Meditation For Courage

Taking some time now to find ourselves in a natural seated position,

Whether we choose to lay back,

Maybe flat on our back,

Or seated straight up with our spine erect,

Maybe with the back support,

Taking this time to find a position that is natural and comfortable for us.

I invite you to choose to either keep your eyes open,

Finding a soft gaze in the room,

Or at this time slowly closing the eyes,

Taking our gaze within.

Beginning by noticing the soft rhythm of our breath,

Maybe we notice the cool sensation of oxygen as it enters through our nostrils,

Filling our lungs,

Our stomach and our torso expanding as we inhale,

With the natural rhythm of our breath,

Letting the exhale fall,

Noticing the warm breath on the back of our throat as our exhale softens the body,

And taking this time to notice that gentle cycle of our breath,

The calm natural inhale,

The cool sensation of oxygen as it passes through our nostrils,

Do we notice our breath entering through one nostril more than the other,

Do we notice the breath passing through both nostrils equally,

Noticing the gentle fall of our breath,

Maybe we notice how relaxing,

How soothing our exhale can be,

As we inhale taking a sip of that beautiful nourishing oxygen,

Filling our bodies noticing how energizing and life-giving this inhale is,

And as we exhale noticing the gentle fall,

Beautiful relaxing exhale,

And perhaps we notice the mind wandering away from our breath,

This is perfectly okay,

It's what the mind does,

The mind is meant to jump from place to place,

Keep us safe,

Maybe taking this time,

This small amount of time in our practice today,

To allow the mind to move freely,

Maybe we invite the mind to roam around the open fields as though it's a wild horse,

With no guidance we notice the mind wandering from place to place,

Maybe we notice the mind distracted by a sound or thought or story or to-do list,

Whatever it may be,

Observing the mind with a compassionate curiosity,

As it moves from one place to the next,

Where does it choose to go next,

Observing this brilliant mind,

And when we choose to call back for our attention,

Maybe calling back to this wild horse,

Extending our hand and inviting it back,

Doing so by once again noticing that beautiful inhale,

The sensation of our inhale,

The cool air entering through our nostrils,

Filling our lungs,

Nourishing our bodies,

And as we exhale noticing the gentle fall and relaxing exhale,

And if we choose to stay with the breath,

Continuing to notice the rise and fall,

Maybe even taking this time to bring awareness and curiosity to the moments between the inhale and the exhale at the top and the bottom of our inhale and exhale,

Maybe noticing that moment in time where we are neither inhaling nor exhaling,

The moment right before we begin our inhale,

The moment right before we begin our exhale,

Maybe we notice the stillness,

Maybe we notice the peacefulness in those moments,

Maybe maybe at the top of our next inhale we notice our awareness to our surroundings,

The sounds around us,

And at the bottom of our exhale and that momentary stillness,

Perhaps we notice the peacefulness and a restfulness.

As we inhale at the top of our inhale,

Maybe we notice the thoughts moving through our mind for a moment,

Maybe the energetic feeling of the inhale,

And as we exhale at the very bottom,

The stillness at the bottom of our exhale,

We notice absolute peace,

Absolute rest,

And allowing the breath to be effortless,

Allowing the breath to move as it would like,

Very effortlessly noticing the natural beautiful inhale and its opposite,

The natural graceful exhale.

Staying with our breath,

Perhaps we notice the mind once again wandering away,

Becoming distracted,

And noticing how that is for us,

For the mind to wander away if we're feeling distracted,

Noticing how does it feel to be distracted.

Do we find it quite easy to simply invite the breath back,

Noticing our attention and our focus shift with ease,

And perhaps we notice the kind of self-talk that comes up when we're feeling distracted,

Reminding ourselves that it's completely natural to become distracted,

It's to be expected for a mind to move from one thought to the next,

From one experience to the next,

From one distraction to the next.

Our practice is exactly how it should be,

Whatever is coming up for us,

Whether it's feelings of deep focus,

Whether it's sensations through our body,

Noticing soreness in our legs,

Our back,

Our shoulders,

Whether our mind is feeling scattered and busy,

And perhaps our body feels energetic and fresh,

Noticing emotions,

Joy,

Or sadness,

A connectedness,

Or loneliness,

Inviting awareness to whatever's going on for us,

Maybe inviting a trust and a belief that whatever it is that's going on for us in this practice today is exactly where we are supposed to be,

It is exactly the medicine that we need,

And the bravery and courage that it takes to be with these experiences,

Ever changing.

You are so brave,

You are so courageous,

I'm here for you,

I'm here for you,

Maybe repeating that to ourselves a few times,

Breathing in the words,

Breathing in the essence,

And as we exhale,

Letting go of anything that doesn't serve us,

Letting go of any excess weight,

Letting go of anything that we are ready to let go of,

Maybe repeating to ourselves,

I am so courageous,

I am so brave,

I am here for you,

I am here for you,

I am so courageous,

I am so brave,

I am here for you,

I am here for you,

I am so courageous,

I am so brave,

I am here for you,

I am here for you,

As we inhale,

Drinking in this beautiful healing message of our worthiness,

Of our courage and our bravery,

And as we exhale,

Letting go of all of that that no longer serves us,

Letting go of that which we are ready to let go of,

And when we're feeling prepared,

Very slowly inviting very small movement into our fingertips and the tips of our toes,

Maybe inviting small movement into our hands and our feet as we reawaken the body,

We notice how does it feel to invite movement into our wrists and our ankles,

How does it feel to reawaken the body,

Maybe our arms and legs slowly,

Quietly into our spine and our neck,

Noticing this awareness moving back into our bodies,

To our physical bodies,

And at this time finding our focus in the room if we had our eyes open,

Very gently fluttering open the eyelids to find a soft gaze in the room,

Inviting our awareness back into the space,

Back into our bodies,

Noticing any thoughts or any emotions,

Noticing the room around us,

Maybe noticing the birds flying outside of our window,

Or the Sun,

Or the moon,

Or the twinkling lights in our room,

And when we're ready,

Taking a nice big stretch,

Fully inviting ourselves back into this space,

Maybe taking some time now to journal or type out any thoughts that may have came up for us,

How our experience was during our meditation today,

Maybe noticing any inspirations or any thoughts that came up,

Any emotions that came up,

How was our practice today,

Knowing that if we do choose to revisit this same meditation tomorrow,

That it may be completely different,

And it may be beneficial for our own sake to document and record how these are,

If not for our own record,

And to see how ever-changing our experiences are,

Yet at the same time,

Quite similar in our thought patterns and in our experience.

Thank you so much for joining me today,

It's been my honor and I hope to see you again soon.

Please reach out if you have any questions,

I would love to hear from you.

You are my teacher as much as I am yours.

Namaste.