So as you're ready,
You might let the eyes close.
Maybe rocking the body gently from side to side,
Finding comfortable posture on the chair or on the floor.
With the next in-breath,
You might bring the hands up over your head.
And then exhaling,
Bringing the hands back down to your lap.
Breathing in as you lift the hands up over your head.
Exhaling down,
Sensing how the breath might drive the movement of the hands.
Nice,
Slow,
Deep in-breath.
And out-breath.
And then a next in-breath,
Lifting the hands and then leaving them up,
Pointed towards the ceiling,
Palms out.
Just feeling that sensation.
And ever so slowly,
Letting the hands begin to drop.
Continuing to breathe.
Letting the hands move down towards your head as if someone who is watching would barely even notice.
As your hands arrive level with the eyes,
You might turn the palms inward.
Allowing the shoulders to come together and continuing to drop the hands slowly towards the lap.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Taking your time,
If the hands haven't arrived on your lap or by your side,
Continue to move them slowly.
Becoming aware of the movement of the breath in the body.
And then being aware of the movement of the breath in the body.
Releasing any control of the experience.
Just breathing naturally.
Observing the flow of breath.
Feeling the inhale and the exhale.
And should you become distracted with a thought or a feeling,
Images or words,
Just recognize that and come back to the object of your attention.
Come back to the breath.
Come back to the breath.
It might be helpful to choose a point in the body where you feel the breath most prominently.
Drawing the tension back when you get lost.
And beginning again.
Feeling the in breath and the out breath.
You might check in to make sure that you've not begun to hold too tightly to the breath.
Making sure that it's flowing naturally.
It doesn't have to be smooth or slow.
Just let it be as it is.
You might imagine yourself merging with the breath.
As if you could ride the inhale and the exhale.
In a circle of breath.
One continuous flow.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Recognizing it's in our nature to get caught in stimulus and impulse and urge.
It's not judging when our attention goes elsewhere.
Magic is in returning.
Coming back to the breath,
Feeling the breath in this moment.
Breathing in and breathing out.
In the strange early morning half light,
We set.
In the cloudiness of our questioning.
We set.
In our madness and our clarity.
We set.
In the midst of too much to do.
We set.
In the warm arms of our shared sorrow.
We set.
In community and loneliness we set.
In sweet exhaustion.
We set.
In the blazing energy of being alive.
We set.
Here with the singing crickets.
Here with each electric birdsong.
Here with the rippling of breezes and the dry grasses.
Here with the cobwebs and the clouds and the dusty road upon us.
Us in the sound.
And the sound in us.
Us in the world.
And the world.
In us.
In the world.
By Brigid Lowry.
Now as you're ready,
Perhaps bringing some intention to each breath.
Drawing the breath in more deeply.
Releasing that breath.
And continuing with several cycles of long deep breaths.
And listening for the sound of the bell.
To open your eyes.
And turning some movement to the body.
Allowing a small smile to form on the face.
And coming back to our world.
