You can prepare yourself for a meditation by finding a posture that feels comfortable and balances alertness with relaxation,
Balances connecting to the ground with rising upward through alignment.
Notice the sensations in your body.
Notice your breath.
Notice what's true for you in your energy and in your emotions.
Just noticing without any criticism or any effort to change it,
Just making note.
Noticing what's present in your mind and thoughts and noticing your sense of connection with what's outside you,
The group,
The world,
Your loved ones,
Ancestors,
And how maybe you sense that from inside you.
And then take a moment to reflect on what in you feels hard to start.
Another way of saying that might be,
What doesn't want to move?
What's something that feels stuck or stagnant?
Just scanning through your mind but also your body for parts that don't want to begin,
Don't want to move,
Feel a little stuck.
And making a real conscious effort just for now to allow them just to be there,
Not trying to change them,
Not making it bad,
Just really noticing,
Compassionate noticing.
And along with this,
You might also notice that there are experiences that feel like the opposite of that.
What doesn't want to be still?
What doesn't want to stop?
What can't stop?
And again,
Compassionately scanning through your sense experience and your mental experience for places of stuck in the on position.
And we'll see if we can bring some balance into the system by supporting the places that can't stop moving to settle into the ground and supporting the places that are a little stagnant and maybe could benefit from some movement to enliven.
And how we can do this is with a little bit of hand drumming.
So if you feel ready,
You can bring your hands flat on your legs.
So one hand on each leg.
And we're just gonna one,
Two,
One,
Two.
So your eyes can be closed or open,
One,
Two,
One,
Two,
One,
Two,
One,
Two.
If it feels supportive,
You can hum a little bit along with this,
Speeding up a little bit.
Just pausing to notice what you feel.
The next one we'll do,
You can bring the hands to the chest,
To the heart area and to the belly.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Noticing if you want to hum a little along with it.
Maybe moving the hands around a little,
Feeling for places where it feels good to have a little tapping and thumping.
Let the breath be nice and deep,
Uncontrived breath.
See if you'd like to speed it up at all.
See if you'd like to change the rhythm or pace.
Make it your own.
And then when you're ready,
You can begin to bring it down the body,
Down the belly,
Down to the legs,
Down to your lap.
Noticing when there's a natural stopping point that wants to come.
As you find your way to the possibility of stillness,
Notice what you feel.
Notice what's here.
And for the last one,
We'll do a crossing the body that this allows the brain to integrate.
It's a little bit of a brain workout anytime that we cross the midline.
So you can do tap,
Tap on the legs and then cross,
Cross.
So the second two aren't making a sound because they're just in the air.
So tap,
Tap,
Cross,
Cross,
Tap,
Tap,
Cross,
Cross.
And then bring it into drumming.
Let yourself be silly and wild if you want to.
Drumming all over your body,
Any points along the arms,
The chest,
The sides,
The back,
Down the legs,
Top of the head,
Into the face.
And then smoothing it out with soft hands,
Brushing it off.
Loving,
Compassionate,
Self-touch.
Swishing it off the body.
And then find a place of quiet and stilling,
Even if you're not ready to be fully still.
The waters of your body may still be sloshing around.
Just noticing whatever's true.
And then bring your attention back to that idea of something that doesn't want to start,
That's hard to get started.
Something that's not ready to move and just check in with it.
See how it is now.
And then check in with whatever in you didn't want to stop,
Couldn't stop,
Wasn't ready to be still or quiet or settle.
And just see what's true now.
Maybe there's shift,
Maybe there's no shift.
And I'll attempt to let it be,
Let it be okay.
Whatever's true.
Just sit with it a little bit longer.
And then gently bringing your meditation to a close,
Slowly opening your eyes.
