And let's now join together practicing mindfulness.
Beginning by bringing attention to body.
And the way that we're seated,
Which can help promote a.
Presence center focus.
And so feet comfortably resting upon the floor,
Feeling the support of the floor upon soles of feet.
And dependent upon what your back needs,
You can either be seated in a way that the back of the chair is supporting your back.
Or scooting forward just a little and allowing back to be unsupported.
Either way,
Inviting a rising up of spine towards the guy.
So from the low back,
Mid back,
Upper back,
Up through neck,
In the top of head,
Lifting upwards towards sky.
And a shoulder roll or two can draw some attention to a common area that we carry tension and inviting shoulders to loosen and lower onto ourselves.
Arms draping down from shoulders.
And hands finding a comfortable resting place,
Maybe resting upon thighs or cuffed within lap,
Wherever you find ease and comfort for the position of your shoulders,
Arms,
And hands in this moment.
And Positioning head,
Top spine,
And shoulders.
Sometimes with all the long end computers,
Our head ends up way out in front of our bodies.
Or an additional strain on our neck and shoulders.
Just like you would gently push a drawer back into a cabinet,
Just sliding your head back ever so gently atop spine and shoulders.
Not forcing,
Just finding that comfortable resting place.
Inviting a loosening of jaw.
And lips either gently touching or slightly parted.
And then eyes either opened or closed,
Whichever you prefer in this moment.
And lean in.
To this.
Posture,
This positioning of body that invites a gentleness to body and wakefulness to mind.
As a way of further arriving into body and into this moment,
Bringing your attention all the way down to toes and feet.
Noticing the presence of any tension or tightness and inviting a letting go as best as you can.
Moving your attention now up into calves,
Thighs,
And hips.
Noticing tension and inviting a letting go as best as you can.
Moving your attention now into belly and low back.
Ribs and mid-back.
Chest and upper back.
Noticing tension.
Inviting,
Letting go.
Moving your attention now into arms and forearms and hands.
Notice the intention.
Inviting,
Letting go.
Moving your attention now into shoulders and neck.
And rising up the back of the head.
Notice intention.
Inviting,
Letting go.
Moving your attention forward across ears and jaw.
Rising up across face,
Across mouth and cheeks.
Nose and eyes.
Temple and forehead.
And arriving at crown the top of head.
Noticing tension.
Inviting a letting go.
As best as you can.
And then bringing your attention now to the physical sensations of body breathing.
No need to change or manipulate the breath in any special way.
Trusting our bodies will breathe as needed.
And simply filling your attention.
With these physical sensations,
Perhaps the rise and fall of chest and belly.
With movements of air through nose or mouth.
Filling your attention.
With these physical sensations of body breathing in this moment.
And inviting ourselves to.
Give ourselves this gift of a single point of focus.
And that doesn't mean we don't have any thoughts.
That doesn't mean our focus doesn't drift.
Being human with these minds,
Our focus will drift,
Whether this is the very first time you're meditating or you've done this for decades.
Our minds naturally search for novelty.
And when our minds have drifted away,
Just acknowledging,
Oh,
Look.
I've drifted away.
My focus has drifted away.
Perhaps a better way to frame this up.
And it's not uncommon that we begin to drift into maybe all the things we need to do today.
That never-ending to-do list.
Maybe even some emotional charge comes with that of overwhelm or anxiety.
Yeah,
There's things to do.
That's the reality of our lives.
And in this moment,
Giving ourselves the gift of coming back home once again to the single point of focus,
Body breathing.
We're not discounting or not denying that to-do list and recognizing that to-do list is my future.
And in this moment.
I am practicing self-care.
Breathing.
Observing this unfolding moment.
Which may include my focus drifting away.
And then practicing this capacity to notice the drifting away.
And coming back home to body breathing once again.
Each time we exercise this capacity of noticing the drifting away,
Coming back home.
We enhance this capacity for when we need it the most,
When we do start to feel maybe overwhelmed or anxious.
With the normal experience of chaos and clutter in our lives.
During this practice time,
We further equip and empower ourselves to access these key networks within the brain of focus and calm.
So we can call upon them when we need them the most to fully show up.
And mind and body.
Breathing.
Observing this unfolding moment and all that it contains.
And then exercising our capacity.
To focus on whatever requires our attention in this moment.
Bringing our full selves into the space-time of here.
And perhaps a healthy dose of noticing any judging or criticism or laying on ourselves and acknowledging that.
Inviting a letting go of that in this moment.
And as we're cultivating this space of presence,
What do I need today?
What do I need to invite into this space?
What?
Maybe quality within myself,
I need to call upon.
Bringing that forward.
Leading with us.
Gift or talent that maybe sometimes we leave it by the roadside.
Let's lead with that today into the remainder of our day.
Now,
Opening your eyes if they were closed and inviting back in your surroundings.
And then maybe a little stretch is a way to mindfully begin activity from this place of full presence and whatever gift or quality you found within and are calling upon.
Thank you so much for practicing this act of self-care and modeling that for everyone that you'll encounter today.
It was a pleasure hanging out with you and until we meet again.
May you be well.
Thanks,
Everyone.
Bye now.
