Hello and welcome to Licentia Insights with Michelle Maldonado.
I'm glad you're here.
During our time together,
We're going to use the grace framework to practice our meditation.
Let's get started.
Let's begin by finding a comfortable way to position your body in the chair,
Allowing the feet to be flat on the floor,
Shoulders to be relaxed,
And spine upright,
But not uptight.
If it's comfortable for you,
Allowing your eyes to gently close,
Or if you prefer to just simply cast them in a softened downward gaze.
And taking three full,
Gentle breaths in and out as you allow for the body to settle,
The mind to settle,
And the breath to settle into its natural rhythm.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Let's begin our practice of grace.
Grace is a term we use to guide us during our meditation with each of the letters standing for something specific.
Let's begin with the letter G.
The letter G stands for gathering our attention.
Taking another full and gentle breath in,
On the exhale allowing the body to settle into more ease and comfort,
For the mind to settle into more quiet and comfort.
To create spaciousness,
To bring your full attention,
Your full presence,
To right here and right now.
Feeling as if there is no other place to be,
Nothing else to do,
Only to be fully here.
Taking a gentle breath in and out as we transition to the letter R in grace.
R is for recalling intention,
Inviting you in this moment to set an intention for your practice.
Maybe something as simple as I set the intention to be open or to learn or even to simply relax.
Whatever intention is arising for you in this moment,
I invite you to set that for yourself and then to let it go,
Allowing it to simply fall away.
Almost as if it's seeds dropping on soil to fertilize and support you during this practice.
Next,
Let us turn our attention to the letter A,
Attuning.
In this moment,
I invite you to attune to yourself,
Bringing your gentle attention to the body.
Perhaps doing a kind and curious body scan,
Just checking in,
Seeing what's present and noticing.
You may simply notice sensations,
Temperature differences,
Tightness,
Coolness or relaxation.
Whatever you notice in this attuning to yourself,
I invite you to take a full breath in,
Acknowledging and a gentle and full breath out,
Releasing and letting go.
Next,
Let's shift to the letter C in grace.
Consider,
Consider in this moment,
What would serve?
What would be most supportive of you right here,
Right now?
All we're doing is considering,
Not taking any action,
Reflecting and noticing what would be most supportive.
As you reflect on this,
I invite you to bring some tenderness,
Some self compassion and kindness,
Allowing yourself to fully receive and embrace whatever it is that came to mind that is supportive to you.
Taking a full and gentle breath in to allow that to settle in to the body.
As we now transition to the last letter in grace,
E.
E stands for ethical enactment or ending.
Reflecting back on what you just considered now is the invitation to consider what that looks like in action.
And how do you bring ethical enactment to that consideration?
Again,
You don't have to do it in this moment,
But get a little more clarity on what to do and how to do it.
As you consider this,
In this ethical ending or enactment,
You may even want to play with gently and slightly turning up the edges of your mouth into a slight smile.
Perhaps even noticing if that shifts any feelings or sensations in the body as you consider this ethical ending or enactment.
Taking another gentle and full breath in and out and letting go of that attention of an ending or enactment and simply returning your attention slowly,
Gently,
And kindly to the sound or sensation of the breath.
And allow your attention to rest there for the next moment.
In a moment,
I'm going to ring the bell.
At which time I'm going to invite you to bring your attention to the sound of the bell until you no longer hear it.
At which time you may begin to start to feel your body in the chair or on the floor.
And gently open your eyes,
Bringing your awareness back to your surrounding.
Thank you for your practice.
