Welcome to practice.
My name is Neil Seligman.
Thank you for joining me today for this guided mindfulness meditation for cultivating calm through disrupted times.
Let's begin by finding a comfortable balanced posture and by bringing your awareness to your breath.
Take a few moments to let yourself arrive and allow your next inhale to invite you within.
Allow the gaze to soften and if appropriate for your circumstances,
The eyes to close.
As we drop in on the breath,
We're breathing in through the nose and out through the nose,
Lips together,
Teeth slightly apart.
Giving yourself permission to arrive in this moment,
To assemble yourself in this body,
In this posture.
Breathing into alignment and grounding through all the points of connection between the body and the floor.
Breathing with ease and with full permission to just let go into this practice just as you are without expectation.
Practicing acceptance from the first breath all the way through to the last breath of the practice.
So here we land.
Remembering through mindfulness to simply breathe.
Feeling the flow of the breath in the body.
Riding the inhale,
The exhale.
Allowing this wondrous breathing body to find its own rhythm.
To navigate towards a settled state.
And we do that simply by giving ourselves full permission to show up just as we are.
Including everything that came with you into this practice.
The thoughts,
The emotions,
The sensations,
The pleasant,
The unpleasant.
Perhaps a little bit of anxiety,
Worry,
Frustration.
Is there anger,
Sadness?
Including.
And in our practice we open to that which is already there to the degree to which feels right for us today.
And just being with that balancing point between opening and it being enough and closing and finding our own way through you're always the leader of your own practice.
And if we bump into things within practice where it feels a bit too much for today,
It's okay to back off.
So just breathing with what's already there.
Opening to the degree to which it feels comfortable.
And just finding that balance.
As we do this we notice this body,
This body with weight and shape and texture and sensations it lands with us.
Feeling that point of connection between the body and the ground.
That sense of being held.
Of landing.
A sense of being accompanied in this moment.
Breathing here.
Feeling the safety of this moment,
This breathing body to the degree to which it is there for you.
Allowing the breath to lead awareness through the body.
Perhaps imagining awareness dissolving through the body like ink dissolving through water.
Just opening 2% more to your own experience.
Grounding 2% more into the body,
Into the floor.
Connecting with yourself,
Acknowledging that even amongst everything that is going on in our world and in our lives.
That we can still navigate to a moment of stillness.
A moment of collection.
A moment of potential.
And so just releasing yourself from any expectation.
Allowing your practice to be unique to you.
Leading your own experience.
And imagining a place within this breathing body which is already calm and stable and happy.
Despite everything that's going on in our world.
Imagine a place within where you're already okay.
A space of retreat,
Of knowledge and of wisdom.
And the degree to which you're able to do this is perfect.
Just imagining.
If there was a part of you that was already okay with everything that's going on around you,
What would it feel like?
How would that part of you breathe?
How would it feel in the body?
In the heart?
In the soles of the feet?
In your smile?
And what would the eyes see around you?
What would become possible for you if you could move from that space inside you that's already okay with everything that's going on?
And breathe into that.
Finding a way to explore this possibility.
Finding a way to be with everything.
With acceptance and patience.
And appreciation.
Acknowledging yourself for doing the very best that you can.
Acknowledging yourself for doing the very best that you can.
Noticing that connection that disrupted times bring.
We feel connected to those around us locally and globally.
We go through such similar things differently.
We share the same emotions,
The same joys,
The same sadness,
The same hope.
And as we feel connected to our peers and friends and all those unknown in our virtual circle.
Sending your appreciation and well wishes in your own way to them.
May they live with ease.
May they know joy.
May they be free from suffering.
And just breathing.
Heart and breath connected.
Practicing our practice.
Practicing acceptance.
Reminding ourselves who we are.
Taking just a few more breaths here together before we begin our return.
Reminding yourself of one thing that you need to take with you from this practice into the rest of your day.
Into the next moment.
The next conversations.
The next activities.
Coming back to this body breathing.
Feeling the physical sensations of the breath rolling in and rolling out.
Connection,
Vision,
Wisdom,
Breath and body landing.
Arriving in the same place.
Knowing ourselves anew.
Perhaps giving just a little movement to the fingers and toes.
And in your very own time.
Opening your eyes.
Thank you so much for joining me in practice today.
