Welcome.
This is Allison with Mindful Paws Center,
And I am so glad to share this practice with you.
Tuning into the posture now in order to sense what's here.
What is it about this posture that does offer support?
And you might answer that question by noticing points of contact.
You might answer that question by sensing how the breath feels,
And if it feels good to stay with the breath for a moment.
And again,
Playing with awareness on the exhalation,
If there's a lot of activation right now.
And bringing awareness to inhalation,
If you're feeling more dull and spaced out.
Can also experiment with your awareness on a balance between inhalation and exhalation.
And if it feels good to also open awareness to sound just as another touchstone or home base.
You might even notice that you have the capacity to keep awareness on the breath at the same time as you open to sound.
And if you play with that dual awareness,
Just noticing what it's like to take in something of the external world alongside this attention to the internal world of the breath.
You can sense where your hands landed.
And see in this moment,
Appreciating in this moment the way that they are offering support,
The kind of support.
And you can always experiment with the hands as their own posture.
Palms up,
Palms down,
Hand at the belly,
Hand at the chest,
Hand at the face,
Fingers interlaced.
And checking in now to see if there's a particular anchor that feels good or neutral,
That feels strong enough to be a foundation.
And recognizing that at any time in the rest of our practice,
You can come back to this home base.
So if it feels good,
I'd invite you to consider that there are seeds of your practice that haven't yet germinated.
Their energy is still potential energy.
And if imagery is helpful for you,
You can imagine these seeds,
Maybe they're in the palm of your hand,
Or maybe there's a seed packet,
Or maybe you're seeing that they've been placed into the soil.
And you don't even have to have a real clear name for what part of the practice is still in seed form,
Just knowing that there are things yet to grow.
And you might become aware if there's any judgment,
Or criticism,
Or emotion that you have about the fact that the seeds are still seeds.
And if something came to mind,
And if you recognized some judgment or emotion,
And taking a moment to see if that has a place in the body,
If that criticism shows up in the mind,
Or in the chest,
Or the throat,
Sometimes the belly,
It can even be the hands.
So whatever attitude you might have right now towards these seeds,
If it has a location in the body,
Then you can begin to ask what sensations make up this attitude.
As we come and request the wisdom of the body,
A sensation could be tight,
Or space,
Could be spacious.
It could be a vibration,
Maybe a low thrumming,
Or it could be high pitched and buzzing.
Might show up as a temperature,
Or a color.
It could be a pulsing.
You might have a sense of size.
The sensations could be a little bit more really small,
Or they might be so big that they exceed the body.
And even if there's no felt sensation,
Just noting that,
And dropping in the question,
What do these seeds need next?
What do these sensations tell me is next?
Maybe an answer comes right away as a word or a phrase,
Or maybe you get an image that comes to mind.
It could be a feeling,
An element like water,
Or sun,
Or air.
But maybe there isn't anything that springs up immediately.
And we can just play a little bit with the metaphors.
We could feel into whether the seeds need sun,
And what might sun be for you?
Or you can just stay with a felt sensation of warmth.
You can feel into whether these seeds need rain,
Water.
What might water be for you?
Or just staying with the felt sensation of how rain feels,
How rain smells,
When it's welcome.
Maybe the seeds need the darkness of soil,
The nutrients there.
And you can imagine what soil might mean for you.
Or just feel into the dark refuge of earth.
Or maybe there's a fertilizer,
A way to add nutrients that are missing from the soil.
And you can think about what fertilizer might be for you.
Or you could just feel into that sense of what it's like to take in nourishment,
How it might satisfy a hunger.
And then just letting the seed be,
And letting it do its own thing,
Knowing it will open,
Germinate,
When the conditions are right.
So letting all effort go now,
And just resting.
And whatever this practice was,
Not perfect,
Not personal,
Not permanent,
Just resting.
And in a moment,
You'll hear the sound of the bell.
Letting that sound be a call to,
Move the body in a way that feels good.
And as the eyes open,
Completing our practice by orienting to the space around us,
Communicating again directly with our nervous systems through the senses.
Thank you for your practice.
