Welcome to this morning practice.
I'm Kate and I'm so glad that you've joined me here for this practice.
Perhaps you've woken up with a busy racing mind,
Thoughts about the day ahead or perhaps an issue or a challenge that just keeps going round and round in your mind.
Maybe just a general feeling of dis-ease,
Of feeling unsettled.
Or just know that so many of us wake up in that way,
There's nothing wrong with you or your mind and this practice is designed to help bring you a little more ease,
A little more calm in our short time together.
So just finding a comfortable position,
Whether you're sitting on a chair or on a mat or lying down and closing the eyes down or lowering the gaze to the floor if that feels more comfortable for you.
And just taking a moment to check in with how your mind is feeling with radical honesty.
The more we resist what's going on the more the thoughts will come back.
So just looking at what's here,
Acknowledging the busyness in the mind.
And as you move into this place of presence,
Starting to find a little grounding in the body,
Creating a little distance around that busy mind by rooting into the surface beneath you.
Sensing that feeling of connection between body and ground.
How does it feel to be supported from below,
Perhaps by a chair or the floor and really allowing yourself to be held and rooted from below.
And if your thoughts keep arriving,
Trying not to resist them but just gently allowing them to flow past in the stream of your mind.
Just watching them,
Accepting them,
Letting them be.
And now coming back to the body,
Resting here and moving your awareness into the breath.
Noticing the rising and falling of the breath in your body.
Perhaps noticing it in the throat,
The chest or perhaps the belly.
And allowing all your attention to be directed towards the rising and falling of the breath.
Just watching it,
Feeling it,
Experiencing the full expansiveness of the breath in your body.
Just breathing and perhaps allowing a little more letting go with the out-breath.
And allowing the body to sink a little deeper into the surface below every time you breathe out.
Allowing the breath to ground you,
To help you to feel a little more steady.
Just breathing.
And every time the mind wonders,
Which it will,
Just bringing your awareness back to the rising and falling of the breath in the body.
Allowing the breath to center you,
To steady you,
To give you strength.
And really sensing in to the rising and falling of the breath just for the last moment of this practice.
Just breathing and bringing a beautiful sense of grounded presence into your day.
And as we move towards the end of this practice,
Taking a moment to check in one more time with the mind.
The thoughts may still be there,
But just seeing if anything's shifted.
If perhaps you've created a little more space around the thoughts,
A little more softness and ease in the mind.
And just knowing that you can take that softness,
That ease,
That sense of grounding into your day.
Let it follow you as you get on with all that you have to do.
Allowing that softness,
That grounding to hold you.
And remember that whenever you wake up with a busy or frazzled mind,
This meditation will be waiting for you.
You can visit it whenever you need.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Take care.
