Welcome to this practice.
This practice today is about appreciation through challenging times.
And I want you to know that it's not about being uber positive or manufacturing a kind of plastic,
Fake kind of insincere appreciation.
That's not what we're going to do.
We're going to try and practice appreciation,
Even though there's discomfort.
And I'm hoping that maybe to somewhere,
Maybe we might find a sense of faith in the practice.
Maybe somewhere in that you might find a little bit of relief and maybe even joy.
Okay,
So take a comfortable position.
Just remember,
We're training ourselves just to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Now bring a sense of uplifting energy to your posture.
You know,
Joy is a bit like that.
So kind of just pretend that the posture reflects joy.
Allow a sense of vitality to come into your lower back.
And if you're lying down,
That's okay,
Too.
You could bring a sense of vitality into your body lying down as you relax.
Just let your eyes close.
Take a few long,
Slow,
Deep breaths in and out.
Just allow yourself to appreciate breathing.
Just appreciate the bits and pieces that make up your body.
Maybe there's a goodness in it,
Or a sense of relief just to sit down finally.
Finally sit down and meditate.
A place maybe to sit on a cushion and maybe just put your concerns aside.
Maybe there's a relief in that.
Loosen your elbows and your shoulders a little bit more as you come into your spine a little bit more in your body.
Just make a few slow micro adjustments.
Let the weight become balanced and centered.
Now broaden a little bit across your collar bones.
And just imagine that the spine is like a long pole and everything else is hanging off this pole.
The shoulders relax and hang,
Muscles relaxing and hanging down.
And relaxing the belly.
Bring your attention to your abdomen.
Let your belly receive your skin.
Let that soften towards your pelvic area.
You could say the pelvic space and soften the thighs,
The knees and inner ankles.
Let the face soften and just allow all the tiny muscles across the face just fall away from the skull.
Your eyes are quiet and soft.
Let your brain soften and become quiet.
Just let the thinking muscle start to become very quiet.
Now bring to mind a place deep down inside of yourself.
A place where that it holds joy and sadness.
Where love resides too.
Just see if you can relax deep down in this place.
Stabilize yourself in your breathing.
Your breathing is a good friend.
Just taking each step on this journey with you.
And for those who find that being with their breath is overwhelming,
See if you can be aware of the sounds around you.
Feel the goodness of just breathing in,
Breathing out and the simplicity of just breathing.
Locate a place in your body that feels stable,
Good,
Maybe it even feels nourished.
It may not be the most obvious place.
It might be the sense of the bones in your legs feeling strong and stable or perhaps even around the throat area or your diaphragm.
Just be aware of your whole body experiencing the joy of breathing.
Let yourself just take in your full present experience.
Just know that there's always so much more going on below the surface,
Below the surface of your challenges and your concerns.
And see if you can on the exhale just kind of open yourself up to this broader,
Wider experience of your bodily experience.
Just find a place in your body that feels nourishing,
Wholesome.
Maybe even a sense of feeling stabilized or centered with the help of this nourishing or wholesome energy.
Now that goodness resides in you and it's always there deep within you.
Bring a sense of appreciating this goodness in yourself.
And as you do that now bring someone to mind,
Maybe someone in your,
In your mind's eye that pops in that you can fully appreciate.
Could be your dog or your cat,
A pet.
Could be a friend or it could be a family member.
Could be a mentor.
Could be someone that you look up to in a book that you've read.
Or perhaps it's your community also that you can fully appreciate.
Perhaps maybe you can even appreciate others with all of their challenges too.
May all beings find the quality of appreciation within themselves.
You
