So finding whatever posture feels most supportive and accessible for you right now.
Closing your eyes,
Starting with a few deep cleansing breaths.
Breathing in through the nose,
Letting it out with a sigh,
Through the mouth,
Into the nose.
Relaxing the shoulders,
Relaxing the jaw.
One more nice deep breath.
Before letting go of any need to influence or control the breath.
Letting go of any need to influence or control circumstances.
So you just start to arrive into the senses in the present moment.
First via the sense of sound.
So noticing whatever sounds come to you.
I'm not holding on to any given sound,
But allowing a new one to take its place in your awareness.
Noticing my voice and the vent in the room.
Maybe the water cooler.
Maybe sounds coming from your own body,
The breath.
Noticing the quiet in between the sounds.
Maybe noticing the sounds of thoughts coming and going in your awareness.
Just receiving with an open,
Curious awareness.
And now shifting into the felt sense of the body.
Starting to get to know what it feels like to be here.
Feeling the contact between your body and the ground beneath you.
Feeling gravity holding you gently but firmly in place.
And letting your attention drift down to the feet.
Again,
Not needing to change or judge,
But just noticing the sensations that are present in this moment in your feet.
Whether they are comfortable or uncomfortable,
It's okay.
And now starting to scan up through the body,
Through the ankles,
Shins and calves,
Knees,
Upper legs,
The hips,
Stomach and low back,
Mid torso,
Upper back and chest.
Shoulders,
The upper arms,
Elbows,
Forearms,
Wrists,
Hands,
Palms,
Fingers,
Fingertips.
The space in between the fingers.
Moving back up the arms to the neck and the throat,
The back of the head,
Feeling around to the front,
The face,
The forehead,
The top of the head,
The scalp and the hair.
And opening your awareness again to feel the whole body sitting here.
Head,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Arms,
Torso,
Upper and lower legs and feet.
Here,
Now,
In this very moment,
Alive,
Aware,
Breathing,
Noticing the breath.
Not needing to do anything here,
Not needing to change the breath,
Not needing to take deep breaths,
But just observing.
Noticing where you feel the breath most easily.
Noticing the expansion on the in-breath.
Noticing the softening on the out-breath.
Noticing the softening on the out-breath.
And if it's helpful,
You can add a note,
Either breathing in and breathing out,
Or in,
Out,
Out,
Or even calm on the in-breath and ease on the out-breath.
Or choose to drop the note altogether and just focus in on the sensations themselves.
Just taking it one breath at a time.
And if you lose track of the breath,
Just noticing that you've gotten distracted,
Perhaps noting that you've been thinking and just gently shifting your attention back to this breath,
This moment.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
This breath,
This moment.
And opening up your attention again,
Connecting with the body sitting here.
Still aware of the breath,
But now also aware of the shape of the body.
Starting to become aware of the space around you.
Connecting with the boundaries of the room.
Connecting with the other hearts and humans in the room.
And as you're ready,
Gently opening your eyes,
Taking your time to move forward mindfully.
Maintaining this connection to breath,
To body,
To the present moment,
To each other.
