Feeling free to close your eyes or soften your gaze,
Begin to take a few deep breaths in and out.
As you breathe,
Feel free to make some micro adjustments with your body.
Allowing yourself to feel settled in your chair.
Both upright and dignified.
Yet also soft.
And able to let go a little further into this upright posture.
Is it possible to notice any areas of holding in our face and body?
And as we breathe.
To let go of any overt tension we might be noticing.
We're not trying to eliminate attention altogether.
Notice setting an intention.
To soften and let go.
And with each exhale,
Imagining your body.
Letting go a little bit further.
Falling back and softening a little bit more.
Noticing the way your shoulders are able to drop a little further away from your ears.
Imagining the big muscles of your back.
Softening in their attachment to your spine.
Letting go of any holding in the belly.
Allowing your arms and hands to rest comfortably.
And giving yourself a moment to feel into the support pushing up from below you.
Noticing the pressure on the bottoms of your feet.
And where your body meets the chair.
Letting go a little bit further into that support.
As you give yourself permission to just be.
In this moment.
On the next breath,
Is it possible to turn your attention inward?
Noticing any physical sensations that might be present.
I know that some are asking for your attention quite loudly.
And as best as possible.
Can we look into these sensations?
Be with them for just these few moments of this meditation.
Is it possible to allow a clear and kind presence to any unpleasant sensation you notice?
Perhaps there's physical resistance to even paying attention to what's here.
Is it possible to allow space for that resistance to exist as well?
So often when we think of the concept of pain.
We believe it to be rigid.
And moving.
Permanent Is it possible to consider your experience?
As an unpleasant constellation of sensations.
Noticing the way these sensations perhaps are moving.
Changing moment by moment.
Perhaps they are expanding and contracting.
With each breath.
Perhaps within a density or tightness,
There is energy swirling.
Is the intensity increasing and decreasing as we're sitting with it?
Watching it.
Is it possible to notice if.
.
.
It's hard or soft.
Heavy or light.
Is there a color associated or a texture with it?
Allowing yourself a slight sense of curiosity.
As you witness what is happening in your body.
Breathe with whatever you are feeling.
And on the next breath,
Is it possible to notice how you might be relating to the pain?
Are you open to it?
Is there interest or kindness?
Or is there reactivity?
Is there an attempt to push away the pain by physical resisting or contracting?
Or mental aversion or distraction.
Is their judgment.
Of yourself.
Of the pain.
Of the world in which you feel this pain.
Is there fear?
Is there anger?
Becoming aware of our reactivity to this pain.
Can help open us to a space of more balance and freedom from it.
Freedom from being controlled by it.
Is it possible?
To take this experience simply moment by moment.
Asking,
Okay,
On a scale of 1 to 10,
How bad is it in this moment?
In the next breath.
Wondering is this tolerable for right now?
So often the idea of future pain creates resistance.
Build suffering.
How are you managing it right now?
Just for this moment.
And this one.
And this one.
If the sensation feels too strong,
Too intense.
It's okay to shift your attention to another area of your body that doesn't feel so strongly unpleasant.
As you gently scan through the rest of your body.
Is there any area that feels at ease?
Pleasant even.
And if not,
Neutral.
Is it possible to be with that?
Easeful or relaxed part of you for just a few moments.
Realizing that we are larger than the pain itself.
The pain is a wave in the ocean.
What else is here?
And as you've identified with these more at ease parts of you,
If there are any.
You can move freely back and forth.
Between the painful sensations.
Being with those for a few breaths.
A few moments at a time.
Before moving back.
To the neutral or pleasant ones.
Titrating.
Pendulating your experience.
One moment at a time.
Perhaps.
It can sometimes be easier to envision.
That ocean.
That larger space.
Recognizing that we are built and made up of.
Hundreds if not thousands of sensations all at once.
Imagining a vast expanse.
The horizon at the end of the ocean.
A field of wildflowers in spring.
Snowy mountaintops as far as the eye can see.
Just as there is space outside in the world,
There is space also inside of us.
Allowing the pain even to fill,
To expand.
To dilute.
Into that spaciousness.
While our brain wants to understand why physical pain is present.
And search for something to fix,
To release or resolve it.
Is it possible to sink a little lower into the heart area?
And allow yourself the recognition that this hurts.
I'm suffering.
Allowing our heart to open.
As if in a gentle and soothing embrace to ourselves.
Allows our nervous system to soften around the pain.
As you breathe space into the painful areas.
Is it possible to also send waves of gentle currents of loving kindness?
To the hurt parts of you.
Feeling free to place a hand on the hurting parts or your heart or your belly.
Reminding yourself that you are loved.
That you have love.
And can feel that love.
Even amidst the pain.
Is it possible to deepen your breath ever so slightly?
Allowing you to witness your entire being sitting here.
Breathing.
Offering yourself a wave of gratitude.
Forgiving yourself this time.
A space to be with.
To witness all that is here.
Feeling free to set an intention.
To bring any piece of this practice with you.
As you go on throughout the day.
And when you're ready.
You can open up your eyes.
