Welcome to this mindful morning practice,
Which will help you start your day with calm,
Mindful awareness and self-kindness,
And help you approach the day ahead with conscious intention and choice.
I recommend doing this practice seated,
But lying down is fine too.
So to begin,
Settling into your posture.
Taking the time to get as comfortable as you can.
Feeling the solid base of your posture.
Rising up through the spine up to the head.
So that your posture is like a mountain,
Still,
Sturdy.
Unshakeable.
Embodying the intention to be relaxed and at the same time alert.
And it can be helpful to take three deeper breaths,
Just to help that feeling of settling and arriving.
With a feeling of letting go on the out-breath.
Feeling the body settling into stillness.
And as you're beginning the practice,
Maybe just noticing what's present for you here this morning.
How are you doing?
Noticing how the body is,
What emotions are present.
And how the mind is.
Just noticing what's here as much as possible without judgment.
And now bringing your awareness to the lower half of your body.
To the places where your weight is supported by the floor or the chair or cushions.
Feeding those points of contact,
The sensations in the body.
And the sense of relaxing,
Letting go into that support beneath you.
And now,
Bringing your awareness to the sensations of breathing.
Wherever it's most comfortable for you to notice the breath coming and going.
And if you're not sure,
Then I would recommend the belly.
Bringing the awareness into the centre of the body.
And very lightly with a sense of ease,
Just noticing the sensations in the belly as the breath comes in,
The belly expands.
A little pause before the out-breath.
And then the pause before the next in-breath.
Just following the changing pattern of sensations in the belly as the breath comes in and the breath goes out.
And maybe bringing to mind some of the wonderful foundational attitudes of mindfulness.
The sense of kindness towards yourself,
Treating yourself as you would a best friend.
And as much as possible not judging your experience,
Not judging yourself.
And then the quality,
The attitude of beginner's mind.
A sense of open curiosity about your experience.
What is this breath like in this moment?
And the attitude of non-striving,
A sense of allowing things to be just as they are.
Not trying to change the breathing,
Not trying to change our experience.
So not trying to push away an unpleasant experience and nor clinging to pleasant experience.
But as much as possible a sense of embracing our whole experience just as it is in this moment.
And this allows the possibility of a sense of peace with things just as they are.
So following the breath all the way in.
And then the out-breath all the way out.
And then the pause before the next in-breath.
Just this breath coming in,
This breath going out.
And inviting a sense of sinking deeper into the stillness of the body as the breath gently comes and goes.
A sense of relaxing,
Letting go into that stillness.
And of course,
At some point,
Your awareness will get drawn off into thinking.
And knowing that that's completely normal,
It's just what our minds do,
And knowing that we can't get this practice wrong,
It's just a practice.
So when we notice that that has happened,
We just gently and with this sense of kindness towards yourself,
Bring the awareness back to the sensations of breathing in the belly.
So this mindfulness of breathing helps us to come into the present moment,
To be aware of our experience,
Aware of the sensations in the body as the breath comes and goes,
Aware of whatever emotions and thoughts are present.
And as much as possible a sense of allowing all of that to be just as it is in this moment.
With this sense of returning to the sensations of breathing to help us come back to this present moment.
And the sense that it's possible to be aware of emotions and thoughts without getting pulled into the story.
So coming back to the awareness of the breathing gives you a place to return to,
A sense of coming back to yourself,
Not getting pulled away into stories which may be about the past or the future.
Just being aware of this breath coming in and this breath going out.
And now inviting you to introduce some loving kindness towards yourself as you notice the breath coming and going.
Relating to yourself as you would to a best friend.
So sending yourself loving kindness,
Wishing yourself well.
Knowing that you are completely deserving of loving kindness and unconditional care.
And you can use some phrases to support that sense of sending yourself loving kindness.
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful.
May I live with ease and kindness.
Just repeating those phrases softly to yourself,
However often feels good for you.
Or choosing other phrases if that's better for you.
So in the stillness of the posture,
The breath coming and going,
And this sense of wishing ourselves well.
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful.
May I live with ease and kindness.
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful.
May I live with ease and kindness.
And now for the next part of the practice,
Inviting you to bring to mind the day ahead of you.
Maybe there are particular parts of the day,
Particular events that are important.
Maybe some things that you're really looking forward to.
Maybe other things that you're not looking forward to so much.
And the invitation is to bring a sense of conscious intention to this coming day.
How can you resource yourself as you approach this day ahead?
May be reminding yourself of these attitudes of kindness towards yourself,
Non-judgment,
Trusting that you have what you need to meet this day ahead with kindness towards yourself and others,
With compassion and with wisdom.
And the wonderful serenity prayer can be very helpful as we look ahead to the different things coming up today.
May I have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Such a helpful piece of wisdom.
Recognising that there are things in our life that we cannot change.
What things lie ahead of you today that you can't change,
That are beyond your control?
And what things can you control or influence?
It can be so helpful to recognise that one of the things you can't change is other people.
But what you can change is yourself and how you respond to situations and to people.
And that's where the wonderful resource of mindfulness comes in.
Helping us to be aware,
Especially aware of what's going on inside you.
And with this awareness,
Mindfulness gives you the space to pause and choose how you respond to what happens as your day unfolds,
Rather than reacting in autopilot,
In an automatic knee-jerk kind of way.
So you can bring this wisdom and sense of clarity and choice to your day.
Taking a bit of space now to reflect on your day ahead and setting an intention to meet your day with purpose,
With clarity,
With kindness towards yourself and with wisdom.
How would you like this day to unfold?
How would you like particular events in the day to go?
What is beyond your control and what is within your control.
Remembering that the most important thing that you can influence is yourself.
Your mindful awareness,
Your beliefs,
Your attitudes,
Your ability to pause and respond creatively rather than react unhelpfully in autopilot.
And maybe there's one particular inspiring word or phrase that sums up how you would like to approach this new day.
Just see what comes to mind.
Or maybe there's a particular quote you love that would inspire and support you today.
And finally,
To close the practice,
Bring to mind three things for which you feel grateful.
Maybe placing a hand on your heart as you do this.
Just allowing whatever comes to your mind,
Three things that you feel grateful for as you begin this new day.
