Here we are,
Starting a practice.
Choosing to open up the doors of our inner experience.
The invitation is to start with just like taking a breath.
A few breaths even,
That are just a bit longer than your typical day-to-day,
Moment-to- moment breathing.
Just breathing,
Big full breaths in,
Filling up the stomach,
And long slow exhales out.
And as you do that,
To just prepare your body into some sort of state of welcoming.
Maybe that looks like sitting completely still somewhere.
Maybe it looks like walking slowly.
Maybe it looks like standing with arms by your side or arms open.
Whatever it looks like for you,
Just check in with your body.
Maybe even play around with a few different positions.
What is like a state that your body can be in?
Like a posture,
A way of being that feels like it is open to receiving more experience,
Rather than the opposite,
Which would be so full already with the experience it is creating with movement,
That it does not have any space to welcome in more.
And then once you feel like you found a way of sitting or standing or walking or lying down,
That works for you.
Just taking a breath to really begin the welcoming.
And then the invitation is to tune into the body with either your eyes open or eyes closed.
To just start at the top of the head,
Imagining that your attention is like a flashlight and it can zoom in.
And right now it is zooming in like a spotlight on the top of your head.
And imagine that that light is shining on that part of your head,
The sun on a gentle beach day of the summer,
Rather than like a laser.
It's not squeezing or grasping,
Like a gentle,
Paying attention.
And just see what's here,
The front of your head,
Just near the top,
The sides and the back,
Like that rim part of your skull.
Just what does it feel like up there?
And you might imagine that your awareness is like a doorway that has a spotlight in the front.
And yet the doorway itself also glows.
And so if any thoughts or feelings sensations come up,
You can allow those still to travel in through the doorway,
You don't have to fight to keep them out.
They can be scanned with the quick attention of that glowing light of the inner doorway.
And that spotlight in front,
That's still just scanning your head.
Just noticing what it feels like now even dropping to scanning the face.
What does your face feel like?
And what emotions come up for you when you try to bring attention to your own face without looking at it and the physical world.
And if things get intense or overwhelming,
Just remember,
You can always just take a breath,
Settle in and open up a little bit more.
And then dropping your attention from the face now down to the neck and the shoulders.
And just resting your attention here for a bit.
Nothing has to get figured out.
There's no wrong way to do this.
You're truly just bringing some loving energy to your body.
You're giving it the attention that it so desperately yearns for your own.
Just imagine that you can bathe your neck and your shoulders and your with your attention.
And that it's not a judging critical attention.
It's not a mistrunchable attention.
It's more like a lunchable attention.
It's playful.
It's fun.
It's like a loving mother attention or best friend attention.
Just being here with the neck sending loving attention and seeing what comes up.
Sometimes as the attention wanders,
And as it explores,
It'll find an irritation someplace in the body that is closed.
Or maybe just a simple itch.
The invitation for you is to welcome that to say,
Oh,
Look at this.
Another bit of evidence that I am alive right now.
And allowing your attention to scan from your arms and shoulders and neck down your chest and your back really just sort of rotating around your torso scanning and checking in seeing what parts of your body here need just some of your loving attention.
Seeing where there may be some places that are closed or tight or antsy.
Just need some reassurance.
Like a scared child that can't see where their mom went in the park.
They just need a reminder.
I'm right here.
Just reminding them that you are right here with that you care about.
And now just allowing your attention to scan anywhere in your body that it feels pulled toward to just rest for a couple breaths.
We can give some loving attention.
As we close.
See if you can just breathe in some thankfulness,
Some gratitude to yourself for making this investment of time and energy.
Connecting with these parts within you to giving yourself this added resource of space,
Love,
Presence,
Compassion,
And really breathing that in for a moment.
