Welcome.
I invite you gently to close your eyes and begin to settle into your chair becoming fully present in your body and mind aware of yourself and aware of the space around you.
With your eyes gently closed just become fully present in the right here and the right now and allow the body to relax.
Feel your feet on the Mother Earth,
The crown of your head lightly pressing up against the sky and feel everything in between alive and open to the good of this present moment.
And now take your awareness to your breath and feel the fullness of the breath on the inhale and the soft surrender of the breath on the exhale.
Notice the activity on the inhale and the body resting on the exhale.
Notice the body is lighter on the inhale and is grounded by the exhale.
Lighter yet grounded.
Light yet grounded.
Light yet grounded.
And now find your awareness at the center of your being,
The center of the heart and breathe as if the heart itself were breathing you.
Breathing in and out of the heart center.
The heart itself light yet grounded.
Light yet grounded.
And here with your awareness at the center of your heart as if the heart itself were breathing you find something simple in this present moment to be grateful for.
Continue breathing in and out of the heart center and find gratitude for just something simple in this present moment.
The quiet,
The soft chair may be gratitude for the objects that surround you.
Just gratitude.
Simple gratitude.
And now begin to expand this gratitude to the faces you know and the non-faces.
The manifest and the unmanifest.
To the seen and the unseen.
Let this gratitude begin to fill the heart.
Cultivate a felt sense of gratitude and allow it to move through the body temple.
This gratitude expanding upwards to the crown of the head.
Expanding downwards to the soles of the feet.
And this felt sense of gratitude expanding to the periphery of the body.
Let it fill every corner and turn of your being.
Let this gratitude find its way into every cell and fiber of your being.
Become yet grounded with gratitude.
And here in the cave of the heart allow this gratitude to continue to grow in the dark and rich soil of appreciation.
Appreciation is the outward and multiplying expression of gratitude.
Appreciation is the embodiment of gratitude.
They are inseparable these two.
Like the way moonlight touches the earth.
Inhale gratitude.
Let it fill the body.
And now exhale appreciation.
The embodiment of gratitude.
Inhaling gratitude in this felt sense within the heart and body.
And exhale appreciation outwards.
Just allow the heart to be filled with gratitude.
And then allowing it to overflow outward in appreciation.
And let this felt sense of deep appreciation.
The givingness of gratitude.
To be wildly generous,
Benevolent,
And forgiving.
Like the way moonlight touches the earth.
The mystic poet Rumi said,
Gratitude is the wine of the soul.
Go on.
Get drunk.
As we open our minds and our hearts to the gifts of this present moment.
Maybe all be a little tipsy in the sweetness and embodiment of appreciation.
And the well-being of gratitude.
Take a few more long slow breaths.
And gently place your hands over your heart.
In gratitude and appreciation of your practice.
May this practice serve you in wonderful ways.
And as it serves you,
It serves all others.
So thank you for your practice.
Svaha.
And so it is.
