Let's make ourselves comfortable.
And we'll take a couple of deeper breaths as we bring our attention inwards to our body and our breath.
When we breathe in next time let's make our spine a little bit taller,
Our neck in line with our spine.
And exhaling we're going to soften the muscles of our face,
Our shoulders and settle into our seat a little bit.
So we're a bit alert and we're a bit relaxed.
Making sure our body's comfortable somewhere it can be still for a little while and having a little fidget if we need to.
Focus your attention on the breath and the body as we settle.
We're going to use a cleansing breath today.
And you can imagine it getting rid of both physical things in our body that we don't want like any stale air at the bottom of our lungs but you can also imagine any negative feelings,
Emotions,
Thoughts going out with that big out breath.
So when you're ready to exhale we're going to exhale really thoroughly and blow as much air out of our lungs as we can.
Then we're going to take a big deep in breath and fill our lungs as much as we can comfortably.
And then we can let it go when we're ready.
And we'll rest after that because there is a possibility we could get a little bit dizzy.
Hopefully not we'll just rest for a moment see how that feels.
Hopefully it's invigorating as we oxygenate our body.
So if you'd like to we'll do it again.
We can imagine exhaling physical and energetic anything negative and drawing in energy and positive feelings.
So in your own time exhaling thoroughly emptying the lungs as much as we can comfortably.
And then drawing in the air into the deep lung and the rest of the lungs filling the chest and then exhaling when we're ready.
And rest.
Just noticing how that feels.
This is a useful breath to use if you've been in an atmosphere that isn't very healthy maybe car exhaust or a very stale atmosphere in a room for example.
You can go outside find some cleaner air or if you've been sedentary or even ill and you haven't moved for a while it's useful breath in those circumstances.
If you would like to we can do that once more.
Exhaling thoroughly.
Inhaling fully.
And exhaling when you're ready.
Observing how it feels.
Exhaling with our breath and our body but being observant of any thoughts that come along.
Everything that comes along.
So we're sitting being with open awareness and our practice here is to welcome whatever comes along.
If it's thoughts often we're trying to push away our thoughts if we're in meditation practice.
Can we notice our attempts to push away?
Can we welcome everything?
So if there's things that are irritating us maybe a physical pain maybe an irritating noise in each whatever it is we notice and welcome it as part of our experience in the now.
And if it's difficult in any sense can we have compassion for ourself as we practice?
Are we inclined to push away distractions?
Label us right and wrong.
Let's welcome it all in this practice.
Let's welcome it all in this practice.
Maybe we're frustrated because we don't have an itch or a pain or a loud buzz.
And I'll justirens with for me.
And in this state of openness,
Open awareness,
I invite you to bring to mind a problem,
Maybe not the biggest problem in your life,
Some difficulty that you are willing to put on the workbench of your mind and take a good look at.
If something pops into mind that might be the right choice.
And with a willingness to have a look at this issue,
We place it on our workbench.
Do we notice ourselves pushing it away and somehow resisting its presence in our life?
And may I suggest that instead of criticising yourself for that,
That you feel compassion for yourself.
How do we resist having this problem in our life?
Maybe we go to endless lengths to shift it,
Change it.
Can we feel love for ourselves in that case?
Maybe we wear ourselves out.
And if we do,
Let's feel more compassion for ourselves,
Not less.
And if it all gets a bit much,
You can stop looking at your problem,
Take a break.
That's okay.
Be gentle with yourself.
As you experience the difficulty,
Does this send us into overwhelm sometimes,
When it all gets a bit too much?
Our awareness shrinks just into our pain.
Take a breath and love yourself more,
Not less.
Haven't had the courage to examine that difficulty.
We can congratulate ourselves a little bit.
Not on me.
It's not easy sometimes.
We might look at something we're trying to bring into our lives.
Something we find ourselves grasping.
So it's okay,
Human nature,
To bring things we want into our lives.
But are there things that we do in a way that's out of balance?
Where again we exhaust ourselves,
Expend endless energy.
Even if there is,
Let's see how it feels to have compassion for ourselves.
Holding in your awareness these difficulties,
These things we resist,
These things we grasp,
I offer you the opportunity for this moment to put them down.
Maybe you can imagine them putting them down on the floor in a basket you're going to deal with later and rest at peace with what is.
Not forever and a day,
Just now.
To surrender to this moment.
Not only allowing things to be as they are.
Maybe we can even try opening our arms and welcoming.
Maybe not.
Knowing that in surrender there is peace even in the midst of the chaos.
Ah.
And then it does us good to surrender our burdens from time to time.
And you may find that your worries sneak back in that you've picked them up again without noticing.
You can put them down again.
We can take one or two deeper breaths.
And as we gradually return to our regular state of mind,
Let's have awareness of what we pick up.
Of the burdens we're carrying.
And how often we might choose to put them down and rest.
Particularly if they're heavy.
And we might also set the desire to carry them with awareness,
With consciousness.
That is in balance with our own energy and our own wellbeing.
So taking deeper breaths and reanimating our body.
Our toes and fingers,
Our wrists and our ankles.
And having a little stretch if that's for you.
Thank you for practicing with me.
