Good morning,
Good evening,
Good afternoon,
Wherever you may be,
Whatever you may be doing,
Hello.
And thank you for being here,
Thank you for showing up,
Thank you showing up for self and for choosing stillness in a world that just simply seems to not ever stop moving.
Alan Watts says,
Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.
We all too often try to solve our overwhelm by thinking our way through it,
By doing more,
By reaching more,
Striving harder.
But sometimes clarity comes not through effort,
But through stillness.
Like water settling after being stirred.
Our bodies,
Our minds soften when we simply stop moving.
And the practice today is an invitation to pause,
Not to fix,
But to feel,
Not to figure out,
But to be with what is.
I hope that makes sense.
Let's begin.
And we begin by simply slowing down.
We begin by closing our eyes and setting that intention of slowing everything down.
Focus in on your breath.
Feel the rhythm of your chest rising and falling against your clothes.
Just for the next 10-15 minutes,
Forget about everything.
Forget it all.
Let's help our mind come into the present moment by saying out loud,
Softly,
Gently to ourselves the anchoring mantra,
I am here,
I am now,
I am present.
I am here,
I am now,
I am present.
And continue that and allow those words to settle you.
I am here,
I am now,
I am present.
Let's begin by arriving right here,
Right now.
We'll do so by taking a deep breath in through the nose.
We'll hold it gently at the top.
Then we'll take one small sip of air in and exhale with a sigh through the mouth.
So let's begin.
Inhale through the nose and hold it at the top.
Hold.
Take one last gasp of air in and sigh it out.
Right back into it straight away.
Inhale through the nose.
Hold.
Gasp in and sigh it out.
Allow your shoulders to loosen.
Roll your neck if you need to.
And allow your body to soften.
Allow your mind to settle.
Allow the ground beneath you to take your weight.
All while saying,
I am here,
I am now,
I am present.
And sometimes the only thing left to do is stop.
I don't mean quit.
Not as a failing,
Not as weakness,
Not as a sign you've lost your way,
But as an act of remembering.
Remembering that you are more than your motion.
Remembering that presence like you is enough.
And let's allow our minds to take us to a quiet forest.
Paint that picture.
It can be a forest that you know,
One that you pass on a daily basis,
Regular basis.
Or it can be one that just simply comes to mind right now.
Whatever it is,
Allow your mind to paint that picture.
And see yourself walking through that forest slowly.
The trees stretch tall above you,
Their branches,
Weaving a canopy of green.
Light filters through in dappled patterns.
You walk without purpose,
Just one step after another.
Happy,
Content.
Just walking.
Until you come upon a small clearing.
And in the center of that clearing,
A single flat stone bathed in sunlight.
You feel a gentle nudge,
A whisper in your bones,
An invitation to stop,
To sit.
And allow yourself to.
Let yourself take your seat on that flat stone.
And as you do that in your mind,
What I want you to physically do is become completely still in your body.
Let the only movement be your breath,
And let the breath be easy.
Let the muscles release,
Let the jaw loosen,
Let your muscles and your abdomen relax.
Relax.
Nothing needs to happen.
Nothing has to happen now.
Just this.
And as you sit,
What do you notice?
What do you notice when there's nowhere to go?
What rises in the stillness?
Can you feel your breath?
Without forcing,
Can you feel your heart beating?
Your belly rising?
If a part of you feels restless,
Let that be okay.
If another part softens,
Welcome that too.
Just see if you can sit beside the part of you that always feels it must do.
The one who forgets how to be still.
Offer both of them this space of quiet.
And connect with them by letting them breathe with you.
Connect with them by letting them feel peace here with you.
Now for a few affirmations as you sit with these parts on that flat stone in the clearing of the forest.
And softly in your mind or on your lips,
Let these words move through and with you.
I'll say them once slowly.
I am allowed to stop.
Stillness is nourishing.
Within pause lies wisdom.
Every part of me is welcome here with me.
Take a deep breath in now.
And a slow exhale.
And let those four affirmations sit and settle gently.
I'm allowed to stop.
Stillness is nourishing.
Within pause lies wisdom.
Every part of me is welcome here with me.
Allow those words to settle into your body like sunlight hitting your skin like the roots pushing through the soil.
And just breathe.
And now see yourself slowly rising from the stone.
You don't need to rush.
Move like you've remembered something ancient,
Something true.
Feel the physical earth beneath your feet.
See the vision of the familiar path that you walked along in front of you.
But there's a shift,
A subtle but steady one deep in your gut.
You're moving forward now,
Not from urgency,
But from presence,
From peace.
Each step that you take,
You're more grounded.
Each breath is easier.
Each moment is enough.
That brief bit of silence was enough.
Allowing yourself to stop was enough.
Now as we close this practice,
I want us to take a second last deep breath in through our nose.
We'll hold it at the top.
Bring your awareness back to your breath,
Back to the feeling of the room that you're in.
Feel the weight of your body,
The temperature of the room around you.
And we'll use the anchor prayer to again bring us back into the present moment.
And we'll say,
I am here,
I am now,
I am present.
I am here,
I am now,
I am present.
And let's take one final breath in together.
Inhale deeply through the nose.
And exhale slowly.
And as you exhale,
Open your eyes.
Bring yourself back into the room,
Into the present moment.
And out of the practice.
