Feel for a moment what it's like to be without having to rush to get somewhere,
Without having to try to figure anything out,
Without even having to try to keep yourself safe in this moment.
There's no way you can do this wrong.
It's not a right or wrong.
It's just an allowance,
Giving yourself permission to be in a different state of being.
One where you're more tapped into your heart and less tapped into your thoughts.
Your thoughts are still there.
They'll still come and go.
For a few minutes you have the opportunity to practice seeing your thoughts as they arrive,
As simply a thought,
The thought,
Without making meaning of it,
Without believing it.
You can shift into that space of being the observer.
And you do that by finding an anchor point.
And this anchor is the place that you let your awareness return to over and over so that when thoughts come,
You know where you can go back to so you don't get swept away in the storm.
So first I invite you to just feel the weight of gravity in your chair.
Just noticing where you feel heaviness.
Notice if perhaps you can feel yourself sinking a little more deeply into your chair.
Notice what it feels like to let your attention be in your body.
Noticing gravity holding you here.
Noticing the weight of your hands and the weight of your feet.
And just resting for a moment in the feeling of presence that is anchored into your body,
Into the feeling of being held by gravity.
And then let your awareness come into your upper body and start to notice your spine.
Noticing the base of your spine and letting your awareness come up the length of your spine,
All the way up to your neck.
And just feeling the center line in your body.
And seeing if you can find the center line in your body by feeling into the middle of your physical body in between your back and your stomach,
In between the right and the left sides.
Noticing if there's one particular place that feels more center,
Central.
And finding the center line,
Letting it become your anchor for a few moments.
Letting yourself feel balanced,
Letting yourself feel centered,
Letting yourself feel anchored in your body in this moment.
And from the center line,
Begin to become aware of your breath.
Perhaps you feel the breath moving in the center.
Perhaps you feel it in your abdomen,
Expanding and contracting.
Or in your chest,
Rising and falling.
Or in your nostrils,
Cool air coming in,
Warm air flowing out.
Not trying to change your breath or alter it in any way,
But just simply resting in awareness wherever you experience the sensation in your body of breathing.
Noticing if as you focus on your breathing,
You start to become more relaxed.
You might even feel sleepy or tired.
It's because we're activating the parasympathetic nervous system,
Signaling to the body that it is safe to rest and to digest.
No need for fight or flight.
Knowing that you're not going to fall asleep,
You don't have to fight to change anything in your experience to make it different or to be meditating any better.
This moment,
However the breath is,
Is perfect.
And then begin to let your awareness come down into your hands.
And notice what sensations are here for you now in your hands.
Notice the temperature.
Are they warm or cool?
Are they dry or clammy?
Is there any tingling,
Any other sensations?
Can you feel pressure or gravity?
Letting yourself anchor into the present moment through your awareness of your hands,
Here now in your body,
Observing it with curiosity,
With openness,
With compassion.
No need to change or fix or force.
Just allowing your hands to feel however they feel and then lowering your attention to your feet and allowing your feet to feel however they feel and shining the light of awareness onto them.
How do they feel?
If you have on socks,
Can you notice where they're touching your feet?
Are they warm or cool?
Do they feel tense or relaxed?
Noticing the pressure of your socks,
Of your shoes,
Of the ground.
Noticing the bottoms of your feet and allowing yourself as you breathe out to let anything you don't need to carry with you go out the bottoms of your feet,
Soaking back into the earth.
She is strong enough to hold it all.
And then as you breathe in,
Let yourself be filled with the life force,
With the pure energy,
With the goodness of the earth.
And just allow it to come up and fill your body with nourishment,
With ease.
And then just resting for a moment in whichever awareness is most natural for you.
Either the hands and feet,
These touch points,
Or the breath,
Or the center line,
Or gravity.
Wherever your awareness can rest most effortlessly,
Just let it go there.
Let yourself feel grounded in your body and grounded in the present moment.
