The intention of this meditation is to practice becoming aware and accepting of whatever is present in our experience,
With attention on the breath,
Acknowledging the body,
Thoughts and emotions as they arise,
With an attitude of non-judgment,
Allowance and compassion.
So to begin,
I invite you to get into a comfy position.
You might like to sit on a cushion on the floor,
Or lay down on the floor or on the couch,
Maybe put something under your knees to support your back if you're laying down.
And you might like to close your eyes,
Or you can keep your eyes open,
Or just lowering your gaze down to the floor.
And wherever you are,
I invite you to feel your feet planted onto the earth,
Feeling your body making contact with the surface beneath you.
Inviting you to take a few long,
Slow,
Deep breaths in,
All the way down to the belly.
Allowing the belly to rise,
And as you breathe out,
Allowing the belly to fall.
Softening your body as your breath flows in and out.
Taking a few long,
Slow,
Deep breaths in here.
And if the mind has wandered off into thought,
That's totally normal,
That's what the mind does.
Each time you've noticed the mind wandering off,
Gently bringing it back to the present,
Back to the moment,
And observing the flow of breath once again.
Using your breath as an anchor throughout the session,
Or using the sounds that you can hear,
And tuning into your sense of hearing.
Now I invite you to bring your attention to any emotion that you are feeling right now.
Just noticing where you can feel this emotion in your body.
Maybe it's a tightness in the chest,
Or the throat,
Or somewhere else in the body.
Or perhaps this sensation doesn't have a word,
It's just a feeling,
And that's okay.
Maybe it's a dull ache in the belly,
Pain in the heart.
Or maybe there is nothing to feel.
Numbness.
There's no right or wrong.
Just noticing what you notice.
Feeling into this sensation of this emotion with a sense of curiosity like you have never felt it before.
Becoming aware of what you're feeling without judging the sensation or emotion as a good emotion or a bad emotion.
It just is.
It just is what it is.
So just observing,
Witnessing,
Remaining curious and open.
And as you start to feel into this emotion and sensation,
Your mind might try to wander off into thoughts,
Worries,
Or stories about what this means.
And that is totally normal.
Each time the mind starts to wander off,
You can gently and softly bring your awareness back to the sensation you're feeling.
Just noticing.
Noticing what you notice.
Or resting your anchor into the breath or the sounds that you can hear in the room or outside of the room.
Taking some time out with the breath or the sounds.
And venturing out into the body and emotions when you feel ready.
Tuning into the sensations you feel in your body once again.
And perhaps breathing into the sensation and actually allowing it to be there.
Or you might imagine falling behind the sensation and softening around it.
Relaxing into it.
As it is.
Allowing yourself to feel whatever there is to feel with an attitude of acceptance.
Acceptance doesn't mean that you like the sensation or you want it,
But instead you just accept that's how it is,
That's how you feel.
When we can accept our feelings in the present moment,
We can accept ourselves as we are.
Not after something changes in our life or we meet a certain goal.
Not in some future version of ourselves.
But right now,
As we are.
Accepting yourself just as you are and bringing compassion to yourself in this moment.
Tending to yourself like you would a good friend,
A loved one,
A pet.
Being kind and caring.
As we come to the end of this mindfulness practice,
Inviting you to bring your awareness to your body,
Connected to the surface beneath you,
Grounded safely into the earth.
Tuning into all the sounds that you can hear.
Sounds inside the room.
Sounds outside the room.
Gently wiggling the fingers and the toes.
Bringing some grounding movement back to the body.
Perhaps rolling the shoulders back if you're sitting up.
If you're lying down,
Taking a nice nourishing stretch.
Opening the eyes when you are ready.
