Allowing the eyes to close gently if that's comfortable,
Or finding a gaze point somewhere down in front of you.
And allowing the attention to begin to reside inwardly.
Just taking a moment to acknowledge whatever might be here,
The mind,
The body.
The activity and residue of the day.
Moments leading up to this one.
Or the anticipation of what's to come.
And then gently acknowledging whatever it is that is here as you arrive to practice,
Let the attention honor this and connect to the sense of the body as it's sitting right now.
Checking in with the various points of the body that allow for support,
Groundedness.
And also allowing awareness to connect to the parts of the body that are engaged and upright and alert.
Really sensing into the embodiment of taking one's seat to practice.
And gently allowing the awareness to connect to the breath.
Allowing awareness to take notice of the qualities of the breath.
Noticing the breath as long or short,
Maybe smooth or choppy.
No need to change or force the breath in any particular way.
Just letting awareness abide in the sense of the breath as it's unfolding.
And to moment awareness of just this breath.
And if movement away from the breath arises to thinking,
Sense of figuring out or planning or rehearsing.
Or maybe it's pulling to the environment sounds,
Experiences passing by.
Whatever it is that arises and captures the attention,
Just noticing it with a sense of gentleness,
A sense of no need to judge.
And gently choosing to let the attention come back to the breath.
And then now allowing the attention to shift in focus from an awareness of breath and letting the awareness begin to investigate thinking.
So first bringing the attention to the place in the body where the mind resides,
The sense of the head,
Where the brain sits supported inside the head.
And first maybe just gathering the awareness to take notice of the sensation qualities of this region in the body.
To really begin to let the awareness reside into the thinking landscape.
And to allow awareness to begin to open into observing thought.
So in the same way that we can watch the breath arise and fall away,
Seeing if you can take notice of the arising nature of thinking.
Noticing this thought here as it is now and sensing into the nature of it just as it is if it's a thought that feels exciting or challenging or difficult.
Noticing what it's like to observe this and allowing it to pass away.
Sometimes it's helpful to use an image to observe the landscape of thought.
So if this is helpful,
Sensing that thoughts are as clouds passing by in the sky.
And if we're lying on the ground watching the stream of cloud pass by,
We can just let it be.
Taking whatever shape,
Whatever form,
Whatever color or texture it is,
Just letting it be known and let go.
So noticing if any particular thought is bright,
Some sense of excitement or shape or texture to it that you may want to follow and seeing if you can let go of that and just notice it as it is in the moment.
You might notice that a particular thought feels heavy or looming,
Dark,
Rough.
Noticing what this is like and releasing from needing to push it away,
Just allowing it to be.
The residing in awareness of thought as it is in this moment arising,
Being known and felt and passing away.
And if you get caught following a thought,
Chasing a thought,
Pushing away a thought,
Just noticing if this arises.
And no judgment of it,
Just residing back into this felt sense of an awareness of and watching of thought.
Now gently allowing awareness to shift from focus of observing thought and now allowing the awareness to focus observing and connecting to the breath.
Seeing the rhythm,
The movement,
The qualities of the breath as it is here now.
