Welcome and Happy New Year.
We are going to begin as we always do.
So I invite you to find a comfortable position,
Whether that's seated or lying down.
If you're seated,
Let your spine be long,
Your heart and chest open.
Let your hands rest on your thighs or in your lap.
And if you're lying down,
Just make sure your body feels supported.
Let your hands be along your side with your palms facing up.
And before even closing your eyes,
Just take a moment to arrive here in this space,
In this new year,
In this day,
In this moment.
Just taking stock of the environment around you.
Noticing any sounds you hear outside of the room or inside the room.
Noticing any colors that you see.
And then when you feel ready,
Letting your eyes close or just letting your gaze rest softly on a point out in front of you.
And continuing to take in the sounds around you.
Letting all of it be a part of this moment.
Not resisting or analyzing any of the sounds,
But just allowing.
And now let your awareness turn internally.
And just noticing the inner landscape of the body.
Noticing how the body feels.
If your energy is high or low,
Maybe you feel excited or anxious,
Maybe sad or tired.
Noticing if there's any tension in the body.
And again,
Just noticing.
I'm just allowing.
And seeing if you can soften into what's present right now.
And naturally,
As you kind of look over the inner landscape of the body,
You'll notice that you're breathing,
That you're always breathing.
There's this constant connection that we have to the world around us through the breath.
And so see if you can just be with the breath for a moment,
Just noticing each inhale and exhale.
And letting it be an effortless thing,
Not needing to control the breath,
But just receiving the breath from the environment.
And now we'll begin to just gradually lengthen the breath.
Inviting in a deeper inhale down into the belly.
And releasing a slow exhale,
Either through the nose or through the mouth.
And again,
Just continuing with these deep inhales and slow exhales.
And as you continue to breathe deeply,
See if you can think of it as this cleansing practice.
And with each inhale,
You are welcoming new life into the body.
And with each exhale,
You are releasing stagnant energy.
The new year can bring so much energy and buzz into our own bodies and also in the world around us.
There can be a lot of excitement for the new year and a lot of energy that goes into creating new year's resolutions and goals.
And there can be this excitement for productivity.
And I think in the new year,
It's also important to create some space for ourselves to just arrive into the beginning of something new.
And to take these deep breaths to cleanse the body,
To welcome new life into the body.
And just to acknowledge this incredible gift of life that we have before rushing off into it.
So again,
Just continuing with these deep breaths.
And naturally,
Your mind will wander.
And you'll think about the past or the future,
What you're doing next.
And when thoughts arise,
You just notice them and notice the content of the thought.
Maybe whispering to yourself internally,
Planning or judging or worrying.
And then just begin again by returning back to the breath.
In every moment of our lives,
Not just at the beginning of the new year,
We have an opportunity to begin again.
We can always begin again.
And I invite you to release your control of the breath.
And just allow it to return to its natural rhythm.
And again,
Just feeling how the breath is received effortlessly in the body.
And how through each exhale,
We soften and give back.
And to end,
I'd like to share a poem by Charles Bukowski called The Laughing Heart.
The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski Your life is your life.
Don't let it be clubbed into dank submission.
Be on the watch.
There are ways out.
There is light somewhere.
It may not be much light,
But it beats the darkness.
Be on the watch.
The gods will offer you chances.
Know them,
Take them.
You can't beat death,
But you can beat death in life sometimes.
And the more often you learn to do it,
The more light there will be.
Your life is your life.
Know it while you have it.
You are marvelous.
The gods wait to delight in you.
When you feel ready,
Bring some light movements into your wrists,
Maybe your neck,
Your shoulders.
And on your next inhale,
Take a big stretch with your arms overhead,
Breathing in deeply.
And exhale to slowly let your arms fall down to the earth.
And I wish you a beautiful new year.
