This meditation practice is best done lying down in a place that you will be undisturbed and gently close your eyes and notice if there are any adjustments or distractions that you could eliminate before you begin your practice.
Begin to settle in,
Welcoming yourself to this practice.
We're here,
We're now,
And we have no idea what will arise in the following practice.
Our practice is about meeting each moment and what it brings,
Not judging,
Just welcoming.
And remember as you meet each sensation,
Thought,
Image,
Emotion,
Memory,
You're always doing your best.
This is your place to experience how the body and mind functions and know that there is no wrong or right way of doing this practice.
Simply just being here is enough.
And if what I say does not resonate,
You can attune to your inner voice.
This is your experience.
And do not worry if my voice begins to fade or you drift into sleep,
All of this is welcome.
Begin to notice your breathing,
The rise and fall of your breath as you breathe,
Maybe taking a few longer exhales or sighs.
And notice if there is a particular intention that you would like to set for your practice and acknowledge it here and begin to notice the space around you,
All five senses opening to the space around you.
Feel the touch of air on your skin and the surface the body is resting upon.
Notice any lingering smells or fragrances in the air and now sounds,
The sounds close by,
The sounds further away and all the sounds traveling through space.
Notice any colors or images behind your closed eyelids and now the tongue and taste and notice the space all around you,
The space in front of you,
Behind you,
To the left,
To the right.
And allow everything that you hear,
See or feel be just as it is and notice what's present here,
This simple feeling of being open,
Body,
Heart,
Open and invite stillness into the body,
The body still,
Tranquil,
Calm and draw your attention to the sensations in your mouth,
The tongue,
The jaws,
The teeth,
The lips,
Now the left ear,
Right ear.
Feel into the space around the ears and sense the space in front of the nose,
Left nostril,
Right nostril,
The air flowing in and out of both nostrils,
Soften the eye,
Left eye,
Right eye.
Sense the eyelids,
Covering the eyes in soothing darkness and allow the eyes to drop back and relax.
Now the cheeks,
Forehead,
Skull,
Back of the neck,
Throat,
Left shoulder blade,
Left elbow,
Left wrist,
Left palm and each of the left fingers one by one.
Now the right shoulder blade,
Right elbow,
Right wrist,
Right palm and each of the right fingers one by one and now both arms at the same time.
Draw your attention to the chest,
Ribs,
Upper back,
Spine,
Abdomen and feel your abdomen and chest as you breathe,
Allowing everything to arise and fall just as it is.
Draw your attention to your left hip,
Left thigh,
Left knee,
Back of the knee,
Left ankle,
Right heel,
Left top of the foot,
Sole of the foot and each of the left toes one by one and now the entire left leg.
Draw your attention now to the right hip,
Right thigh,
Right knee,
Back of the knee,
Left ankle,
Right heel,
Right top of the foot,
Sole of the foot and each of the right toes one by one and now the entire right leg and allow your attention to wander throughout your entire body and allow your attention to wander throughout your entire body.
Feel into the front of the body,
Back of the body,
Left side,
Right side,
Inside and outside and notice what's present now and begin to notice your breath,
The gentle rise and fall of your breath,
The breath rises,
The breath falls,
The body functions by itself.
Now draw your attention to your navel and the rise and fall of your abdomen as you breathe and begin to shape the breath,
Inhale for a count of 4 and exhale for 8,
The chest stays still,
Belly rising for 4 and falling,
Continue to do this for the next few minutes and let go of this counting of the breath and come back to breathing normally.
Notice what's present,
The spaciousness,
The body dissolving into space,
No boundary.
Now bring to mind a sailboat,
A sailboat on the vast blue ocean,
Picture the boat how you would like it to look,
How big is the boat,
What colour are the sails and notice how perfectly the boat floats on a calm blue ocean,
Maybe near the shore,
It bobs up and down with each ebb and flow of the tide.
Now imagine this boat departing on a journey,
It needs to open its sails,
Make itself vulnerable to the elements and some wind is needed to make it move,
Just like human beings as we embark on a journey of growth,
There's some form of impetus or wind that carries us,
Remembering that growth is a direction not a destination.
The sailboat starts on its exploration,
Gliding through the ocean waves gracefully,
Every now and then there's a bump but it barely changes the direction of the boat,
In the distance there are some clouds but you check the weather and decide to continue,
You need the wind but you don't want too much wind,
You continue ahead,
Confident in your decision making with the information you have.
The weather changes as you draw closer to the clouds,
The wind picks up speed,
Heading in to a storm,
You've planned and checked the weather before departure but a storm is still here,
You can't avoid it,
Similarly in life an unexpected storm arises and you have no choice now but to weather this storm,
You made a mistake,
The ocean is dark,
The waves become larger,
More bumpy,
Life becomes bumpy,
This is going to test your ability to adjust,
Remain resilient in the face of a storm,
You pull the sails down and decide to welcome the storm,
Sit it out,
There's no changing the path now and you begin to anchor yourself to your breath,
Take nice slow deep breaths,
Remaining calm,
Inhale belly rising,
Exhale belly falling,
Welcoming everything just as it is,
Just the simple rise and fall of the breath in each moment and notice in life what do you do when you're facing a storm,
Notice your habitual response,
Do you want to fix everything,
Rushing here and there trying to hold it together or do you run,
This is a safe space for you to explore,
Observe,
Notice and bring to mind something that you deem a failure,
It didn't work out,
How did you feel,
Notice the sensations in your body,
Notice how this experience impacted you,
Shaped you,
What did you learn from this failure,
What would you do if you could do it all again,
What advice would you give someone,
Failure is a part of life,
A toddler will fall many times before she learns to walk,
Each failure holds within them the lessons we need for future explorations and adventures in life,
So we know what we do want in life,
Each experience has an opposite,
Bringing us back to hope,
Now having tested your sailboat in the storm,
You return back to calmer,
Storms do not last forever,
Give yourself time to be here,
Connected,
Lying on your sailboat,
Looking at the blue sky,
Your mind quietening everything,
Just now take a moment as you slowly come back to your body and mind and review the journey you have just taken,
Begin to sense the room around you and the feeling of beginning to move back into the world,
Taking several deeper abdominal breaths,
Begin to wriggle your fingers and maybe taking a full body stretch,
Bend your knees and gently roll onto your right side,
Taking a moment to rest and push yourself up into a seated position,
Notice what's present now and remember that resilience comes from within,
We can learn from our mistakes and use these nuggets of wisdom to direct us on to a better path,
Taking your time and when you're ready,
Reorientate yourself to your surrounding,
Slowly begin to blink your eyes open and closed,
Coming back to your wide awake and alert state.
