Let's begin by bringing the eyes to a gentle close.
Softening the jaw.
Opening the hands.
And for this practice,
I'm going to invite you,
If it feels comfortable in your body,
To rotate your palms upward.
Letting your hands rest wherever they be.
And letting yourself gently draw the shoulders back so the chest and the area around the heart can be open.
Taking a moment to notice how does this posture feel for you.
And allowing yourself to relax into the breath.
And as you take the next couple of breaths,
I'd like you to bring to mind something in your life that is difficult.
Not the most difficult thing or the most painful.
Perhaps no more than a four or five on a ten point scale.
It might be an obstacle you're running up against.
A circumstance that you're unable to change.
Something that's already happened,
Perhaps,
Or a behavior of another person you cannot control.
Let your mind pick one thing.
It doesn't matter what it is.
And as you take a few moments to sit and breathe,
Allow yourself to notice what it feels like to hold whatever this difficulty is.
But to hold it in this way where you're accepting it as embodied by this gesture in your hands,
In this pose.
You're not clenching around it or pushing it away.
You're seeing it clearly and making a little bit of room for whatever feelings it might bring up.
All the while as you think about it,
Keep releasing tension in the jaw.
The hands soft.
The area around the heart open.
Seeing the notion of yes,
Here it is,
Reality.
And practice being with things as they are.
Noticing subtle ways of tightness is creeping back into the body,
Using the exhale,
Prolonging it if needed to let some of that tension go.
Your body,
An expression of radical acceptance.
Helping support the mind and heart arrive there too.
If you notice that this practice is challenging or that tension just keeps coming into view,
Let that be part of what you accept as well.
Continuing to invite,
To soften with the breath.
Taking a few more breaths to complete the practice.
Seeing the imprint this practice has left.
When you're ready,
Gently bringing your awareness back.
