time we are frustrated,
Angry,
Scared,
Disappointed.
Years upon years of trying to prove ourselves to be seen and heard and loved and known.
Years upon years of trying to do our best and still making mistakes,
Failing sometimes.
All these things cause us to harden the belly to guard and protect ourselves.
Stephen Levine would invite us to soften the belly,
To have mercy on ourselves.
As we relax the effort of the inhale and exhale,
You might start to feel that softness,
Like peeling layers of an onion,
Layer by layer,
Dissolving that tension,
That hardening.
Have mercy on yourself.
Soften the belly.
A soft belly is a spacious belly where there's room for it all,
All of who you are,
All of your lived experience,
All of your pain,
Any feeling.
There's room for it all.
A soft belly is a compassionate belly where we can hold all of ourselves in loving-kindness,
Hold any emotion in awareness and loving presence without the need to change or fix or do anything,
Just creating soft internal space that can hold it all to be held in compassion.
Keep softening and expanding when you feel like you've reached as far as you can extend,
As soft as you can be.
Relax your effort 10% more and just rest in that soft,
Fast space where there's room for it all.
And when it feels like it's time to bring this to a close,
You might take a deeper,
Fuller breath,
Bring the palms together at the heart and lower the chin before bringing your awareness back to the room.
Thank you for joining us today.
