As you slowly settle into your seat,
Take a moment to welcome in this day,
This new day,
This wonderful opportunity we have when we wake to know that we can begin again in the same way that with each round of breath we take,
We have a chance to begin again.
And either settling the gaze or keeping the eyes open,
Taking in the space that you're in,
Draw a deep inhale in and allowing that surge of breath coming into your system to just create more of that sense of vibrancy as if you're drawing rays of sunshine into the body.
Feel the breath.
And as you exhale out this sense of release,
Leaving,
Letting go of any stagnancy or sort of residual quieter energy from the night's sleep,
Welcoming each breath,
Each inhale,
Each exhale and those spaces between those moments,
Each an opportunity to feel awake and experience that joy of the newness of each moment.
And perhaps even turning up gently the corners of your mouth into a little smile in appreciation of being here in all of its glory,
Its messiness,
Its beauty,
Its love.
You are here.
This day is new.
The possibilities,
The potential is so strong.
And as the sit bones settle in a little bit more into the ground underneath,
Absorbing some of that earth energy,
Allow the chest to reach a little bit more towards the sky,
A slight lift of heart center,
Feeling your heart energy reach for that light source of the day,
The sun,
Surya,
And drawing that in.
Every inhale is that potential for what can arrive in this day.
And every exhale,
Just a letting go perhaps of anything that we may not want to carry in to this day,
This new day.
Feel the texture and the temperature of the breath as it moves in and the soft release of shoulders and settling in the lower half of the body as you exhale,
This sort of beautiful exchange between the two of uplifting and reaching and then grounding and settling in.
This sort of play,
This gentle play that we have between the two.
And if you find maybe there's a moment of difficulty,
Of distraction,
The next breath is new.
You welcome that in.
We awaken to that next quality of inhale and exhale that you invite in.
This is here.
This is now.
Heart center slightly lifting on the inhale and a soft release on the exhale,
Not just a welcoming in to the day but a welcoming in to your body right now,
A feeling of where you are,
Connecting in to what that is,
To how your body feels,
How each breath feels and being awake to that.
Just repeating these words as you inhale in,
Welcoming in this day,
Welcoming in this day,
Welcoming in this beautiful breath,
This breath that gives us life,
Meaning and a true sense of presence.
Allow the hands to meet in front of the heart center for one last breath,
Awakening to this day and appreciation for this breath,
Beginning again.
Welcome to this listening meditation.
And essentially what we're looking to do in this practice today is to quiet down some of the senses and really focus on one a little bit more,
Strengthening that to allow us to become a little bit more in touch with what's going on inside our internal environment,
Our listening meditation.
I invite you to take a comfortable seat however that needs to look and feel today.
So there's still a quality of being upright so there's an alert or a slightly let's say young aspect to this practice,
That activity of really leaning in to each moment and being alert to it.
But also a relaxing,
A settling in of the lower half of the body so that we're not gripping or holding tension,
Impacting that ability to listen in.
I invite you to either close the eyes if that feels safe or soften the gaze so we can reduce the potential for distraction and then we can slowly draw our awareness to the ears.
First just visually allowing the mind's eye to travel to that part of each side of our head.
We might notice the feeling of hair covering the ears if our hair is in a style or texture that might do just that.
And begin by just taking in the sounds around you in your space.
So if you're indoors you might hear the sound of family nearby.
If a window's open you might notice the sound of a breeze coming in and potentially ruffling a curtain or moving around other spaces in the room,
Creating gentle sounds.
Or if we're outside we might notice the birds,
A bit of breeze,
The sound of people nearby or a car driving by.
So just slowly allow the mind's eye to just gently touch on each sound that you notice moment by moment.
And you could even label it if you like.
Car driving by.
Or it might be the sound of your body shifting a little bit in your seat.
Slowly noticing and labeling the sounds around you.
So really nourishing the sense door of our ears,
Of hearing.
This aspect of mindfulness is focusing on a particular thing and allowing everything else to sort of fade a bit more into the background.
So just noticing the sound.
And eventually sort of drawing that awareness a little bit more closer to your body in your seat.
So noticing now the sound of breath.
If the lips are gently closed,
Noticing the sound as it travels in and out of the nose.
Or perhaps if there's congestion or it's better for you to have the mouth open,
Notice that.
The feeling as it draws in and out.
The breath against the lips,
The teeth,
The tongue,
The palate.
And maybe just labeling those sounds as you pick them up gently.
And in doing so,
We start to strengthen our ability to tune in to more specific things.
Starting with the outer and then moving to more inner-oriented sounds that keep us connected to each moment.
So continuing that gentle awareness of sound.
Each sound letting you know what here is,
Is like.
Gentle awareness.
So without a gripping or attaching onto any one thing,
Just a sort of gentle approach to this practice right now.
And we'll take three more breaths doing just that.
And after that last exhale,
Gently lifting gaze or opening the eyes.
Taking in now with the eyes where you are.
And when you feel ready,
Just allow yourself after a few more breaths to either sit here for a few more time if that feels right or just gently honor yourself for your efforts and your intention and letting that go.
