Find a comfortable seat,
A position that feels relatively effortless.
Take your shoulders onto your back and tilt your chin down a little bit so the base of your skull lifts up and the back of your neck is nice and long.
Take a breath in all the way down to your seat and exhale out the chest,
Land your shoulders on your back.
Take another breath in way down to your seat and clear it out with the exhale out the chest.
Last one,
Breathe deep down to your sit bones and exhale out the front.
Feel your shoulders land on your back.
Soften the inner outer corners of your eyes.
And if the eyes aren't shut,
That's fine.
Just gaze softly at one point.
Let the space between the brow bones widen.
Let the jaw soften and the tongue almost slosh in the mouth as the face becomes relaxed.
Notice the sounds that swirl around you.
And rather than being frustrated by feeling pulled away,
See if you can use the sounds in your setting to hone into this moment.
Take your focus to the points of contact you have with the stability underneath you.
So your sit bones on the ground or your back lying down,
Take in the texture of what lies underneath you.
Shift your attention inwards by focusing first on the tip of your nostrils.
Notice how the air trickles in through your nose and glides down the back body to your seat.
And continue to trace or even watch the breath.
And notice the tendency of the thoughts to continue to ramble in and ramble on and ramble out.
Almost like grasses blowing in the breeze.
Each new thought comes flying in,
Ruffling the tips of the grass.
But the roots,
The roots deep down are centered.
And in each day the wind may blow in a different direction.
And the tips of the grass get carried,
Much like the tendency of our minds,
Of our brains.
See if you can see each thought come in like a gust of air.
And then trace your attention downwards to the roots,
To the ease of being planted right where you are.
So as each temporary thought,
As each cycle or phase of life comes in,
It's okay for you to get a little wept up in it.
Because you have your roots,
You have the ease of the earth underneath you.
Continue to see your thoughts come in and swipe the top of the grass,
The lightest parts of each little blade.
And let it go so that you can see your roots.
You can feel your roots in the ground.
And recognize that this feeling and this image is something you can come back to at any point in your day.
When a storm comes barging right through your day,
Take in the feeling of your feet on the ground,
Your seat on the ground.
And instead of getting swept up by the breeze or by the gust,
Land yourself in the earth in the steadiness of being planted,
In the ease of being deep in the ground.
If your eyes are closed,
First bring to your mind's eye the visual of the room you're in,
The space you're in,
So that you can prepare to come out of the meditation.
Commit to looking at one point of focus and crack your eyes open with care and steady your gaze with soft,
Soft eyes.
Take a moment to keep the resolution of your vision blurred.
So rather than focusing right away on some sharp detail,
Instead you're able to see the bigger picture.
Take your time.
Take your time as you transition away from this meditation.
And I hope you can take some part of it with you into your day.
Thank you so much for breathing with me.
Have a beautiful day.
