Coming Home To The Body

We start this meditation by noticing and welcoming anything alive for us right now. We then ground by connecting to the earth and everything the earth represents. We connect with the stillness of the earth and the spaciousness around us, and then start to observe any sensations that we are experiencing in the body.

Finally, we spent a couple of minutes at home in the body and welcoming whatever we encounter.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice of coming home to the body. In the spirit of the radical embrace, I invite you to take a few moments before we start this practice. To just welcome any parts of yourself showing up right now. And just notice them and allow them to be here as they are. Maybe even inviting them to join us in this practice. So there's nothing that need be left out here. So we'll begin by establishing a posture that works for your body. Make sure that you have at least three points of contact in touch with the ground. Where the weight of the body is fully supported, Without straining any other parts, Particularly your limbs, Back, Or neck. Once you're established in your posture, You can begin to notice. Any sensations of pressure? In the parts of the body that are touching whatever you're sitting or lying on. What else can you feel here? Just take some time to explore the sensations. Through these sensations of contact with the ground, We can begin to feel. The earth beneath us that's supporting the body right now. If it's comfortable, You can take a few breaths here, Maybe even a few deeper breaths. As you breathe in, Imagining breathing in the stillness of the earth through the parts of the body that are in contact with it. And as you breathe out, Just feeling how the weight of the body naturally drops into the ground beneath you. And seeing if you can simply allow that to happen. Breathing in that stillness, That deep stillness. Breathing out. Giving the weight of the body up to the ground a little bit further. Through this connection with the earth, We can begin to notice any feelings of connection that we have to all that the earth represents, Other living beings. Our ancestors. Other people who also share this earth with us that we're connected to like teachers. Family, Friends, Community. Other practitioners, Meditators. And as we connect in this way, Just allowing a sense of being blessed by their presence to pervade your whole being. So feeling that connection. And being receptive to any sense of blessings. Allowing that to fill the whole of you. So I invite you now to imagine directing the breath into the very top of your head. Or if you're laying down on the very front of the body. Again, If it's comfortable, Just take a few breaths here to get a sense of. Boundless space of the sky above you, And also the limitless space that stretches in all directions all around us. Even down into the ground. Infinite space. On your next out breath, See if you can allow the body to really soften into the space all around you. If you find it helpful, You might say to yourself, Breathing in stillness, Breathing out spaciousness. Breathing in, Connecting with the stillness of the ground, Breathing out, Connecting with the spaciousness all around you. As we breathe in and out here. Can begin to notice the space of the body. Held by earth and sky stretching from earth to sky. We can begin to open to all the many. Buried and ever-changing sensations coming and going. Within the whole body. From head to toe, Side to side, Front to back. Sensations along the whole length of the body, The whole width of the body, And the whole depth of the body. You can also take some time here to also notice your mood. Any thoughts or emotions that might be here, Impulses, Urges, Any memories that might be floating through the mind? Anything else that's present in your awareness here? And just as we did at the start of this meditation, You can just welcome anything that's here. And notice how it feels to bring an intention to be with whatever arises, However it is. So in this act of coming home, We come home to whatever's here, Allowing it to be as it is. Intention for the body to be a welcoming vessel for whatever might come and go and experience. So for the last couple of minutes here. Just leave you with some space to explore your own embodied experience, How it is right now. And then ring a bell in just a couple of minutes. So in a moment, I'll be ringing a bell to mark the end of this practice of coming home to the body. And the invitation is to emerge slowly and take care of the body as you begin to move. You might wanna slowly stretch or rotate your ankles and wrists or make any other movements or self-touch that feels good to you.