Welcome to your practice today.
Please begin by choosing the physical position that will support you best in your practice today.
For this meditation of co-regulating with the rhythm of the universe,
You can choose a seated position.
You can lie down.
You can even stand or walk.
What will support you best in this moment?
Throughout the practice,
We will use a simple movement of opening and closing our hands,
The fingers of our hands.
Choosing a position that will allow you to access this movement.
Gathering any props that may support you in helping the body relax so you can receive the most benefit from your practice.
And then settling in,
Giving yourself time and space to arrive to your chosen position,
Whatever that means to you.
And even throughout the practice,
You have full permission to change your mind and lay down if you've been sitting or sit up if you've been lying down.
Make the practice suit you and your needs.
And for now,
Taking any little gentle wiggles and movements in the body that might allow you to relax deeper.
And beginning to find physical stillness in the external body,
Not stiffness,
But letting the physical body relax into stillness.
Invitation to close the eyes if that is appropriate for your environment.
And noticing how the outer world falls away a little bit when you do that,
And the inner world becomes more accessible.
And as you observe your inner world,
Noticing all the little movements within,
And even though the body is externally still,
There is life happening within you.
Bring your awareness to your breath now,
Arriving to the breath as a friend,
As a friend who comes to listen first,
Not to fix or change anything,
But to offer its presence,
Kindness,
And compassion.
So even as you listen to the breath,
You may notice thoughts and judgments arising within you about the way the breath is paced,
Its regularity,
Its rhythm,
Its depth,
Or lack thereof.
But as the listening friend,
Can you allow the judgments and thoughts about how things should or should not be to float on by,
Acknowledging them,
But letting them move on in their own time while you remain present and listening to the way the breath is right now.
I'm going to invite you to introduce the movement of the hands to follow the activity of the breath.
So as the inhalation comes in,
Invite your fingers to open,
The hands to open,
Fingers uncurling.
And then as the exhalation emerges,
Invite the fingers to begin to curl back in,
Hands closing towards soft fists.
When you meet the next inhalation,
The fingers begin to open again like a flower,
Opening in the warmth of the sun.
And as the inhalation changes back into exhalation,
The fingers begin to close again like the flower,
Closing for the night.
Movement of the hands following the pace and rhythm of the breath.
The hands,
Too,
Listening as a friend to the breath.
And noticing any shifts and changes that are naturally occurring as the breath is being observed,
As it's being heard,
As it's being witnessed.
These are normal and natural changes.
Simply letting the movement of the fingers mirror these changes,
Allowing the breath to flow as it sees fit at the moment.
When you feel the time is right for you,
Invite the breath into a little game.
Invite the breath to follow the movement of your hands,
Your fingers.
So switching roles here and letting the breath listen to the movement of the hands.
And gradually,
Over time,
Allow the movement of your hands to slow down a bit,
Only to a point where the breath is willing to follow.
And let the opening and the closing of the hands find a regular rhythm.
So the opening of the hands and the closing takes the same length of time.
And with that,
Inviting the inhalation and the exhalation to also take the same length of time.
Looking for an evenness of rhythm with inhalation and exhalation and a slow pace.
But at any point,
If you feel,
You notice,
The breath does not want to follow anymore,
What adjustment can you make to the movement of the hands in order to allow the breath to join you in this game again?
And as you breathe,
Knowing that each breath,
Each moment is unique and that as the universe is always shifting all the time,
So are you.
If you found a rhythm and a pace that feels good to you after you've been with it for a while,
Notice if it's still serving.
As we're sitting here,
Or lying down here,
Or standing.
Hopefully relaxing into this practice,
You might find that the breath is willing to slow down even a little bit more.
So experiment with slowing down the movement of your hands just a tiny bit more.
And notice if the breath this time is willing to follow.
Notice this pattern of even flow of breath,
Slow pace,
Smooth transitions.
It's the pattern that appears all through nature,
Through the whole universe.
In the changing of the seasons,
The tides,
The movement of the stars.
We're connecting through our breath with this pattern.
We are offering ourselves and our nervous system the opportunity to co-regulate with the universe.
Notice as we proceed in the practice,
How does your nervous system respond?
You don't need to name any names or adjectives for your experience.
Just connecting with the felt sense of ease,
Relaxation,
And well-being that are offered by this practice.
If you wish,
You can release the movement of the hands or continue.
I'm going to offer some time in silence to continue to experience this practice.
I invite you to stay in this practice for as long as you have,
As long as you wish today.
If you would like to close together,
My invitation now is to begin to bring some gentle movement to the hands,
Maybe touching the thumb to each of the other fingertips.
You can take that a few times,
Noticing yourself touching one part of the body to the other and the sensations that come with that as a way to begin to reawaken the physical body.
And you might grow this movement into something slightly bigger,
Depending whether you're lying down or sitting or if you've been standing.
Connecting with this basic pattern of the rhythm of the universe also invites the body to let you know more clearly what it needs.
Any movement that is being asked for,
Can you invite that in or can you honor it?
You might be circling your knees or circling your pelvis in some way.
It might be a gentle stretch or a yawn as you begin to return from the breath journey.
And eventually,
Letting the eyes,
If they've been closed,
Flutter open and the outer world to come back into your awareness.
You might look around your space looking around and up and down,
Grounding yourself in the physical space that you're in again.
Giving yourself time for this transition as we experienced in the practice the pattern of the rhythm of the universe,
Even and relaxed and smooth in its transitions.
Can you bring that into the transition from your practice back into your daily life?
And when you are ready,
I wish you a wonderful rest of your day or night.
And thank you very much for practicing with me.
