Get yourself into a comfortable physical position,
Allowing your shoulders to relax,
Allowing your jaw to relax.
Allowing your forehead to soften and smooth.
Begin to notice your breathing.
Don't change your breathing.
Don't take deeper breaths.
But just notice air filling your lungs and leaving your lungs.
Feeling your body begin to release any tension that you are experiencing.
And when you breathe in,
Breathe all the way down to the base of your spine,
Breathing down into your hips.
When you breathe out,
Elongating the spine and breathing out through the top of your head.
Breathing in and down into your hips and maybe even all the way down to the soles of your feet.
When you breathe out,
Breathing out and up,
Elongating the spine,
Breathing out through the top of your head.
And feeling the body settle into the music and feeling your mind settle into itself.
And now with your body grounded,
Feeling the strength and energy from the earth below you.
Noticing the energy coming from the earth and noticing the energy of your body reaching down to meet it and feeling the connection with the earth.
Feeling the energy of the earth meet the energy of your body.
Feeling to bring your body an even more sense of calm.
And noticing now that the body is reaching a level of relaxation that your mind may have a little space to wander.
And accepting that that's okay.
This meditation process isn't a process of clearing the mind,
But an opportunity to be present with what you're experiencing in this moment.
To be.
To be present.
And if it's difficult to let go of any thoughts,
Bring your attention back to your breathing.
Bring your attention to the music.
Bring your attention to my voice.
Because you're Japan and you can see this Convocation from here on out.
And bringing the mind,
The body,
The spirit,
And the music all together as one.
Present in this moment.
If you find yourself thinking of something that happened earlier today or something that happened years ago,
Come back to the present.
Find an anchor point in the present.
Maybe it's your feet grounded on the floor.
Maybe it's the music.
Maybe it's your breathing.
But find something that you can hold on to in this moment that keeps you from going into the past or going ahead into the future.
Finding yourself in the past or the future will only bring you more thoughts and emotional responses.
So find an anchor point in the present.
Sometimes it's helpful if you put your hand on your chest or your stomach and just have that physical connection with the breathing.
And as you connect with the present,
As you connect your mind and body and spirit and music,
Connect with the positive energy around you.
Bring to your mind something positive that you've seen happen today.
Maybe it's not even something that you've done.
Maybe it's something you just saw that you thought was very positive.
And now bring to your mind something that you need.
Is it peace?
Is it gratitude?
Is it discipline or motivation?
Bring to your mind what it is positive that you need,
Something you could use.
And when you have that thing,
Say it out loud.
There's power in naming things,
Choosing to say it out loud.
You're a step closer to getting that positive thing when you name it.
So engage with that power that you inherently have and name the positive thing or maybe it's many positive things that you need.
And taking a few moments to engage with the feelings around this thing that you've named.
So so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so
