Present moment awareness practice.
So just taking a few moments to settle into a posture that feels stable,
Comfortable,
Maybe moving the body a little just to find a way of sitting where you have a sense of ease.
Ensuring that the back is straight but not rigid and the belly and the front of the body is soft.
So just seeing if we can allow ourselves to really be here.
Just settling into stillness.
Letting go of the day as best we can and gathering up the threads of distraction that might be pulling us into the past or into the future.
Just arriving,
Landing softly into this present moment.
So as the body comes into stillness and into a place of rest,
Seeing if we can allow the mind to also rest.
As if the mind can drop into the centre,
Into the core of the body.
Just like a pebble dropping into a still lake.
So there's nothing that we have to do and there's nowhere that we have to go.
Really allowing ourselves to rest into this present moment.
So we might begin by bringing our attention to signs that are emerging outside and inside the room.
Just opening our hearing and letting the signs fall into the ears.
So without seeking them out,
Just letting them arrive,
Landing in the ears.
Noticing the volume,
The frequency of the signs.
Being curious about the texture of the signs.
So not getting lost in evaluation and analysis.
Not wondering whether we like or dislike the sound.
Or getting lost in the story of where the signs are coming from.
Just simply experiencing the signs as vibrations travelling through the air.
Perhaps also noticing the silence in the room.
The quiet,
Peaceful stillness.
This may be the first time you have experienced silence today.
Just noticing what silence is like.
And allowing the body to rest into this silence and this environment of sound.
Bringing awareness to the light in the room.
Or if the eyes are closed,
The quality of light behind the eyelids.
Sensing into all the tiny muscles around the eyes and noticing how they experience light.
Becoming aware of colour,
Patterns,
Shape.
Feeling the movement of the breath in the body and resting in this world of sound and light.
Sensing the slight uplift in the body as we breathe in and the gentle pull of gravity as we breathe out.
Bringing awareness again to the posture.
Maybe moving,
Adjusting slightly.
Being sure of comfort but adopting a pose posture that is dignified and alert.
Noticing if the mind has got caught in thoughts or planning.
Maybe become distracted by things that we have to do later or things that happened earlier in the day.
And just very gently coming back.
Loosening the mind from this pool of thoughts.
Dropping back into the body.
Back into this place of stillness and rest.
Bringing awareness to the body sitting here.
And just checking into where the body makes contact with the floor or the chair,
The cushion.
Scanning through the body with our attention and breathing into any tightness or holding.
And in each out breath allowing for a quality of release.
Releasing any tension or tightness as best we can.
Arriving into this present moment.
Coming home into this present moment.
With whatever is present for us right now in our bodies and our minds.
And now bringing awareness to the breath.
Just noticing how is my breathing right now.
Maybe having a sense of its depth and speed as it enters and leaves the body.
There's no need to change how we breathe.
We've been breathing our whole lives.
So we don't have to make any effort or try to breathe in any particular way.
Just allowing the body to breathe and to settle into its own natural rhythm.
Staying with the gentle movement of the breath.
Following the in breath for the full duration of the in breath.
Following the out breath for the full duration of the out breath.
Following in breath.
Following out breath.
Finding where the breath feels most present in the body.
So it may be in the belly or the chest or in the nose and mouth.
So wherever it is just resting here.
With this movement of in breath and out breath.
Allowing the breath to nourish the body.
Allowing the body to release any tension.
So there's nothing that we have to hold on to.
This is my present moment experience.
I am alive to this moment.
