Hi and welcome to today's practice.
To begin with,
I invite you to find a comfortable position.
You can be seated or lying down if that's more comfortable for you.
Stretch,
Fidget,
Do whatever you have to do.
And once you've found that position and you've started to feel a bit more settled,
Close your eyes or lower your gaze to a fixed point in front of you.
And take some deep breaths in and out through the nose.
And if it's comfortable to do so,
You might like to include a very short breath hold after the inhale.
Really using this time to settle into a posture.
And then allowing the breath to return to a natural rhythm in and out through the nose.
Breathing into a soft belly that feels like a balloon as you inhale.
And then gets gently pulled back towards the spine as you exhale.
And we don't want to use any force to do this.
But see if breath by breath you can deepen and slow down your breath.
And all we're doing here is letting the body know it can rest.
Acknowledging that you don't have to be anywhere else.
You don't have to be doing anything else.
This time is yours.
Taking these first few moments to breathe and be still.
Starting to notice how you've shown up for this practice.
What emotional qualities are there?
Remembering that everything is welcome.
What physical sensations are there?
How is your body feeling?
Just observing your arrival in this practice.
And staying with the body.
Softening as best as you can in this moment all the muscles of the face.
Forehead,
The eyes,
The cheeks,
The jaw.
Releasing any tension that might be there.
And then the same with the shoulders.
Allowing them to drop.
Allowing the arms to become heavy.
Allowing the belly to be soft.
Relaxing the legs.
And allowing them to be heavy and supported.
Relaxing as best as you can all the way down to the toes.
And then becoming aware of your breathing.
The coming and going.
The rising and falling.
The movement,
The sensations.
Just allowing the breath to be your focus for the moment.
Noticing the start of the inhale.
And the start of the exhale.
And when the mind wanders,
Which it will do.
Just acknowledging that it's happened when you can.
And returning your attention to the breath.
Start of the inhale.
Start of the exhale.
And now,
While still being aware of the breath and its movement,
The sensations.
Start to open your awareness to sounds you can hear.
They might be close by.
They might be further away.
There might be a single sound or there might be many.
But rather than using any force or control to move from the breath to sounds.
Try to become aware that both of these things are happening in the same space.
In your awareness.
Allowing them to appear and move.
Noticing how one might effortlessly move from the foreground to the background of your awareness.
Holding both.
And as you watch the breath and sounds,
I invite you to include sensations in the body.
You don't have to chase these sensations.
They will naturally appear in our awareness as we consciously open to them.
Breath,
Sounds,
Sensations.
Learning to become comfortable with this movement in your awareness.
An awareness that is panoramic,
Not rigid or fixed.
A space that can hold many things.
And if you find yourself lost in thought,
It's absolutely fine.
I invite you to become aware of the breath once again.
And after a few moments,
Opening to sounds and these sensations in the body once more.
Again,
We aren't trying to run through these things like a checklist.
Just noticing them arise in the same space.
And now placing all of your focus on just the breath.
Making this the only anchor that holds your attention.
And once again watching the start of the inhale and the start of the exhale.
Letting the breath go and noticing the contact you're making with the floor,
The chair or whatever is supporting you.
Noticing that moment of touch,
The sensations of contact.
Noticing the temperature of the space you're in.
Sensations on the skin.
And noticing how the body is feeling.
And when you're ready,
You can open your eyes or lift your gaze.
And before you move away,
Take a second to look around at what you can see.
Mindfully observing objects,
Shapes and colours.
And seeing if whatever it is you do next,
You can do it as mindfully as possible.
Completely aware of your experience while you're doing it.
And this will fade and disappear as you become busy again.
But just seeing how long you can rest in that space of mindful awareness.
Thank you for joining me and I look forward to sitting with you next time.
