I invite you to begin in a comfortable seated position or lying down on your back.
Closing down your eyes,
Fluttering your eyelids,
Or maintaining a soft gaze.
Let's focus on breathing and setting an intention.
A couple of minutes later,
I invite you to take a deep breath in and out.
Let's focus on breathing and setting an intention.
A couple of options for an intention are,
I am open,
I am calm,
And I am enough.
And if I choose the intention of I am open,
I may say to myself,
My mind,
Body,
And spirit are one,
And I am open.
And if I choose the intention of I am calm,
I may say to myself,
I have faced storms much stronger than this,
And I am calm.
And if I choose the intention of I am enough,
I may say to myself,
I am enough and my body is enough.
Realizing that meditation is a practice,
Even if I allow myself to move to the outer edges of my comfort zone in this challenging time,
I commit and promise to myself to stay firmly planted within the inner limits of my safety zone,
And I am enough.
Moving through a couple of breathing styles,
Let's start out first in breath awareness,
Simply recognizing the breath in the body as it enters,
And recognizing the breath in the body as it releases.
I like to call this breathing style a zero judgment breathing style,
For it is unnecessary to change anything in breath awareness.
So let's simply recognize where the breath is in the body as we inhale,
And recognize where the breath is in the body as we exhale,
Allowing for at least three breaths in each breathing style,
Recognizing that everyone has a different breathing pace.
Let's simply draw our attention to the breath as it flows into our body,
And watch the breath relax as we surrender to the release as it flows out of the body.
Now I invite you to picture your children in your classroom in your mind's eye as you inhale,
And send them all of your love and respect as you exhale.
Let's move into a couple of breaths together as a community,
Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth,
Creating an audible ha sound on the exhale like the breath of a lion or a lioness.
The second time picturing your students in your mind's eye,
I invite you to breathe in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest,
All the way to the crown or the top of the head.
Holding the emotions of your classroom as you inhale and sending your community strength and dignity as you exhale.
A third time,
I invite you to picture your silliest,
Most rambunctious or funniest students as you breathe in,
And send them all of your humor and care as you exhale,
Honoring their unique spirits of individuality.
Settling into the meditation,
I invite you to move through your entire classroom,
Calling to mind the face of each student,
Picturing their deepest emotions and their deepest needs during this time,
And visualizing them receiving everything they need as you exhale.
Now let's bring our focus once more to the breath as we breathe in through the nose and out through the nose,
Centering ourselves into this Ujjayi warrior or victorious breath as we move even deeper into the meditation.
Calling to mind our students and drawing from a deep inner knowing that we carry as teachers,
That place of innate knowledge and wisdom that comes from spending time on a regular basis with the same beautiful souls that we are holding in our hearts right now,
Not only sending them our lessons from the classroom,
But also lessons from the heart.
Moving through a three-breath sequence and victorious breath,
And at the same time sensing if there is anything else we need to offer to ourselves or to our students,
Recalling that we can only serve from a full cup,
Honoring and celebrating ourselves at this moment for providing ourselves a much needed pause for recovery and rejuvenation.
Now let's move through a breathing technique called breath retention.
And I invite you to use this breathing tool virtually now or physically later as you rejoin your students back in the classroom.
Breath retention is a breathing style that you can use anytime you need a self-reset,
In meditation,
In work,
Or in life.
Let's start by breathing in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the crown of the head,
Pausing at the top of your own to your own breath count,
Sipping in a bit more air at the top of the inhale,
Then releasing and relaxing as you exhale.
A second time,
Let's breathe in together from our low belly to our ribs to our chest all the way to the top of the head,
Traditionally pausing from three to ten seconds at the top of the inhale,
Sipping in even more air,
Then releasing and relaxing as you exhale.
A third time,
Using our lateral or side body breathing to breathe in deep and wide from the low belly all the way to the crown of the head,
Pausing to your innate breathing pace,
Sipping in as much air as you humanly can,
And then releasing and relaxing on the exhale.
Now I invite you to come back to your Ujjayi breath or breath awareness.
And focusing your attention on the center of your heart,
I invite you to picture a warm light glowing there.
And on your next inhale,
Sending this light from your heart to all of your appendages,
Fingers,
Toes,
And the crown of the head,
And then sending this light on your exhale in a warm and protective sheath around you,
To your personal calming and soothing space,
Next to your loved ones near and far,
Then to your neighborhood,
Next to your community,
Then to all of the students whom you have ever been in contact with,
Then to your entire planet and your entire world,
Allowing the light and goodness you have within you to spread to everyone whom you encounter in your mind's eye,
Giving guidance and protection to everyone you picture in your past,
Present,
Or future.
And I invite you to slowly bring back some of the life into your body,
Wiggling your fingers and toes,
Giving everything a little wiggle and a little twinkle,
A little light and a little love,
And carrying the light and goodness with you throughout the rest of your day,
Knowing that you are loved,
You are supported,
And you are strong.
With deep gratitude for everything you do,
The light within me sees,
Honors,
And loves the light within each of you.
Namaste.
