Welcome,
Beautiful one,
To these moments of mindfulness.
Settle in now,
Finding a comfortable position with your head,
Neck,
And spine straight,
In a position where you can be comfortable,
Yet relaxed and alert,
Making any adjustments that you need to,
So that your body is well supported,
Beginning by closing down your eyes,
So that you can turn your focus inward,
Taking a nice,
Deep,
Full breath,
And exhaling fully and completely,
And then breathing in whatever way feels good to you,
Perhaps laying a hand on your belly,
So that you can notice and pay attention to the rise and the fall as you inhale and exhale,
Or perhaps paying attention to the air as it enters and exits your nose,
Whatever helps you to bring mindful awareness to your breath,
Noticing what it's like to breathe,
The ebb and the flow,
The in and the out,
The up and the down,
Like the gentle currents of the ocean,
Allowing your breath to breathe you,
And if as you're focusing on your breath,
You find that your mind wanders away,
That's okay,
That's what minds do,
Just notice where it went,
And then gently bring it back to your breathing.
Noticing when you've gone away is an act of mindfulness in itself,
And as you breathe comfortably and easily,
Noticing the quality of your breath,
Is it deep and full,
Or shallow,
Or a mixture,
Just noticing,
Bringing mindful awareness to the quality of the breath,
No judgment,
No criticism,
There's no right or wrong way to breathe right now,
Just noticing.
Sometimes it's helpful to notice when you're inhaling,
That you're inhaling,
And notice that when you're exhaling,
That you're exhaling,
Bringing that awareness to the act of breathing,
Allowing the awareness to your breath to fade into the background for now,
Bringing your awareness to your senses,
Notice what's happening behind your eyelids,
Even when our eyes are closed,
We can sometimes see the dancing of the light and the shadows,
Perhaps there are some colors,
Maybe it's sort of a grainy visual field as your eyes are closed,
Just observing,
Bringing gentle curiosity to what you see when your eyes are closed,
Shifting your awareness to the sounds around you now,
The sound of my voice,
The sound of the music,
Any errant sounds that may be in your background,
And just allowing the sounds to wash over you,
Becoming aware of them and then letting them go without trying to figure out what they are,
Or how they impact you,
Just becoming aware and letting them wash over you,
Bringing your awareness now to your sense of touch,
Perhaps becoming aware of your clothing as it rests on your body,
Becoming aware of your hands as they rest on your belly or your lap,
Noticing perhaps the touch of a gentle air current on your skin,
Noticing any jewelry you're wearing,
Glasses,
Shifting and bringing mindful awareness to your mouth,
Swallowing gently and noticing if there are any tastes that you become aware of,
They might be subtle,
They might be strong,
Just bringing awareness to what's happening inside your mouth,
Shifting your awareness now to any aromas or odors you become aware of as you breathe in,
They may be subtle or strong,
Many times our sense of smell brings up memories or emotions for us,
And just noticing if that's the case for you,
What emotions come up without really getting attached to them,
Just bringing mindful awareness,
Shifting to noticing other emotions that might be rocking around inside of you,
Letting go of your awareness of smell and coming in to your emotional self,
Noticing the emotions or the moods,
Bringing mindful awareness to any physical sensations that are associated with these emotional states or moods,
Most times we actually feel them in our bodies,
Whether or not we're aware,
And as you shift your awareness to the physical sensations,
Notice what's happening in your neck and your shoulders and your jaw,
Bringing awareness down into the area around your heart and your midsection and your belly,
Notice what you're feeling in this part of your body,
Paying attention to your feet,
What are you noticing in the soles of your feet and your toes,
Are your toes curled up or are they relaxed and smooth and flat,
Noticing if there are any areas in your body that are calling out for your attention,
And just noticing what they might need and what they might be asking for,
Bringing that mindful awareness to your body,
Noticing your bottom as it sits in the chair,
The chair supporting you,
And if your body is telling you that it needs something,
Make a note of that and when we're done,
We can see if you can get those needs met in a healthy way,
Letting go of the awareness to your body now and shifting up into your mind,
Into your thoughts,
Noticing your mind as perhaps a bright blue sky and the thoughts or the clouds drifting through the sky,
Bringing this mindful awareness without getting caught up or attached to the thoughts,
Becoming aware of them and then letting them drift on by,
In this way of working with thoughts,
You help yourself to not become attached and getting caught up in the emotions that are generated by the thoughts,
Allowing them to come and go,
And now releasing your awareness to your thoughts,
Coming back once again to focusing on your breath,
Finding it once again in your body and knowing that you did good work here today,
In noticing when you might have slipped away from the focus and the attention and then bringing it back,
Building your mindfulness muscle one moment at a time.
Thank you for spending this time with me today.
For these mindful moments,
I'm Kelly Dennis.
Namaste.
