So for the meditation today we'll sit in a position that feels comfortable and stable.
Whether you're on the floor in a chair in the chair like I see all of you're doing it's nice to sit with your legs in front of you your feet flat on the floor.
Sometimes I even slide forward in my chair I don't even use the back myself so I'm actually holding up my own body.
I find that just that little bit of it's like independence of the body not kind of completely resting on anything it allows the mind to be a little more awake.
And with our eyes closed we just take a minute to almost like an inventory check.
All right so you close your mind you close your eyes and you just take a second to see where your mind is where your body is just kind of seeing how you're doing sometimes in the busyness of life.
We don't really have the time to do an actual check in.
Seeing how your body's doing,
Checking your emotional state,
Seeing what that's connected to.
Is there something specific that you've been kind of stressing about or thinking about or worrying about or excited about or happy about?
Is there a story a really present story that's kind of affecting you at this moment in time or do you feel pretty good pretty neutral pretty present?
Again just acknowledging that acknowledging what's going on.
I say almost just being a witness to it.
It's easy when we see something that we want to grab it we want to try to change it fix it shift it but we've been doing that all day long all day long we've been very very very busy usually just ends up in us feeling really exhausted.
So let's instead of trying to change anything just give ourselves a break.
Taking this break we take three deep breaths in through the nose filling the body completely out through the mouth.
Breathe deep in fill the belly see if you can even feel the sides of your body your back really breathe in fully and then out through the mouth exaggerated exhalations just release that deep out breath through the mouth it's like a biological cue for the body lets it know that it can relax like a sigh we can start by feeling the body as we sit here just feel the body sitting here does that feel like even though our eyes are closed we have a perception of that body perception of the shape we can actually feel our clothing our hair we can feel the chair the floor and just feeling the body feeling the shape of the body feeling the body sitting here there's some places that the body the feelings are going to be more accessible and present yeah sometimes we can really easily feel like our hands or the clothes touching our body where our feet are on the floor our eyelids or mouths but maybe there's some harder places to feel maybe areas on our back the outside of our cheeks noticing that there's some places of your body that are more activated with awareness and maybe some places that are less accessible you can even do a little bit of a body scan going down from the head towards the feet just kind of scan your body and just see what are the parts of my body that really stand out my ability to feel them and kind of taking notice oh actually I don't really feel underside of my chin it's that about so again this is just being a witness this is being passive but we're also starting to build up karma we're building up momentum the momentum of being a witness being an observer we're building up in this process the momentum of being non reactive of being presence and of accepting what it is we're feeling without trying to shift to change it run away from it so as we're scanning through the body and feeling the body we're just working on letting go releasing contentment just pure beingness see if you can be with the body if you notice the mind jump up in the thoughts as soon as you're aware that that happened just kind of come back to being with the body it's just our building up a little bit of a different energy in ourselves so it's great to feel the floor beneath you I find that's very grounding as cliche as that sounds very grounding very stable maybe our mind is like a monkey but our feet can be like a mountain so where are we putting our attention are we putting our attention on the racing thoughts are we putting our attention on the stability beneath us yeah what you focus on becomes your reality so as we breathe why don't we feel our feet on the ground or if we're sitting on the floor just feel the ground beneath you and not just feeling the ground but getting that sense of grounding groundedness heaviness solidity it's very constant continuous you can keep your mind right there on the sensation of the ground and it just stays it's actually quite a relief to be able to rest the mind on something that's not changing breathing in we relax breathing out we let go breathing in relaxing breathing out let it go relax the body relax the mind just breathe relax let go ah just acknowledging that relaxed peaceful feeling however much of that has come in allow yourself to breathe into that feeling breathe into the relaxation into the peace let it collect let it grow it's like we're allowing ourselves to take a bath that energy of relaxation allowing ourselves to unwind we've been really wound up for a while it's unwind happiness ending suffering that means we're allowed to enjoy this this is allowed supposed to actually feel good it's like we're taking a little vacation vacation from our lives a vacation from our minds if you'd like you can feel yourself breathing breath is a pretty simple pretty basic and relaxing practice it's a function it's happening all the time since you were born you've been breathing also gives us a really nice place just to rest the mind it's already happening without us let's just watch you air flowing in air flowing out breathing softening you it feels so good just to relax and breathe there's nothing else to do just rest you learning to be right where we are simplicity of the space feeling the breathing flowing in and out through the nose if you feel restless at any point you could just come back to the feeling of your feet on the ground or the ground beneath you again this is just an unwinding process there's no real goal just unwinding loosening allowing things to get softer more spacious deep breaths are also helpful to clear things out resetting the mind you feels so good just to relax you can smile if you'd like to just let yourself enjoy this you you you Coming back to the feeling of the ground beneath us.
The feeling of the body sitting here.
This connection.
We can take a moment placing our hands on our hearts or if you'd like a hand on the heart and a hand on the belly.
Whatever feels good.
Just take a moment to be there for yourself emotionally as well.
Just to feel this peace in a deeper way,
A more connected way.
Taking a few breaths.
Feeling the warmth of the hands on the heart.
The beating of the heart and the hands.
I love myself.
I'm here for myself.
I see myself.
I see you in there.
I'm here for you.
I love you.
I hope to live my life in a way that brings you happiness.
That I protect you and give you joy.
Because I care about you.
I care about myself so much.
Sending ourselves this love.
Pledging our allegiance to ourselves.
We can breathe.
We can drop our hands and we can feel for the room.
Wishing the same love to the other people in the room.
Turn our palms upward.
Hands resting on our knees,
Thighs.
Just holding the space together and wishing everybody in this room,
May all of you be happy.
May all of you be safe and well.
Just as much as I want happiness,
All of you want and deserve happiness too.
May we all find it together.
This is the same to our families and friends.
Really everybody on this earth,
All animals too.
We all just want happiness.
We all want love.
We all want to be safe and protected and cared for.
May we be agents of this love.
May we take love as the top priority.
Care as the top priority.
Friendship as the top priority.
May we all be there for each other.
Three deep breaths in through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
We can rub our hands together until our hands are warm.
Place our hands on our eyes.
You can rub our faces,
Our eyes,
Our ears.
We can rub the back of our necks and shoulders.
Give ourselves a little massage.
You can rub down the body,
Rub the back.
Get some warmth in there,
In the kidney area.
Down the hips,
Legs,
The knees.
Stretch out.
You can open your eyes.
Just take your time to slowly return.
