Welcome to Tending the Inner Landscape.
Inviting the body to become still.
Sitting in a relaxed yet dignified posture.
Relaxing the jaw,
The facial muscles,
Closing the eyes or lowering the gaze,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
Relaxing the forehead,
Relaxing the shoulders,
Relaxing the belly area,
Allowing the breath to flow freely.
And then directing your attention to the sit bones on the chair,
Feeling the sit bones making contact with the chair,
The backs of the legs making contact,
Feeling the feet firmly planted on the floor,
Perhaps feeling the weight of gravity or a sense of groundedness as we sit here.
And try not to judge this experience as a good experience or a bad experience,
Just being present to whatever is,
Whatever shows up.
And now directing your attention to the hands,
Maybe noticing temperature,
A sense of coolness or warmth in the hands or a sense of tingling.
What's here in this moment?
And if the mind wanders off,
No big deal,
No need to be harsh on ourselves,
The mind thinks,
That's just what it does.
And when we notice that the mind's thinking,
We're actually exercising our mindfulness muscle.
So it's part of the practice.
We can notice with kindness towards ourselves and then bring our attention back to sensations in the hands for a new beginning.
And now directing attention to the breath,
Perhaps in the belly chest area,
Or maybe in the nostril area,
Whatever feels most accessible or at least neutral to you in this moment.
Breathing in,
Knowing you're breathing in and breathing out,
Knowing that you're breathing out.
Feeling sensations of the breath.
And again,
If the mind wanders off,
Noticing with kindness that the mind has wandered off and then gently bringing your attention back to the breath again and again.
And now shifting your awareness to sound,
Perhaps noticing the gentle humming of a computer or the sound of the breath,
Or maybe noticing sound in a room,
Some activity in a room,
Outside the room you're in,
Or maybe outdoors,
Just noticing the ever-changing nature of sound.
You may notice a mind tendency to want to judge sounds.
Oh,
I like this sound,
Or I don't like this sound.
Just notice this mind tendency with kindness and then choosing to bring attention back to the soundscape for a new beginning.
And now directing your attention to an anchor of your choosing,
Whether it's the breath or sound or sensations in the body like the hands,
Choosing an anchor that feels accessible or at least neutral to you,
A home base,
If you will.
And when the mind wanders off ever so gently and kindly,
Noticing that it's wandered off and then bringing attention back to this anchor,
This home base,
Whatever that is for you for a new beginning,
Again and again.
And now shifting your attention from the anchor of your choosing to the heart area,
Noticing what sensations are in the heart area,
Whether it's a sense of peace or sadness,
Maybe neutral sensations,
Grief or joy,
Being present to what is in this moment without trying to change it in any way.
And if the mind wanders off ever so gently and kindly,
Noticing and then bringing attention back to sensations in the heart area for a new beginning.
And when you're ready,
Directing your attention back to the anchor of your choosing,
Whether that was sound,
The breath in the belly area or the nostril area or sensations in the body like the hands.
And when the mind wanders off,
No big deal,
Noticing that it's wandered off and then bringing attention back to this anchor,
This home base.
And moving into a period of silence,
Bringing alert attention to the last few minutes of practice without striving to get anywhere,
Finding that middle way.
This is an opportunity for a new beginning,
No matter what practice look like up to this point.
And I'll sound the bell to mark the closing of practice.
Thank you for taking this time to care for yourself.
