So beginning as we always do,
By choosing a suitable position,
Whatever will work best for your body right now.
Remembering to be awake and alert,
But as comfortable as possible.
Starting to settle into our position,
Becoming aware of the body sitting here,
Becoming aware of the breath,
The natural inflow and outflow of the breath.
Closing the eyes if that's comfortable for you and inviting our awareness inward.
Sometimes it can feel like everything's happening in our head.
It's busy,
Noisy.
You might imagine your awareness slowly moving down from the head all the way down the body,
All the way down into the legs and the feet,
Allowing the awareness to rest inside the feet,
Noticing any sensations in the feet.
However that's showing up for you.
It might be temperature,
It might be tingling,
Buzzing,
And they might feel numb or dull,
And that's fine.
That is your experience.
So if that's how they feel,
Becoming aware of that.
Moving the awareness up the legs,
Allowing it to fill the whole of the legs,
The length of the legs.
Coming up into the pelvis,
Becoming aware of your bottom on the chair or the floor or the cushion,
Allowing this area to receive the support that it's resting on.
Coming up to the belly,
Noticing the breath here.
No need to change it or force anything.
It's already happening.
Just notice it.
Notice where you feel the breath in the belly.
Can you find the deepest part where you feel the breath in the belly as it expands and subsides?
The in-breath naturally spacious and the out-breath naturally relaxing and grounding.
Noticing the spaciousness of the in-breath,
The natural opening of the body as you breathe,
And the natural letting go,
Grounding down as you breathe out,
Allowing the awareness to fill up the whole torso now,
Front and the back and the sides,
Chest,
Ribs,
Shoulder blades.
Can you get a sense of that spaciousness in the torso as it opens to receive the in-breath?
Moving up into the shoulders and letting the awareness pour down the arms,
All the way down into the hands,
The tips of your fingers,
Tips of your thumbs,
Allowing the hands to rest easily.
How do the hands feel?
Inviting our awareness up into the neck and the back of the head,
Top of the head and the scalp,
And down into the forehead,
The eyes,
Cheeks,
Nose and mouth.
If there's any obvious signs of tension,
Just noticing and seeing if you can soften just a little,
Perhaps using the out-breath.
And now gently broadening our awareness to include this whole body,
This field of sensation,
Just allowing everything to be just as it is,
Being receptive to your experience,
Whatever that may be.
If it's helpful,
You can come to the breath as an anchor,
Sensing the breath deep in the belly,
Sensing the groundedness of the breath deep in the belly,
Supporting you,
Allowing our awareness to be open,
Spacious.
You might notice sounds around you,
Just allowing them to appear and disappear,
Noticing perhaps that you don't have to do anything,
The sounds just appear.
And if you've noticed your mind has wandered off in a stream of thought,
Once you notice,
There's something to be celebrated and we can choose,
Choose to come back to our present moment experience,
Back to sensations in the body,
Back to the breath,
Back to the sounds that are happening.
And if a strong sensation in the body or a strong emotion appears,
Feeling free to explore that sensation or emotion.
With kindness,
With curiosity,
Without judgment,
What does it feel like,
Noticing if it changes?
And this spacious,
Open awareness,
Noticing that there's room for this sensation or this emotion,
Resting with our experience just as it is,
Letting go of resistance,
Opening to the moment again and again,
Breath by breath.
And when the sensation or the emotion is no longer calling your attention,
You can come back to the body,
This whole field of sensation that's happening,
All sounds around you.
If you notice any obvious signs of tension,
Again just using the breath to soften,
Seeing if you can let go just a little more,
Resting in this field of sensation,
Resting back in this curious and kind awareness for the next few moments,
And now letting go of any effort,
Doing nothing for a moment or two,
Just absorbing the benefits of the practice,
Slowly introducing some movement,
Gently opening the eyes,
As we bring this practice to a close.
