To start the meditation you can first find a comfortable position where you can sit in a relaxed,
A bit awake posture.
And I'd like you to start the meditation with your eyes open.
So taking in your surroundings,
Noticing nature,
Or if you're inside noticing a room,
The floor looks like,
The walls,
Just taking in your environment.
And without labeling things I'd like you to notice shapes.
Recognizing the different things that you can see,
Maybe shapes that you haven't noticed,
Really those with a name,
Like a square or a circle,
And many shapes that don't really have a name.
And taking all that in,
Seeing if you can begin to let go of the names and just appreciate,
Experience the shapes,
And color,
And light and shadow.
And taking it all in,
Maybe already noticing your mind float away,
Then coming back to just what you can see,
What's right in front of you,
Right here,
Right now.
And then beginning to let go of the sight,
Letting your eyes sort of rest,
You might notice your peripheral vision a bit,
Letting your eyes go a bit downcast,
Actually noticing what you cannot see,
Can't see behind you.
And then when it feels comfortable you can allow your eyes to close,
And next bringing your attention to the soundscape.
Noticing sounds that are far away,
You might hear cars in the distance,
Birds,
Sounds of the building that you're in.
They might be sounds that are steady or constantly changing,
Sounds at random intervals or regular,
Sounds that you could put a label or a picture to,
And sounds that appear and go without a label or a picture or connection.
And noticing sounds that are nearby,
The sound of my voice.
And even sounds coming from your body,
So you might hear movement,
Breath,
Digestion,
Even a ringing in your ears.
And there might even be a conversation happening in your head,
Allowing all that to be sound,
Noticing it,
Appreciating the soundscape just for another moment.
And then letting go of sound and coming to the body,
And at first noticing the posture of your body,
Allowing yourself to sit at your full height or release some tension in the body.
And actually maybe noticing if there is tension or unpleasant sensations.
Noticing any holding,
Just making sure that you're in a comfortable position.
And maybe starting with your feet,
Noticing any sensations in your toes,
Bottoms of your feet,
Feet might be in socks or shoes,
You might be barefoot,
Noticing if there's tingling or temperature,
And you might feel softness or hardness of what your feet are on.
You might feel pressure,
Sensations in the tops of your feet and ankles,
Feeling your shins and calf muscles.
And you might notice a change in temperature,
Clothing,
Pressure,
Feeling sensations in the knees,
Thighs and hamstrings,
And feeling change in pressure,
Change in temperature.
Feeling your body sitting on a cushion or continuing to feel the weight of your body if you're laying down,
Sensations in the pelvic area and lower belly.
And these are also areas of tension,
Pelvic area,
Lower belly,
Sometimes we hold tension in those areas.
And also beginning with the lower belly and stomach,
Beginning to feel some movement,
Feeling the movement of the body breathing.
And if you notice closely,
You might also feel movement of digestion.
And feeling tension or holding in the lower belly,
Stomach.
And for now,
You can just allow that to be there.
That's really the part of the core of your nervous system.
And when you are stressed or not completely relaxed,
There's often a little bit of tension in the belly.
So you can just allow that to be there.
And as you go through the meditation and your nervous system begins to relax and let go,
So will that tension.
So beginning to feel both externally around the stomach,
Internally sensations,
You might feel clothing on the body externally,
Movement or other sensations internally.
Feeling the chest expand and release with the breath.
Feeling sensations around your good heart.
You might feel emotion,
Connection,
Love,
Loss,
An area around the heart,
Letting there be any emotional feelings.
It's part of the experience of our body.
And we're just allowing as we go through this meditation,
Not trying to make anything better or worse,
Just allowing and noticing.
And feeling sensations around the shoulders,
Upper arms,
Feeling temperature,
Clothing,
Hands,
Fingers,
Might feel tingling temperature and just letting yourself give your full attention to the sensations in your hands and fingers.
Just when your mind floats away and coming back to really feeling all the sensations in your hands and fingers.
And then again,
Feeling your shoulders,
Throat,
Neck.
It sounds strange,
But you can feel all the way down your esophagus,
Even let that relax and release internally.
Feeling sensations in the jaw,
Around the teeth,
Gums and tongue.
All the sensations around your chin and lips.
All of your facial muscles to relax and release,
Feeling sensations around the cheeks and eyes.
Sensations around the nose.
Maybe the coolness of an in-breath and the warmth of an out-breath.
Allowing your forehead to relax and release,
Feeling sensations there on your scalp.
And then allowing the whole body to relax and release into a stillness.
And then one more time,
Relaxing even deeper,
More deeply into a stillness.
And in that stillness,
You can allow the body to continue breathing.
So it's a felt sense of stillness internally.
But at the same time,
Seeing if you can allow the body to breathe naturally,
Letting go of any tension,
Any holding,
Any intentional movement,
And just letting an involuntary breath happen.
So really you're just watching your body happen.
And if that's a deep breath,
That's fine.
If it's a shallow breath,
That's okay.
It's quick,
Slow,
Long,
Short,
Whatever it is.
Trusting that your body knows what to do and allowing your body to breathe naturally.
So finding that involuntary breathing and savoring the sensation of that breath.
And noticing when your mind floats off somewhere else,
And gently return to just feeling three more breaths.
And then coming back to feeling all the sensations in your body again.
Gaining a global awareness of all the sensations in your body,
Really allowing them to be there.
And bringing your awareness back to sound,
Noticing the whole soundscape.
And then staying in that meditative mindset.
And before you engage your personality again,
Slowly opening your eyes and taking in your surroundings.
And with your visual field,
Still allowing the body to breathe naturally.
When you're ready,
You can take a deep in-breath and small stretch and just sort of enjoy the body and the mind present.
