Welcome to practice.
My name is Neil Seligman,
Founder of The Conscious Professional.
Thank you for joining me today for this guided mindfulness meditation to explore being with the difficult.
Begin by finding a comfortable posture and by bringing your awareness to the breath.
Take a few moments to let yourself arrive and allow the breath to draw you gently into internal awareness.
Allow the gaze to soften,
The eyes to close.
As we breathe in through the nose and out through the nose,
Lips together,
Teeth slightly apart.
Just allowing yourself to land in this moment,
In this chair.
Bringing yourself to practice just as you are,
Thoughts and all.
Welcoming yourself.
Welcoming the breath.
As you breathe,
Welcoming the breath into the body with compassion.
As you allow the doorway of the breath to open,
Becoming more aware of your body.
As the breath drops in,
Awareness drops into.
And so opening to the sensations of the body just as they are for you today.
Finding your own way to welcome that which feels pleasant,
Neutral and if it feels okay,
Also welcoming the unpleasant,
The difficult.
Even if it's just 2% more.
Breathing.
Allowing the breath to remind you that you are not alone.
Opening to the mind with compassion too.
And opening to the furniture of the mind,
Our thoughts.
And if we can,
Just taking a step back from those thoughts,
Giving ourselves permission to witness the thoughts without being carried along by them or carried away by them.
Noticing the thoughts and noticing the spaces.
Greeting both with compassionate curiosity.
Perhaps allowing thoughts to come and go.
And settling into the spaces.
When we come to practice we come in the midst of our circumstances.
And so just noticing what circumstances have followed you into practice today.
Are there aspects of your current life situation that your mind keeps turning to?
Perhaps some aspects of challenge.
And just giving yourself permission to soften into the knowing of these circumstances.
To practice with a sense of acceptance.
That things are as they are.
But also reflecting through the arc of our own personal narrative and story that everything is in flux.
That our circumstances are forever changing.
And so just noticing that part of self that remains centered,
Remains continuous throughout our changing circumstances.
And just for a moment breathing into that center.
Here are our circumstances.
And here is our still point,
Our center.
And amongst it all,
Here is heart.
Here is our capacity for compassion and love.
And for bringing the tender care that we might visit upon our loved ones.
The ability to visit that upon ourselves.
And so just allowing the warm glow of your own kindness.
Just to warm and illuminate your own body.
Your own being.
Just tapping into that resource of love that we speak about when we hear the word mindfulness.
We also hear the word heartfulness.
And so we can remember through our practice and be reminded by our practice that this human awareness that enlivens us is loving.
Breathing into that knowing.
And sensing yourself just as you are.
Acknowledging the challenge of this present moment.
Noticing how you are doing the best you can.
And that it is enough.
Feeling that that you are enough.
And if you can settle into the knowing that you are enough,
Just allowing some of the pressure that you might be putting on yourself in this moment to know,
To solve.
To figure it out.
To move on,
To conclude.
Just allowing some of that pressure to burn off just in the warmth of your own compassionate holding of self.
Being your own experience.
Holding yourself in the highest regard.
Breathing into all that you are.
And perhaps even noticing that the circumstances in which you find yourself hold all of the ingredients for your blossoming into the next chapter of your life.
If it feels right just taking that visual of a flower opening.
Witnessing your own heart opening as you bring your heart full awareness to your current situation.
Perhaps setting an intention for how you wish to emerge from this practice.
And who you wish to emerge as.
Remembering your courage,
Your strength,
Your track record for getting through difficult times being 100%.
Knowing that you will also get through this time.
And that it will be rich with learning.
Feeling the vibration of your presence in your own body,
Mind and being.
And with each breath allowing that vibration just to build and grow and be known by every cell.
And with energy singing through the body,
Mind and being.
On the next exhale following the breath up and out.
And in your very own time,
Allowing the eyes to reopen.
Thank you for joining me in practice today.
