Hello and welcome.
This meditation practice is one that I like to call coming home.
It's a practice of allowing yourself to become your own safe space,
Your physical,
Emotional,
Spiritual home base,
If you will.
Life is often unexpected,
The world around us uncontrollable,
But when we allow ourselves to be our own home,
There's no place that we can't find safety,
Security,
Balance,
And ease right here in our own bodies and breath.
So as we begin this practice today,
I'll invite you to find whatever looks like a comfortable posture coming into your own version of a seat.
Maybe this is on a meditation cushion or a chair,
Maybe sitting upright in your bed.
Beginning by finding a posture that feels naturally uplifted,
Letting the shoulders stack over the hips and the ears over the shoulders,
Finding a lengthening through the spine and a softness in the heart space.
And if it feels good to you today,
Allowing the eyes to gently close,
We're letting the gaze soften down maybe a few feet in front of you on the floor.
We'll begin and end our practice today with the sound of three bells.
And just allowing the sound of the bells to draw the mind right here into this present moment,
Seeing if you can hear all the reverberations of the sound,
Following it until you can't hear it anymore.
And as the sound of the bells fade,
Drawing your awareness into the shape of your body in space.
Perhaps giving the muscles permission to soften a little here,
Relaxing tension and feeling the gentle pull of gravity towards the center of the earth,
The heaviness and weightedness of the body.
Noticing what's alive for you,
The visceral tactile sensations.
Perhaps the places the body contacts the earth,
The feelings of pressure,
Warmth,
Moisture here.
Maybe aware of the touch of your clothing,
The feelings of warmth and coolness.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm.
And inviting yourself to begin feeling the breath moving in the body.
Let's take just a few conscious breaths here together.
Finding a deep inhale through the nose.
Begin to feel the body lift and expand.
Maybe exhale with a soft sigh through nose or mouth,
Inviting the body to soften,
To relax and to let go.
Take two more breaths this way.
Ah.
Feel ready,
Allowing the breath to return to a natural,
Uncontrolled rhythm.
And right here,
Feeling the way the body breathes for you.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Letting your awareness rest in this whole space of body and breath.
Know the aliveness that's constantly coming and going.
Just seeing if you can be here with the welcoming,
Accepting,
Gentle attitude.
Not pushing away at anything that arises here.
And as you sit awake in the body.
We're going to play with the visualization of welcoming yourself home to your own being.
And beginning by imagining whatever room contains the front door of your home.
Maybe you imagine yourself,
Just as you are now sitting in that room.
And seeing the door in front of you.
Its color and shape.
And as you sit,
You hear a knock at the door.
With your mind getting up from your seat,
You begin to make your way to the door.
Feeling the texture of the floor beneath your feet.
Reaching softly.
Feeling the hold of the handle of the door.
Feeling the coolness of the knob in your hand.
Gently turning the knob.
Hearing the creak as the door opens.
You see yourself standing on the other side.
Perhaps you're dressed in exactly the way you are now.
Perhaps there's a feeling of recognizing yourself,
The emotions that you have in this moment.
And without hesitation,
You find yourself inviting yourself in.
Welcome home,
Dear one.
As you enter the room,
Closing the door behind you,
Offer yourself an embrace.
Hold yourself here in some way.
In whatever way comes naturally.
Perhaps you reach for a hand.
Or wrap your arms around yourself tightly.
Perhaps you place your forehead to forehead.
Or cheek to cheek.
And again,
Offering yourself the words,
Welcome home.
Knowing you are safe here.
You are seen and loved.
You are welcome to be exactly as you are,
Moment by moment.
And so from this space,
Opening back into body and breath.
Releasing the visualization.
And coming back into what's alive in you right here with the same invitation to be home.
And right here to take off the masks that you wear day by day.
To let go of the person that you're trying to be.
And to see yourself just as you are in this moment.
And to hold that being here with love.
With tenderness and compassion.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And to be here with the person that you are.
And each time you find yourself lost in thought.
Letting that moment be the one where you again welcome yourself back home.
Welcome home,
My dearest love.
Maybe with a soft smile.
Maybe opening to whatever is alive in your body and your breath.
Maybe softening any tension.
Maybe you are here with the person that you are.
Maybe you are here with the person that you are.
Maybe you are here with the person that you are.
Maybe you are here with the person that you are.
Maybe you are here with the person that you are.
Maybe you are here with the person that you are.
Maybe you are here with the person that you are.
As you rest in the safe sanctuary of your own being.
You can find a playfulness,
An openness to whatever arises and touches the space of awareness.
Welcoming not only sensations and breath,
But emotions and feeling tones.
Sounds.
Opening to all the sense organs all at once.
And resting softly in the flow of life's river and all that's coming and going moment by moment.
And all that's coming and going.
And all that's coming and going.
And all that's coming and going.
And all that's coming and going.
And all that's coming and going.
And all that's coming and going.
And if you find yourself deeply grounded in the present moment.
At home in the aliveness of your body.
We can even be spacious enough to allow thoughts to be a part of the present moment experience.
Watching as just like a sensation,
Thoughts arise and dissipate all on their own.
It's only when we find ourselves hooked or caught in the reactivity of a thought that we make the intentional choice to let go.
To return home to this body and breath.
And welcoming yourself back to the tenderness of your own heart.
And opening to what's here.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
Letting this practice become a real opportunity.
To know yourself more deeply moment by moment.
To feel intimately what it means to be human and to be alive.
To know the nature of your mind.
Like the experience of falling in love.
Coming to know another person.
Can we hold ourselves here in that same regard?
With the desire to know yourself deeply.
And to welcome yourself to be exactly as you are.
Perfect and whole in every moment.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
I see you,
Dear one.
And in this moment,
I love you exactly as you are.
No need of change or fixing.
You are worthy.
And.
And.
I thank you deeply for taking this time with me today.
