Welcome to this short guided practice that is a whole body check-in.
It's a practice that I use on a daily basis and it's really an opportunity for you to sense into how you're feeling by meeting yourself in the present moment without judgment or without preference.
It's a practice that can be done standing up or lying down or in a seated position,
But hopefully it's somewhere where you won't be disturbed for a few moments and it's relatively quiet.
As you take these moments to find a position that is supportive for you today,
You might like to place your hands on your body.
Perhaps that's on your knees with a gentle rub or a hand over your belly and a hand over your heart as a gesture of inviting your attention inwards.
And it might be that you use a little bit of pressure with your hands there or some subtle movements.
Noticing the sensation of your own touch as you invite your attention to your inward landscape.
You might also use the breath,
Noticing the breath exactly as it is.
You might notice a sense of expanding like a balloon on the inhalation and then as you exhale almost a sense of softening with that.
You might notice the pace of the breath,
Whether it feels soft or sharp,
Strong or weak.
You might notice if you feel the breath in the front of the body or in the back of the body or in the side body.
Resting your attention on your breath exactly as it is without needing to shift or change the breath.
You might scan from the crown of the head down to the tips of the toes,
Noticing how you're feeling in your physical body.
And if you pass anywhere that is perhaps holding any tension,
Is it an opportunity for you to relax here,
To invite inner softening?
It might be that you soften the forehead and rest the eyes in the sockets,
Relax the jaw,
Soften the chest and the space around the heart.
And with this softening you might notice a sense of the heaviness of your body and the bones.
And if that is something you notice you might like to experiment with leaning into that support.
You might notice the energy levels that you're bringing with you into this practice,
Or the quality of your mood,
Any mental chatter,
And welcoming it all.
Welcoming all of the sensations and the thoughts and feelings that are with you in the present moment as your present moment experience.
As you rest in this space with your senses wide open,
You might navigate the internal landscape of your body and notice any sensations,
Any movements,
Any feelings that arise.
That might be an itch,
It might be a twinge,
Maybe the movement of your breath,
Or maybe something else.
Welcoming space for the whole of your present moment experience.
From this space you might like to ask yourself,
How am I feeling?
And if it's helpful you can follow that with how can I support myself today?
What might that look like?
If you're enjoying being in this space you're very welcome to linger here longer.
Or if you're ready for some movement,
It might be that you use the sense of your touch and your hands on your body as a way of expanding your awareness to your physical form in space.
Perhaps with some gentle movement or rubbing on your skin,
This external boundary of your body that is meeting the space around you.
You might even like to blink open and close your eyes a few times,
Open the jaw as you come back into the space around you.
If you find this practice useful,
It's something that you can adapt for your own life and it's even something that can be quite subtle.
So it can be something that you do when you're around other people or if you're at work or if you have a few quiet moments to yourself as a way of checking in with your whole body to make space for your whole present moment experience.
