Whether you close your eyes or you keep them gently open in a downward gaze,
Choose either one,
Whatever supports you.
Maybe shrugging the shoulders gently to the ears and then letting them slide down as a way to soften the body and arrive.
Turning the awareness inward.
Whether you're seated or standing or reclining,
Noticing the posture of the body,
The places where it's touching,
Whatever you're connected to.
Noticing the rise of the spine out of the deep low back to the crown of the head.
Tucking the chin ever so slightly to open the back of the neck if that's comfortable for you.
And then softening the front of the body all the way from the forehead down through the face,
The chest,
The belly.
Making some space to breathe.
Just breathe and know your breathing.
Welcoming yourself into this time of practice in the company of others.
Arriving and settling.
Meeting this moment just as it is,
Just as you are.
Just meeting it.
Arriving.
And as we continue to arrive and settle into our practice together this morning,
Noticing if there's any intention that you have for your own practice,
Perhaps remembering why you came today.
What was that motivation?
What is it that keeps bringing you back to Sangha time after time?
Or is there something more specific about this morning,
This time,
Whether it's afternoon or evening,
But about this practice time?
Is there an intention for this moment?
Just see what bubbles up.
There doesn't have to be.
Just an inquiry.
Just returning to the breath,
The sense of sitting,
Standing,
Being as you are.
Meeting it.
