This is a sitting with difficulty practice.
And taking your time to find a weak full and comfortable posture.
So the spine is erect but not stiff.
Shoulders are relaxed and open.
And the head is up and balanced.
Allowing the eyes to be closed or just allowing the gaze.
We are not trying to achieve a special state with this practice.
Perhaps just consciously setting some intentions of this practice.
Being kind,
Being gentle and letting go of all your habits,
Of striving to do things well.
Just allowing the experience as it is for moment to moment.
So when you are ready,
Just bringing the awareness to the contact point.
It may be the feet on the floor or the thighs and buttocks on a chair.
Or the hands are touching on the laps and moving close to the sensations.
And seeing if it's possible to feel grounded,
Stabilized.
At a certain point,
Just bringing the attention to the breath.
Noticing the sensations of breathing in the different parts of the body.
The air comes into the nostrils and down to the back of the throat.
And some gentle movements of the chest,
Then moving to the belly,
The rising of in-breath and falling away of out-breath.
And noticing where you feel the breath moving most vividly.
So wherever this place is,
Just remaining here,
Sensing here.
And zooming in some details of the sensations.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Noticing the full duration of in-breath and the full duration of out-breath.
Perhaps also a small pause between in and out.
If the mind starts to wander,
It's totally fine.
Just noticing where does the mind go.
The daydreaming,
Reflections,
Worries or something else.
And gently but firmly bringing the attention back to the breath.
The sensations of the in-breath and out-breath.
And when you are ready,
Expanding the attention,
The awareness to the body as a whole.
From top of the head,
Out to the fingertips and down to the toes.
The whole body is sitting here and breathing.
Noticing some pleasant sensations.
Perhaps the warmth,
Comfort,
Lightness,
Relaxation or something else.
Moving close to the sensations,
Honoring them,
Savoring them.
Perhaps you may also notice some unpleasant sensations.
There are two options.
Firstly,
You can just adjust your posture.
But remembering to bring awareness to the details of the movement.
So it can be a part of practice.
On the other hand,
You can also allow this experience to be here.
And sensing the unpleasant sensations.
Perhaps also connecting with your anchor.
Making a wise choice for yourself.
And expanding the awareness to the body as a whole again.
The whole body is sitting here and breathing.
So whatever happens to you,
You can always choose to return to the body or the anchor.
So when you are ready,
I'm inviting you to practice being with the difficulty.
If you feel uncomfortable or very hard to do this practice,
You can always return to your anchor,
Your body.
So at a certain point,
Just noticing if you have any trouble thoughts,
Emotions at the moment.
It can be the worry,
Irritation,
Boredom or something else.
If you do not have this at the moment,
Perhaps bringing the awareness to a difficult situation that you had before.
It doesn't need to be a big one.
Just a small one,
But rarely presses your button.
And moving close to that situation,
The thoughts and emotions.
But always remembering you have another choice.
You can return to your safe place,
The body or the anchor.
If you feel very overwhelmed,
Very emotional.
And noticing if it's possible to find what are arising in the body with these thoughts and emotions.
Perhaps the shoulders,
The chest,
Stomach,
Hands or somewhere else.
You may notice the tightness,
A sense of tensing and breathing.
And giving these sensations some places,
Allowing them to be here.
Perhaps also saying to yourself,
It's okay not to like this.
It's okay not to like these unpleasant sensations.
Breathing into this part,
This part of the body.
Opening and softening.
And at a certain point,
You can choose to continue to do this practice.
Explore the difficulty or just return to the anchor or the body if you need.
Always remembering to make a kind and wise decision.
So when you are ready,
Widely expanding the attention to the whole body.
So the whole body is sitting here and breathing.
The body can be an anchor,
Stabilizing ourselves.
And taking your time to open the eyes if they are closed.
Feeling the transition from practice to the normal life.
Thank you.
