Calm starts here,
A meditation for finding steady ground.
Welcome.
Find a comfortable position either seated or lying down.
Allow your hands to rest easily on your legs or by your sides.
If it feels comfortable,
Close your eyes or simply soften your gaze.
Take a moment to arrive.
There is nowhere else you need to be right now.
Nothing you need to do.
Nothing you need to change.
Just this moment.
Just this breath.
Calm starts here.
Begin by noticing the places where your body is supported.
Feel sacred earth beneath your feet,
The chair beneath you,
Or the surface supporting your whole body.
Allow yourself to be gently held.
Soften your shoulders.
Let's find surrender.
Relax your jaw.
Let the space around your eyes become soft.
Allow your belly to soften.
Take a slow breath in through your nose.
And gently exhale.
Again,
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
There is no need to make your breath deeper or different.
Simply notice it.
The gentle rhythm of breathing in.
And breathing out.
With each exhale,
Imagine releasing just a little of what no longer serves you in this moment.
Thought.
A worry.
A bit of tension.
You don't need to name it.
Simply allow the breath to create a little more space.
Breathing in,
Receive.
Breathing out,
Soften.
Breathing in,
Arrive.
Breathing out,
Let go.
Now bring your awareness to your heart space.
If you'd like,
Place one hand over your heart and the other over your belly.
Feel the warmth of your hands.
Feel your breath moving beneath them and notice what happens when you soften in the moment of stillness.
Imagine a small warm light beginning to glow within the center of your heart.
There is nothing you need to do to make it bright.
Simply notice it.
Steady.
Quiet.
Present.
With each breath,
Perhaps that leg begins to expand across your chest.
Through your shoulders.
Down through your arms and into your hands.
Flowing gently through your belly.
Your hips,
Your legs,
All the way to your feet.
And now imagine delicate threads of light moving gently through and around you.
Fine strands of luminous light,
Softly reconnecting with yourself.
Imagine these threads traveling through your whole being.
Body,
Mind.
Heart and spirit.
No effort,
Nothing to fix.
Simply light finding light.
Perhaps some of these threads of light extend downward,
Connecting you to sacred ground beneath you.
Feel yourself rooted.
Supported.
Steady.
And perhaps other threads gently reach upward toward the spaciousness around you.
You are connected to sacred ground below.
Are heavens above.
And the quiet was in.
Take another slow breath and silently say to yourself.
I am here.
I am grounded.
I am connected.
With this breath,
I return.
The cram starts here.
Notice how little was required to come back to this place.
A breath.
A moment of awareness,
A willingness to soften.
Calm doesn't have to mean that everything around you is quiet or that everything in your life is settled.
It can simply be the place within you that remembers how to return.
Again and again,
One breath at a time.
Begin to deepen your breath just a little.
Feel sacred earth beneath you once more.
Notice the space around you.
Gently move your fingers and your toes.
Perhaps roll your shoulders or slowly turn your head from side to side.
And when you're ready,
Bring both hands to your heart.
Take one final nourishing breath in and release it slowly.
Carry this steadiness with you as you move into the rest of your day.
Remember,
You don't have to search very far.
Calm starts here.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
May you move forward feeling grounded,
Connected,
And held in light.
