Hello,
I'm Kelly Villarreal.
Welcome to a meditation on centering,
A practice designed to help you return inward.
Begin your practice by finding a comfortable seat or creating a comfortable reclined position for your body.
As you settle into whatever space you've created for yourself,
You begin by taking a deep breath in through your nose and releasing a soft breath or a clearing sigh out.
You might now allow your eyes to drop closed and to let the tops of your shoulders soften away from your ears.
Notice the breath moving in your body.
And for these next several rounds of breath,
Each time you exhale,
Let your body become a little softer and a little more subtle.
And begin to direct your awareness down to your right foot.
And begin to notice the space between your right foot and your right knee.
Just notice any physical sensations that you can identify in this space in the lower right leg.
And begin to shift your awareness to the space from your right knee to your right hip.
And notice what you find there.
You continue to move your awareness up the body.
Notice around the right hip,
The right side of your waist,
Up to the right side of your rib cage,
The right hemisphere of your chest.
And notice the front and back of your right shoulder.
The right shoulder to the right elbow.
Right elbow to the right wrist.
The right hand and the five fingers on your right hand.
Come to notice the right side of your neck,
Your face,
And your head.
Notice the whole right side of your body.
And come to notice the left foot.
Notice the left foot to the left knee.
Notice the sensations of the left lower leg.
And then let your awareness flow into the space between your left knee and your left hip.
Continue to draw awareness up the left side of the body.
Moving from the left hip to the left side of the waist,
The left half of your rib cage,
The left half of the chest.
The front and back of your left shoulder,
The left upper arm,
The left elbow to left wrist,
The left hand and the five fingers on your left hand.
Notice the left half of the neck,
The left side of your face.
Notice the whole left side of your body,
Distinct from the right side of your body.
Come to notice the tall line of your spine,
The vertical center of the body,
Where these two halves join in center.
Notice the whole outer layer of your skin.
From this space that is most external,
A layer of the skin.
Begin to shift your attention.
To what is more internal.
As you move inside,
Notice the layer of muscle and the insulating tissues of the body.
Shift all the way in to the layer of the bones,
The physical framework.
Notice from skin,
Muscle,
Skin toward bones,
This layer of you that is most physical,
Most obvious.
Begin to take notice of the way that the breath interacts with,
The way the breath animates the physical layer of the body.
Notice the experience of the inhale part of the breath.
And then notice with your full attention,
The experience of the body as you exhale.
Begin to notice at the level of the mind,
At the level of thought.
As you watch the space where thoughts unfold,
Notice yourself as the watcher.
Separate from the thoughts.
And you are not your thoughts,
But the witness,
The observer of those thoughts.
Begin to notice from the layer of physical body,
The layer of breath,
The layer of mind,
Spaces even more subtle.
Start to notice the quality of the emotional spaces of the body.
Or any energetic qualities that you can identify.
Just witness and observe.
Continue to draw your awareness,
Deeper insight.
Allow your awareness to diffuse in.
Until it rests in a space that you identify as your center.
In the deepest inner space,
Where the voice of your quiet inner wisdom resides.
So the space of deep knowing that's always available.
Continue to rest awareness in your center space.
For the next few moments,
The sound of my voice will go quiet until the end of our time together.
But know that I'm here,
Holding this space for you.
As you rest your awareness inside.
Begin to deepen your breath.
And start to draw your awareness back out into the physical body.
Become aware of the space around you.
And as you move back out into your day.
Carry this awareness of center space inside you.
