Welcoming Things As They Are

So often, we are trying to fight the world and blame the system or someone else for our problems. Or we are trying to fix and change things about ourselves because we feel that something is wrong with us, other people or the world around us.

As you learn to practice meditation, you can begin to allow and accept things to be just as they are in each moment, which can then bring you a sense of peace from not having to run away or fight anything anymore. But that takes time and practice. With iRest, we learn to welcome and embrace what's there, rather than reject, blame and fight it, or ourselves and life. As you learn to accept things as they are. Eventually, a kind of magic can happen; changes can take place within yourself and your life as you make peace with what has gone on.

Here is a short practice to start working with the idea of welcoming: to embrace what is there and be with it so you can start to find the undamaged stillness behind it all.

Transcript

A short settling in meditation practice.

Let's just take a few moments now to tune in to ourselves,

To settle.

Turn off anything that might distract you.

Take a few moments to start being with yourself.

Make yourself comfortable in the chair,

On the bed or surface you're resting on.

Supporting you.

The eyes can remain open or closed as we start to get used to just sitting with ourselves,

Just as we are.

Nothing to fix or change.

Just being with what's there,

As it is.

Breathe out.

That's with a sigh or a slow exhale through the lips.

And do the jaw.

Let the body drop onto the surface that it's resting on.

Gravity and out-breath.

And just let the out-breath lengthen,

Slow down.

You might imagine you're just breathing out slowly through a straw,

If it helps.

At the end of the out-breath,

There's a slight pause.

And just let an in-breath come in through the nose,

If you can.

Slowing down the out-breath.

Out through the nose or the mouth,

Whatever's most comfortable.

Let an in-breath come in and just happen almost effortlessly,

By itself.

Connecting to the breath.

Feeling the sensation of the body.

The breath is breathing the body.

Experience the body and the breath as sensation.

Sense how the breath can act like a natural soothing or calming.

An in-breath and a pause.

An out-breath and a pause.

Just at your own pace.

And thoughts to come and go.

Feelings coming and going.

Just let the body be breathed.

Basic practice of just sitting with yourself.

Feeling the body connecting to the breath.

The body being breathed.

This short practice is complete.

When you're ready,

Just let the eyes open if they've closed.

Move the body.

Just notice how you feel.

Difference of taking a few moments to connect with the body and the breath.

Tune into something deeper behind it all.

And just carry on with your day when you're ready.