Begin by finding a comfortable seat.
In your meditation posture,
Be alert and awake to your senses,
Yet relaxed and at ease.
Close your eyes or take a gentle gaze.
Soften the muscles around your eyes.
Let your chin be level with the ground below,
Elongating the back of your neck.
Unclench your jaw and find space between the two rows of your teeth.
Find a slight parting of your lips.
Soften all your edges.
Bring your attention to your shoulders.
Notice if there is any tension or holding there.
Imagining that you're turning down a dial,
Feel that holding fade away.
Allow your shoulders to round down away from your ears.
Extend that ease lower to your belly.
Let yourself soften,
Your body taking its natural shape.
Feel your sitting bones connecting down to the surface beneath you.
Take a deep breath in and fill up on your inhale.
Exhale,
Let it go completely.
One more just like that,
Expansive inhale.
Full body release on your exhale.
Let your breath return to its natural rhythm.
Notice each breath as it comes and goes in its own time.
Each breath unencumbered,
Unrestricted,
Flowing with ease.
Turn your attention to your mind.
Notice your thoughts as they arise.
Let each thought pass by like a cloud overhead in the sky.
Take note of the shape and quality of each thought.
And send each one on its way without becoming too attached to any particular thought.
Without trying to erase or avoid your thoughts,
Imagine them floating by you overhead,
Each one free,
Untethered,
Dissolving into space.
Begin to tune in to any emotions that arise.
What comes up for you when the space is available?
Get your full humanity to be present with you on the mat.
Greet it with kindness,
Compassion,
Curiosity.
If that doesn't feel accessible,
Practice the art of simply noticing.
Let your emotions be without judgment or scrutiny.
What do your emotions feel like in your body?
Where in your body do you experience them?
Take this all in as information without evaluation.
Give yourself permission to feel it here.
Become aware of your overall state of being.
Observe whether or not your energy has shifted since you first arrived in your meditation posture.
Have you become more present or more aware?
There is no right or wrong answer,
No right or wrong way to be,
Just an opportunity to bear witness to your current experience.
Begin to hold in your mind your true self,
The version of you that feels most authentic and free.
When all the dust of life has been cleared away,
Who are you really?
This is your true self.
Feel the presence of your true self here.
What do you see,
Feel,
Or notice about yourself?
Know that this blissful connection to self and intuitive inner wisdom are always here with you.
Come back to your breath and follow your inhales and exhales for a few rounds.
Feel into the natural rhythm,
Watching each breath come and go in its own time.
Let go of the breath and bring your awareness back to your physical body.
Feel into your sitting bones and become aware of your body in space,
On your mat,
Or on your meditation cushion.
In your own time,
Open your eyes and maintain this connection to your true self when you are ready to leave the mat.
