And at this time,
I invite you to set aside anything that you've been working on.
And shifting from that go,
Go,
Go mode into a mode of presence,
Into a mode of being,
Which will be further facilitated by doing an exercise today.
So let's begin.
And settling into a comfortable posture.
With feet resting upon the floor.
And sometimes we exert muscle tension just out of habit.
And noticing if you are exerting some tension in your legs right now,
That really doesn't serve any purpose.
It's just kind of residual.
And inviting a letting go as best as you can of that tension,
And notice then how that changes the felt sense of pressure on the soles of your feet.
And how the weight of your legs are supported by that gentle pressure of sole of the foot upon floor.
And then bringing your attention up to your thighs and bottom.
And in a similar fashion,
Allowing the weight of torso and upper body.
To be supported by the chair and sort of a feeling a pressure of thighs and bottom upon the chair.
That sense of support.
And then we begin to invite a rising up of spine,
One vertebrae stacked atop the other,
Rising all the way up through lumbar or low back.
The thoracic region or mid-back,
Rising higher up through neck,
The cervical region,
And then up through the crown,
The top of skull.
This lifting,
Rising.
And in this sense,
Again,
Economy of effort,
Noticing if you're exerting muscle effort that's really not necessary,
That we can do this aligning and lifting of spine up towards sky.
And then perhaps a few shoulder rolls inviting a.
Awareness of any tension in the shoulders and a loosening and lowering of shoulders upon torso.
Arms draping down from shoulders.
And hands finding a comfortable resting place.
Bringing attention now up to the placement of head atop spine and shoulders.
And again,
In the spirit of economy of effort,
If our head is kind of out in front of our body,
We have to exert effort in the back of neck.
And if we slide head back ever so gently,
Top spine and shoulders,
Allowing spine to support the weight of head.
Then another very common area that we exert a lot of unnecessary tension and effort is in the jaw.
Inviting a loosening of jaw.
The lips either gently touching or slightly parted.
And eyes either open or closed,
Whichever you prefer in this moment.
And opening to and receiving this.
Felt sense of embodiment.
Remembering this is our home,
Our bodies.
This is how we engage with the world.
And so often we get lost in the chatter of mind.
Coming back home to this direct felt sense of embodiment in being's presence with present within body.
In a way of further deepening this felt sense of being in body is through the sensations of body breathing.
Or do you find it easiest to make contact with and notice body breathing?
Perhaps the rise and fall of chest and belly.
And sometimes it can help to invite in a little fuller breath,
Not forcing,
Just inviting a little fuller filling of our lungs down into the base.
And then how the release just happens on the other side of the breath.
A way of making this felt sense of embodiment a little more palpable with a few fuller breaths.
And then trusting our bodies will breathe as needed,
Allowing breathing to fall into a natural rate and rhythm.
And recognizing that at some point our focus will drift.
Typically into thoughts of the past or thoughts of the future.
That's okay.
That's what our minds tend to do.
When we notice our focus has drifted,
It's an opportunity to practice suspending judgment and striving.
We're not trying to get anywhere other than this moment.
And so when we notice our focus has drifted,
Suspending the tendency to judge ourselves,
We're not doing this thing,
Right?
There's no way to fail at meditation.
Just gently,
Kindly ushering focus back to body breathing once again.
Today,
I happen to be home guiding this meditation as opposed to in my basement office and I have the window open.
And unlike yesterday and likely later today when there'll be this.
Very strong experience of heat.
That's where around 9,
500 degrees.
In this moment with the window open,
I'm experiencing cool morning air.
And what that is reminding me of is this tendency to rush by the pleasant and the enjoyable to get on to the other stuff in life.
So as I.
Allow myself to be receiving the pleasantness of this cool morning air.
I invite you into this receiving pleasantness space as well.
What physical sensations in this moment do you find to be of ease and pleasant?
And directing your attention to not only noticing,
This experience of pleasantness.
But truly receiving it in this moment.
Drinking it in.
Letting that be our task in this moment instead of all the other stuff.
Giving ourselves the gift of not only acknowledging,
But drinking in whatever is pleasant in this moment through our sensory doorways.
And at some point when your focus drifts away from acknowledging and receiving this pleasantness,
Just acknowledge,
Oh,
I've drifted away.
And then with gentleness and kindness,
Coming back.
Receiving pleasantness again.
The other thing we begin to notice in this moment of receiving pleasantness is that being a sensory experience,
It is transitory.
May find it actually grows bigger and more present.
At some point,
Though,
It'll begin to fade away.
Noticing what is the tendency when this experience of pleasantness begins to fade away.
Sometimes there may be a grasping or clinging to and just noticing that occurring as well.
And we can always take one step further back and broaden our field of awareness to take in what's unfolding.
We always have body breathing as a.
.
.
Place of coming back home,
Of resetting,
Recalibrating in a sense.
And even as the pleasantness fades,
There is an opportunity for practicing gratitude for the whatever joy or experience of pleasure we just had.
Sense of being grateful.
Or a moment of pleasure and joy and happiness.
That's really all there is,
Just moments of that.
And we tend to want to cling to.
And so gratitude helps to ease us into the next moment.
And see what unfolds in this next moment presenting.
So inviting ourselves for the remainder of the day to take these pauses,
Getting out of our heads,
Getting out of doing and tasks in a moment of What pleasantness is waiting there for us to experience it,
To rink it in through our sensory doorways?
And also a moment of gratitude,
Either for the pleasant experience or for something else in our day.
Now opening your eyes if they were closed and visually taking in your surroundings.
Maybe a little gentle stretch or movement as a way of transitioning back into.
Doing.
From a place of presence.
So thank you,
And until we meet again,
May you have a peaceful day.
Bye now.
