I'm going to guide us through a mindfulness exercise to help us gather our minds and settle into silence.
Mindfulness is really an opportunity to bring our body,
Heart and mind together and it's also a way of turning towards silence and listening to our own inner wisdom,
Remembering our connection to all of life.
To all of our ancestors.
Both in the human and more-than-human world.
So let's start.
I invite you to adjust,
To adjust how you're sitting and in your own way,
Finding a posture that allows you to feel awake and at ease.
And once you find a posture that serves you,
Settle in and invite yourself into presence.
That might mean you close your eyes or lower your gaze.
And feel into the intention of connecting to your inner wisdom.
To that unbroken flow of intuition,
Knowingness,
Clarity and courage,
That source of boundless will and determination.
That part of us that is unchanging.
That possesses the highest wisdom and intuition,
Yet also remains a steady presence,
Even in the rough stages of life.
Our own inner light or presence.
You might collect your attention now with the breath.
Invite you to please begin taking four or five slow smooth breaths.
Please breathe in and out through the nostrils,
Remaining effortless,
Aware of your body,
Breathing fully and smoothly and evenly.
Start to lengthen the breath,
Perhaps counting in for five,
Out for five.
Breathing in,
You're bringing energy and vitality into your body.
Breathing out,
Letting go of any tension or stress.
Allow the sensation of the breath to fill the mind and bring your body into a rhythm of restful awareness.
It's natural for the mind to wander.
Each time it does,
Just gently bring it back to the breath.
Continue nice deep in-breath and a nice full out-breath for a count of five.
Allowing the mind to become increasingly absorbed in that rhythm.
In for five,
Out for five for the next few moments.
Now allowing the breath to come back to its natural rhythm.
Noticing the quality of presence that even in a few moments can become stronger.
You can notice presence deepening now as we gently scan through the body,
Bringing awareness and ease to different parts.
It might help to sense the eyes as soft.
Let your brow be smooth.
You might even sense the outer corners of the eyes are smiling.
They're pulled up in a smile and all the micro muscles of your face relax.
You don't have to have any particular sensation,
Perhaps just the slightest smile,
Which is sending a message to the whole nervous system to relax,
To be at ease.
And maybe you can feel that smile on the inside of your mouth and let your tongue relax and feel the lower palate.
Noticing how the sensations in the mouth can come alive with presence.
Feel the throat,
The neck.
You might change the length and the volume and the weight of the arms.
Allow the shoulders to relax and fall away.
From the neck,
Feel the sensations inside the shoulders.
And if there's tightness,
Just imagine and sense it kind of dissolving and letting go.
Bringing your awareness to the arms.
Down to the inside of the hands,
Just softening the hands.
Softening again.
And then noticing what sensations are there,
Tingling,
Vibrating.
You might feel the chest now,
The fullness,
The openness of the chest.
And as you send the breath into your belly,
You might feel it soften.
Allowing this breath and then this one to be received in a softening belly.
Noticing how fully you can sense sensation now deep into the torso,
Relaxing through the whole pelvic region.
Relaxing down through the legs so you can sense the length and the weight and volume of the legs.
Now feeling where the feet contact the floor.
The sensations inside the feet.
And now widen the lens so that you can feel all the sensations in your body at once.
This field of aliveness.
Not stopping anything,
Not controlling,
Not opposed to this ever-changing flow.
This life living through you.
Receiving the sensations through the whole body.
And allowing the mood,
Emotions,
States of the heart.
Receiving everything with a kind presence.
Just as a glass can be filled with water,
This whole body can be filled with awareness,
Tingling,
Vibrating sensation.
Resting for a few moments here.
Into the cycle of life within your breath.
Every inhale a new life,
Every expansion of air the journey,
Every exhale an end.
This rhythm exists within all living things and connects you to them.
Connects you to the sun,
The moon,
The stars,
The grass,
The birds,
The trees and the clouds.
Let your body connect with the earth below.
And feel its steadiness beneath you,
Grounding you and connecting you to all of life.
Pulsing through you,
Warming you from your feet all the way up to your head.
Connecting you to your deepest self,
Sensing the care of your inner wisdom,
Your inner light.
The sensitivity and tenderness and presence of that part of you bearing witness,
Holding here.
Letting be.
Letting life be just as it is.
Sensing how life might want to untangle in this field of caring.
Sensing how life might be if all that arises is met with a loving awareness.
Sensing that connection as well to all of life,
To your ancestors.
Remembering that you are part of this world.
Part of nature,
Taking your seat,
Worthy.
Deeply belonging.
One with the magic.
And you might,
For these few moments,
Come into a real lessening presence as I read this poem by Laura Foley.
Go into the woods and tell your story to the trees.
They are wise,
Standing in their folds of silence,
And they have time.
Time for the swaying of leaves,
The floating down,
The dust.
They have the time for gathering and holding the earth about their feet.
It is something I have learned.
How they will bend down to you so softly.
They will bend down to you.
And listen.
And invite you now just to relax the active present practice and just absorb the experience here for a few moments in silence together.
And when you are ready,
You can dip your head.
Keeping your eyes closed or downcast.
I invite you,
A really nice way to finish off is just to rub your hands together.
Just create a little heat in your hands.
No rush.
And then when you're ready,
You can just gently place them over the eye sockets.
Absorbing this experience.
Absorbing the presence of your own love,
Your own attention.
Your own inner wisdom.
Feeling that belonging to all of life.
When you're ready,
You can gently come back.
Thank you.
