Hi and welcome to today's practice.
So finding a comfortable position,
Having a fidget,
Having a stretch,
Doing whatever you need to do to get comfortable.
And take a moment to do this really.
Settle into your posture.
You don't need to rush this part of the meditation.
Just getting as comfortable as you can in this moment.
And closing your eyes.
And begin by taking some deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
As you inhale,
Just allowing the belly to soften,
Stretch like a balloon.
And as you exhale,
Just settling even further into that posture,
Allowing the body to soften.
And if you haven't already,
Just allowing the breath to return to a natural rhythm in and out through the nose.
As you take these first few moments to just be still.
This can actually be really quite tricky to do sometimes.
Our lives are so busy and full of constant motion that just finding the time to sit still is hard enough.
But I invite you now just to be still and not change anything about your experience.
Now bringing some awareness to the contact you're making with whatever's supporting you.
Noticing the sensations of touch.
The feeling of weight pressing down.
And noticing that you're being supported.
Then becoming aware of how the body's feeling.
First in a general way and then becoming aware of the sensations in the body.
Are they coming,
Going,
Sticking around for a bit?
Is one capturing your attention or are there a few things happening at once?
But the trick is here we don't want to push anything away.
We don't want to change anything.
We don't want to critique anything.
We're just becoming aware of the body.
And staying with the body,
With the next exhale soften all the muscles of the face.
This might take a few rounds of breathing.
But I invite you to soften across the forehead,
The eyes,
The jaw.
Just letting the face drop.
Allowing the shoulders to drop on the next exhale.
Allowing the arms to become heavy.
Continuing to breathe with a soft belly.
And then with another exhale allowing the legs to be heavy and supported.
Noticing the contact your feet are making with the floor.
And now becoming aware of your breathing.
Just noticing the movement and the sensations of breathing.
I invite you now to start to deepen your inhale.
You don't need to do this with any force.
This isn't a competition.
But you'll notice that as each round of breathing rolls on,
The inhale will start to naturally deepen.
Starting to notice how the belly feels like a balloon.
Gentle sensations of stretching.
And then as you exhale,
The belly shrinks.
Gets pulled back in towards the body very gently.
Before the process begins again.
Breathing deeply in.
And while you're doing that,
I now invite you to start to slow down the exhale.
Start to lengthen the exhale.
And again,
You'll notice that as each round of breathing rolls on,
Slowing it down and lengthening it will become a little easier.
And you'll notice that it starts to become longer than the inhale.
Deeply in.
Slowly out.
And that's all you have to do for this practice.
Just using the breath to let the body know that it doesn't have to be anywhere else.
It doesn't have to be doing anything else.
That it is allowed to sit,
Be still and rest.
Deeply in.
Slowly out.
And if the mind becomes distracted at any point,
That's absolutely fine.
You haven't done anything wrong.
Just acknowledge that it's wandered when you can.
And return back to this conscious breathing.
Deeply in.
Belly fills.
Slowly out.
Belly softens.
And now just let the technique go.
Just breathe in a way that's natural for you.
And just rest for a moment in this space you've created.
Becoming aware of the contact you're making with the support beneath you.
The feeling of weight pressing down.
Noticing sounds around you.
Might be close by or far away.
Noticing the temperature of the space you're in.
And taking a couple of big deep breaths here.
In through the nose.
Out through the mouth.
When you're ready,
Open the eyes.
Just take a moment to take in the space around you.
Noticing shapes,
Colours,
Objects.
Bringing some gentle movement back to your fingers and toes and coming back fully into the space.
So thank you for joining me today and I look forward to sitting with you next time.
