Starting by finding a comfortable upright posture.
Checking your body is symmetrical,
That there is a sense of aliveness in the spine,
An effortless uplift towards the sky.
Spending a little time sensing into the contact between your body and the chair,
And between your feet and the floor.
And then becoming aware of the flow of your breath.
And for a few breath cycles inviting your breathing to become a little deeper,
A little longer,
A little smoother.
And then at a certain point letting go of influencing the breath in any way and allowing the breathing to find its own natural rhythm.
Noticing the sounds that are around you.
Sounds both near and far.
Both natural and man-made.
And whether it be quiet or noisy,
Just as best as you can,
Accepting your environment as it is.
Making peace with your surroundings.
And turning your attention inward and scanning down the body from head to toe,
Releasing whatever tension can be released at this time,
And accepting whatever remains.
So really softening the muscles of the face,
The throat and shoulders,
The arms down to the hands,
The chest and belly,
And the legs all the way down to the feet.
And then expanding your awareness to take in a sense of the whole body.
The whole body sitting here in this particular posture.
And however your body is feeling right now,
Seeing if it is possible to accept and accommodate any difficult sensations,
To make room for whatever is here right now.
Noticing also whatever feelings,
Moods and emotions are here,
Either on the surface or deeper down.
And the state of your mind,
The frequency and the flavor of your thoughts.
As well as the gaps between them.
And whether there be calmness or agitation,
Boredom or interest,
Tiredness,
Energy,
Sadness,
Irritation,
Joy.
Again just making room for whatever is here.
Welcoming your experience as it is.
So whatever your experience may be on any of these levels,
Sounds,
Sensations,
Feelings or thoughts,
Seeing if it is possible just to let it all be as it is.
Perhaps using the breath to open up the space of your awareness so there is room for whatever is here.
Even if an aspect of your experience is not particularly peaceful in itself,
Seeing whether you can at least accept it and relate to it in a peaceful way.
Breathing with your experience just as it is.
Invoking a peaceful attitude in your heart to whatever is arising,
One breath at a time.
And if it feels right,
Perhaps more consciously strengthening this peaceful attitude by saying the word peace or by saying the phrase,
May I be peaceful,
Either with each out breath or with every second or third out breath and noticing the effect that this has.
Saying the word peace in time with the out breath,
With awareness and sincerity.
Invoking peace in your heart.
So sometimes you may feel like you are the one offering yourself this gift of peace or sometimes you may explore being the one who receives it.
And to enhance the sense of giving you might experiment with smiling gently to yourself.
Just a gentle smile on your lips.
And to enhance the sense of receiving you might want to gently rest your hand on your heart feeling the warmth and gentleness of that touch.
And this is just a small stocked miracle idea.
And then for the last part of the meditation,
You may wish to offer this wish of peace and acceptance out to people around you.
Again repeating either the phrase,
May you be peaceful,
Or may we be peaceful,
Or simply the word peace on the out-breath.
So perhaps starting with the people to whom you feel closest,
Friends,
Family,
Or colleagues.
Either imagining them around you as a group or just bringing one or another of them in front of you at any one time.
And perhaps extending this out to people in the town or region where you live.
Again either imagining them as a group or imagining the presence of individual representatives.
Then extending this wish for peace out to people in the country or landmass where you live.
To people in one or another of the world's continents,
Perhaps at this point including animals,
Plants,
And trees.
All beings in the world.
There may be peace on earth.
And then finally sending out a wish for peace and acceptance to all beings in all worlds.
You
