Feeling free to allow yourself to close your eyes or soften your gaze.
Taking a few moments,
Taking a few breaths to settle into right now.
That involves feeling free to move your body in some gentle ways.
It involves shifting in your seat so you can feel more settled in the chair,
More settled in your body.
Practicing a little softening with each exhale.
Dropping your shoulders slightly away from your ears.
Letting go of any overt tightness,
Overt tension in the muscles of our face and back and belly.
Letting our hands and arms rest comfortably at our sides and giving your torso and legs permission to feel supported by whatever it is below us.
Taking a moment to focus on this breath,
This constant yet ever-changing moment-by-moment experience of breathing without modifying or intervening in any way,
Just witnessing the way our body wants to breathe and allowing it to exist the way it is.
Letting the awareness of our breath fall into the background of our attention.
Is it possible to bring to mind the burdens we carry on a day-to-day basis?
The things that weigh us down.
These could be mistakes or regrets from the past,
Fears or worries about the future,
Perceived deficits that we roll over and over again in our mind,
Trying to fix,
Trying to solve.
This could even be our self-care to-do list.
It could be heaviness from the political world or our environment urging us to do,
Urging us to fix,
To solve.
As we notice these burdens we carry,
Is it possible to also notice the impact on our day-to-day existence?
The way it feels as we walk through this world,
The way it affects our mood,
Our outlook,
Our relationships.
All of these physical and mental burdens that we carry are felt in the body.
Is it possible to gently scan through your body from the top of your head down to your toes,
Noticing where you feel the heaviness the most,
Where you feel the weight that you carry.
It could be a sensation of heaviness or weight somewhere in the body.
It could be a mental image of something pushing down upon us,
Making it hard to breathe,
Making it hard to move.
Is it possible to notice the form or shape of this weight,
Of this heaviness,
Of this tension?
Do images or words come to mind when I ask about its shape or form?
Is there a texture associated with it?
Is it made of stone or water or something non-tangible?
Is there a color?
What is happening to your body underneath this heaviness?
How is your body reacting to this weight or tension?
If this heaviness had feelings,
Had a voice,
How would it feel?
What is it communicating to you?
What does it believe?
Perhaps it's feeling heavy,
Torn or conflicted,
Burdened in some way.
Perhaps it's believing that you must do something in order to fix it.
Perhaps it fears that it will be crushed underneath its weight or that it can't move or be put down.
Acknowledge its feelings.
Acknowledge what it's telling you with a simple,
Okay,
I hear you.
I see you.
And on the next breath,
Is it possible to notice this heaviness,
This weight dissipating in some way?
Can we visualize that it's somehow dropping or crumbling,
Falling off your body,
Dissolving or moving in some way?
However it feels that it could.
What's happening in your body as the weight pressing upon it is shifting?
Are there other parts of you,
Parts that perhaps couldn't breathe before under the weight,
That can now be felt?
How does your body feel?
What do these parts feel if they had a voice?
Are they believing anything differently now?
Taking a moment to fully embody the lightness that now exists.
Can you play with this feeling of lightness as if you are lifted up by an invisible helium balloon floating lighter in your step?
Your head is lighter on your shoulders,
Lighter in your heart.
In the words of Buddha,
In the end,
Only three things matter.
How much you loved,
How gently you lived,
How gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.
Is it possible to notice the way this feeling of lightness has always existed within you,
This freedom?
It's often hidden under the chaos and noise of the burdens we carry,
Of the problems we want to fix,
Of the drama we take on from the tumultuous world around us.
Is it possible to notice where this feeling lives,
Where it resides deep in our being?
May we trust its presence even when we cannot feel it?
And can we set the intention to access even the faintest whisper of it when we need it most?
Allowing yourself to deepen your breath ever so slightly,
Feeling free to move your body in gentle ways as you reawaken to this moment.
And when you're ready,
You can let light back in through your eyes.
Namaste.
