Begin where you find yourself,
Just as you are at this very moment,
When you have chosen for your welfare to come into a place of mindfulness,
Meditation,
And contentment.
Settling in now,
Slowing down,
And becoming quieter,
And more forgiving and generous with yourself.
Close your eyes if you're ready.
Expand your perception.
Watching out tendrils of awareness to notice the world around you as you find it at this moment and beginning to take stock of the world within you.
Focusing it with your senses.
The world's sounds,
Sense,
Temperatures,
Pressures.
Take a moment to enjoy the experience.
Come into your body.
Feel the frame and volume of yourself.
Looking at the outermost reaches of your skin,
Its outermost layers and cells.
The flesh wrapped in your skin,
Bone and sinew within.
Feeling the weight of it all,
Its gravity,
Settling you in,
Becoming more stable.
Now,
Take note of your breath as it goes in and out.
Each inhale matched with its exhale.
Begin with curiosity and a generous awareness of where your breath is at this moment.
May you breathe through your nose,
Your mouth,
Your ears,
Shallow,
Deep,
Quick,
Slow.
Just measure it without judgment as a scientist might,
Observing kindly.
Then interfere in the experiment a little by slowing down,
Bringing your breath further into your body,
Expanding the inhale and matching it with an even exhale.
You may want to envision or direct your breath to any places of tension in your body,
Using your breath as a simple massage.
And then release with your breath.
Notice your belly,
The space of digestion.
Consider with gratitude the work it does to process nutrition and render energy to your system.
You may feel its tiny movements.
Note your heart and pulse.
Without touching anything,
See if you can feel or just imagine the rhythm beginning in your chest,
Outward through neck and arms,
To extremities and back.
See if you can clock it mentally.
Continuing to breathe deeper with gratitude,
Exhaling generously.
Find a spot that is your core,
Your center of mass,
The geographic middle of your body.
Draw your generous awareness to a spot that is the center of you.
Imagine a bell or a chime,
A bird,
A human voice,
A violin,
Anything that resonates that can make a beautiful note of music right there.
Pluck it.
Make it ring out gently.
Begin to sing.
What does it sound like?
What is the voice that comes out of your core?
The truest expression of who you are.
Listen.
Without judgment to its pitch or warbling,
Notice and be glad.
Song and music and voice wants to be heard.
It has an agenda all its own.
Feel it rise within you,
Resonating in your chest,
Expanding upwards through your throat,
Vibrating in your face and palate.
Filling your whole body with song,
Eager to come out.
Listen.
It wants to be heard.
The musical tone that is yours and yours alone.
The clearest emanation from your truest spirit.
Let it out,
Shining out your face and through your mouth and nose,
Giving it room to explore the world.
Picture this tone,
Your most authentic voice,
Your unique song extending outward,
Causing the air around you to vibrate,
Resonating into the plants and animals and structures around you.
Your unique,
Irreplaceable voice,
Causing the world to flutter in response,
Sent out from your core.
Continue breathing and sending out your beautiful voice until you hear the closing bell.
