My name is Stephen Downey and you are very welcome to today's meditation.
The intention of this meditation is to let go of any stress or pressure or uncomfortableness you may be feeling after your day.
So finding a comfortable seated position or maybe lying down whatever feels most comfortable to you just gently close your eyes take a big long deep breath in and on the out breath just releasing any stress any tension you may be feeling just feel your body naturally letting go.
I'm going to try that again just one long slow deep breath in holding it and then let it out.
We're going to begin today's meditation by just touching in with our breath getting a sense of where our breath is today in this moment feeling the natural rhythm of your breath as you inhale and exhale.
If it feels comfortable you may even put one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly just to get a sense of the in-breath and the out-breath not getting distracted in any thoughts or any thinking just coming back to the breath to the sensation the gentle rise and fall of the abdomen getting a sense of the rhythm of your breath right now and as you feel that out-breath just relaxing you deeper into your seat or your cushion just touching in with where your body is resting noticing any areas of tension maybe there's discomfort just with each out-breath just visualizing any of that tension just melting away leaving your body feeling more at ease every out-breath every release as you breathe here become aware of maybe the sounds around you not giving them any particular story just letting them come and go not holding on to any particular sound but just becoming aware of your place within the sound allowing each sound to create a sense of spaciousness again just acknowledging any thoughts that may arise bringing yourself back to your practice tanking yourself for the discipline to let go if the thoughts are strong today you could you could imagine them just as leaves floating down a stream just appearing and then gently drifting away as you remain observing these thoughts as you might shift our attention just to any sensations you may feel it could be a sense of warmth coolness on the skin what sense do you get as your abdomen just gently rises and falls with the breath maybe using these physical sensations as a an anchor to this moment as we again just allow any of those thoughts just to float by as we expand our image of sitting by this bank as the river flows by and maybe a tree nearby that's releasing all those leaves into the river just getting a sense of the tranquility of nature breathing in this beautiful scene around you just letting it wash over you nothing to do and nowhere to go just resting here in this beautiful spot if you haven't done already just keeping that hand on your heart and just taking a moment for you just offer yourself unkindness repeating in your mind may I be safe may I be happy may I be at peace may I live with ease just acknowledging how you've navigated through this demanding day acknowledging that it's okay to give yourself the care you deserve perhaps asking yourself in this moment what do I need to give ourself just a few moments of silence in this beautiful place we have created ourself again just bring yourself back to this moment if you feel yourself drifting again let whatever allowed you to drift float away like leaves in a river just returning back to our breath to the sense of our heart as we start to transition back into the room just carry with you a sense of calm a sense of presence that you've cultivated in this moment always remembering that this practice is always available to you whenever you need to connect just thanking yourself for this time to nurture your well-being your well-being wishing yourself peace and ease in the moments ahead as you may just take a long slow deep breath in and just let it out ever so slowly and doing so we may just wiggle our toes and our fingers and if you need to just take a big long stretch overhead returning into the room maybe gently opening your eyes if you feel comfortable to do so if you're lying down maybe just turn into your side and give yourself a few more moments before you get up just thanking yourself for this moment knowing that times of difficulty these moments are always available to you to recharge with all it means to be you as we return to the rest of our day thank you for joining us thank you for creating this space for you and today namaste
