If you're already settled in your posture,
Just taking a few deep breaths,
If that's comfortable for you.
So the practice of three deep breaths,
Three being a placeholder for however many feels supportive to you just now.
Can just help us land a little bit more in the body,
In ourselves,
In our intentions and on the ground.
So with the next breath,
Inviting the awareness to settle in the places where you're in touch with whatever you're sitting or laying on,
The points of contact.
And really feeling that support beneath you.
Allowing the body to begin to give its weight up to the earth,
Gravity.
Noticing any softening,
Releasing,
Dropping down,
That might happen in response to connecting with the ground.
Allowing the body to be held by stillness,
Steadiness,
Safety even.
And then from here,
We can appreciate the integrity of the upper body rising into space towards the sky.
Or if you're laying down,
The whole front of the body softening into space.
You might even feel into the expansion that naturally comes as you inhale.
The whole body expanding into space.
And as you exhale,
Maybe just a little bit more dropping down into ground.
Inhaling,
Softening,
Opening,
Being receptive to this space,
Stretching infinitely in all directions.
Exhaling,
Allowing yourself to be supported.
And then when you're ready,
Just finding the breath.
It could be as simple as allowing sensations of breathing to be known in awareness.
Allowing awareness and breath to find each other.
And merge.
So we're using just enough effort to direct awareness and begin attending to what's here.
All the changing sensations throughout the whole body as we breathe.
The raw sensation.
The changing qualities of the breath.
How does it feel?
Attending with curiosity.
And then you might notice yourself getting caught up in thinking,
Or distracted by a sensation.
So just appreciating the clarity of that moment.
And then again,
Just applying enough effort to redirect and reattend to the breath.
Coming with awareness.
And then coming home to here.
And being with what's here.
So practicing presence and availability.
Here and with.
So feel free to hang out with the breath as long as that feels creative and supportive.
There's also an invitation to begin to broaden out the awareness to include the whole body breathing.
And just again,
Applying enough effort to see if we can notice any sensations here that have the taste of freedom.
Yummy sensations.
Where the body is saying yes to what's here.
Could be as subtle as just a little bit more contact with the ground that feels good to you.
Or tingling sensations way out on the edges of the skin.
Or a softening in a place that you habitually hold tension.
Sense of expansion,
Opening.
Ease.
And if there's anything like that happening,
Then the invitation is to begin to rest the awareness there and dwell within the sensations.
Coming home to the goodness here.
And allowing these sensations to continue to move and change,
You might even invite them to grow and spread into other parts of the body without trying to make anything happen.
Staying with them as long as they last and then maybe returning to the breath for a little while or going,
Looking for any other sensations that feel good to you.
Continuing to dwell within them,
Enjoy them even.
And then it may be that as we continue to deepen into these pleasant sensations,
We can also become aware of a sort of deeper sense of wellness within ourselves,
An okayness,
Contentment,
Peace,
Relief,
Ease,
Joy even.
Could be like an energy that's flowing somewhere in the limbs or the central channel.
Might be a sense of just even more dropping down and opening,
Expansion.
So here we're beginning to open to the energy body and the pleasantness of the energy that's flowing here.
The bliss energy.
And then the invitation here is to see again if we can rest within it and dwell with it,
Allowing it to move,
Change,
Grow.
And the same way we were doing with the pleasurable sensations.
Could be as simple as just feeling a little bit better just now.
A little bit more here.
And if at any point it starts to get a bit too much or overwhelming,
You can always come back to the ground as a resource or space or self-touch.
Starts to feel intense.
You might open the eyes and have a little look around.
Take a few deeper breaths.
And then begin again when you feel ready.
If you're struggling to find anything pleasant in your experience,
It's fine just to stay with the breath.
Very simple,
Just attending to it as it is with an openness to what might happen next.
So feel free to keep hanging out with sensations of okayness,
Wellness,
Joy even.
Staying curious to how it is to allow yourself to have that experience.
And there's also an invitation to begin to get interested in the quality of heart-mind just now.
If we sense a bit more absorption,
How is that?
To be able to be here with all of what's coming and going in the six months,
To be able to make senses and not be as thrown about by that.
Tuning into any stillness,
Steadiness,
Openness that's here.
Clarity,
Sensitivity.
Perspective.
Sometimes described as a perfectly round sphere on a perfectly flat surface.
No boundaries,
No obstructions,
Just potentiality.
How is that?
So here we're practicing with resting back more and more in awareness while also not making a problem out of anything that might arise within that awareness.
Sensations,
Thoughts,
Images,
Emotions can all be here and be known clearly as they are.
No problem.
Sensing into any feelings of freedom or liberation that might be.
Just beginning to emerge here in this resting back.
And for the last couple of minutes here,
Inviting an even further dropping of any effort that you might be making,
A further trusting in this awareness,
Resting back in the fullness of what's here,
The aliveness of body,
Heart,
Mind,
The raw sensations.
Just letting it all flow through.
You could imagine you're a bit like that sea anemone in the very rich,
Warm tide pool,
Just gently swaying,
Totally open,
Receptive here,
Soft,
Soaking up the goodness.
So in a minute,
I'll be ringing a bell to mark the end of this practice.
The invitation is to do whatever is supportive as you emerge from the formal practice.
