Welcome.
Let's take some time together to just ground down,
To take a few moments to settle if the body or the mind is feeling a bit chaotic.
Let's start with something simple,
Just like the breath.
Feel it come in.
Feel it empty out.
Just notice the body breathing,
The sensation of the body filling up with air,
The body emptying out of the air that it no longer needs.
Let's take a few deep breaths together.
Come to the very bottom of your next exhale.
When you're prepared to breathe in,
Take a full deep breath in and pause once you're full of the breath.
And then a slow release of the breath out.
Pause once you're empty of all that breath.
Again another long,
Full,
Deep breath in,
Filling up in all directions and then holding for a moment at the very top.
Letting the body surrender as you let the breath go.
An acknowledgement of the body,
Empty of the breath.
Again you draw the breath in,
From the bottom to the top,
From the front to the back,
From side to side.
And you feel the body contain the breath.
And a patient,
Relaxed release of the breath out.
Exhale pause once you're empty.
And then settle into a rhythm of the breath that feels natural and soothing to you.
Just allow the body to settle,
To release.
Begin by noticing all of the external sounds that are around you.
Maybe there's a hum of electronics,
Voices and footsteps of neighbors or cars on the street,
Birds.
Maybe you hear others around you in some form,
Inside,
Outside.
And now start to tune into the silence that's around you,
Shutting off all the external sounds one by one,
Almost like a light switch.
So all you can focus your hearing on is your own internal rhythm of the breath and the sensation.
Settle into the awareness of your inner experience.
What am I experiencing right now?
What thoughts are drifting by?
And see those thoughts as drifting,
As moving along.
You witness them,
You acknowledge them and then allow them to continue on,
To keep moving by.
What am I feeling right now?
Calm?
Stressed?
Happy?
Aggravated?
Relaxed?
Ambivalent?
Maybe you're grieving,
Something's agitating you or maybe you're just unsure of what it is that you're feeling right now.
That's perfect too.
Are there any physical body sensations here right now?
Do you feel anything in your body that's tensing up?
Maybe there's some place that you feel sore,
Some place you feel strong.
Are you bracing anywhere?
Do you feel soothed?
You might even find that different body parts experience different sensations.
Bring awareness back into the physical sensation of breathing.
Feel the breath in the belly,
The abdominal wall rising and expanding with each full breath in,
And the belly slacking back towards the spine as it empties the breath out.
Feel the breath all the way in and all the way out.
Use the breath to anchor into staying within each moment.
If the mind wanders away from the breath,
Which it will,
We're human.
Just gently escort your attention back into the breath,
Back into sensing the breath coming in and observing the body,
Letting the breath go.
Then expand your awareness of your breath even further still into a sense of your body as a whole.
Your body is resting down on the ground.
The weight of your limbs,
The expression on your face,
The air on your skin.
If you become aware of any sensations of discomfort,
Tension,
Maybe even a bit of resistance,
Draw your awareness there by breathing into them on the breath in and then letting the breath out loosen from those sensations.
You might find that they feel a bit softer or they might even open a bit when you breathe out.
Use this expanded awareness to return to over and over to settle into the calmness of your mind to recognize the sensation of breathing,
The way it's connected to your whole body,
How it feels.
Let's stay on this breath for a while.
Return to the sensation of breathing,
The feeling of the chest rising and falling,
Waves of the breath following along the belly.
Take a full deep breath in and as you breathe out,
Taste your breath.
And for the sound of the body breathing,
Take another full breath in.
It's time when you breathe out,
Feel the weight of your body resting on the earth.
The sensation of your body touching,
The points of contact that your body makes.
You might even notice there's different temperatures beneath your body or different textures beneath your fingertips or your heels,
The back of your head.
Come into the awareness,
The breath moving through the body,
The body resting on the earth,
The support that's beneath you.
If it serves you and you haven't done so already,
Feel free to come into a comfortable seat.
As you arrive,
Take a deep breath in and wash the breath out the body.
If it serves you,
You can gather your hands towards the front of your chest.
I honor you for showing up to your presence,
To your capacity to be honest about where you're going and everything you choose to do,
To your health,
And to your light.
Thank you for being here with me.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
