And just arriving into your seat,
Into this moment,
And right away setting down the day,
Setting down work,
Setting down life,
And just let the awareness arrive with the breath.
Noticing right away the quality of the breath,
The texture of the breath,
How it's moving through the body.
Noticing how the breath brings you into yourself,
And maybe at least momentarily down from the mind.
And we'll do some counted breathing here,
Inhaling and exhaling for a count of four.
So on your next inhale,
Let it be for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Three more,
Inhale for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Just letting the breath find its normal rhythm.
Noticing,
Again,
The quality of the breath,
How the breath moves through the body.
Perhaps a little space that you've made in your experience and in your mind by simply focusing your awareness on the breath.
Now,
You can place the awareness wherever you choose within your experience and awareness will be brought to that space,
So bringing the awareness to the legs.
And can you use the awareness to soften and release from hips down to toes,
As if you could intentionally set your legs exactly where they are.
Placing the awareness at the hips and into your seat,
Can you set yourself completely into yourself?
And just for right now,
There's nowhere to go,
Nothing to do.
Your only work,
So to speak,
Is just to be where you are.
And then placing the awareness at the midsection.
Again,
Using the power of the awareness to soften and release,
To set down.
And placing the awareness at the heart.
Settling yourself into this seat,
The only place you can ever really be.
Letting the awareness gradually fall down the arms and into the hands,
And opening the hands as if to receive the wisdom of yourself,
Of the moment,
And of stillness.
And finally,
Placing the awareness through the headspace,
Letting the physicality of the headspace soften,
The face,
The jaw,
The gaze just settled within yourself.
And of course,
The mind.
Noticing with the awareness,
Your own thinking mind.
Differentiating between the you that is aware and the thoughts themselves.
And so the awareness now,
Having brought the quality of presence into your experience,
You can use the awareness now to imagine yourself floating down the river of life,
Completely supported on the river,
Water,
Maybe an inner tube of sorts.
And that the more you just soften into where you are,
The easier the ride becomes.
You can imagine passing by tall trees and small shrubs that indicate the happenings of your life.
And every event that you have ever experienced is now like a tree on the journey of your life.
And as you look around you floating down this river,
You can see the reflection of yourself.
In every event,
In every person,
In every circumstance,
And also in every tree.
And the sun shining down on you and the warmth of the air.
There are aspects of yourself and all that has been.
And so in your float down this river of life,
The less you fight the current,
The better.
The more you allow yourself to be supported,
The better.
The more you find yourself in every circumstance or person or experience,
The more you understand who you are.
And so it is as if the entire scene of this river is ultimately you.
Lessons to be gained,
Reflections of aspects of oneself,
Blind spots and foresight,
Past and future versions.
And so in all that you see from the tall trees to the small shrubs to the river,
We can always ask,
What part of this is me?
And so can be said in life,
In all experiences,
In every person we meet,
In what challenges us and what makes us better.
We can ask internally,
What part of this is me?
And maybe much of the point of the journey of the river itself is simply to reveal us to ourselves.
And we may find the reflection of strength in the tall trees.
We may find the warmth of presence in the sun.
That we may find the ease of flow as we soften into the current of the river.
And the nature of change in every passing moment.
At an even a second's difference.
Much may seem the same.
And still much has changed.
New trees,
A different positioning of the sun,
A different quality of the current.
And slightly different within ourselves.
Now we ourselves are always changing and unfolding and becoming as we flow down the river of life.
Which too is always changing and unfolding and becoming.
The more we simply soften to the flow,
Without resisting,
Without clinging,
The easier life becomes.
The more we are able to simply enjoy the ride.
The more present we become with every changing moment.
Wherein we can find ourselves in all of it.
In the tall,
Strong trees.
In the shifting experiences.
In the people who challenge us.
And those who bring us peace.
In the warmth of the sun.
And in the changing nature of life.
And so suddenly instead of life being something we try to control,
It transforms into a mirror of sorts.
A journey of becoming.
To find ourselves.
In every single thing.
And so each moment becomes then an opportunity to find more.
When the river feels easy.
And too when it feels difficult.
When we feel moments of bliss and ease.
And also when we are challenged.
And we can see it all as simply an opportunity.
And to master the art of going with the flow of life.
We are the tall,
Strong trees.
And we are the warmth and presence of the sun.
And we are also the changing nature.
Of the journey itself.
Always subtly different.
Always becoming.
Giving yourself three rounds of breath here to anchor back into.
And then taking all the time you need to slowly reawaken.
