So I invite you,
If you're in a place to do so,
To sit,
Squaring your hips,
Close your eyes if that's safe for you or something you're comfortable with.
You might even lie down.
You can do this standing,
Of course.
I like to turn my hands out and put my pinkies on my legs because that helps my shoulders go down.
Yeah,
Don't close your eyes if you're driving.
And I like to just start relaxing,
Start getting heavy.
There was,
I think,
A meditation by Tara Brack that recommended sort of feeling heaviness and then alternating and feeling lightness.
So that's a place I like to go,
Is just to feel the heaviness of my body as I sink in.
Usually right now I'm feeling it in my sitting bones.
I feel the heaviness in my shoulders.
I feel the heaviness in my jaw and just let them droop and relax and ease in.
Feet square to the floor,
Arms and legs uncrossed.
Just start noticing your breath as it is.
Don't extend it just yet.
Just notice,
Okay,
I came in to this morning.
Maybe a little anxious,
Maybe excited,
Maybe calm.
And here's where my breath is right now,
How deep it is,
How shallow,
How happy,
How tense.
Just take that in.
Settle down.
Start letting go of whatever happened or whatever is coming.
Maybe extend your breath a little,
Just pulling yourself a little longer and a little deeper.
Settling in,
Making yourself at ease.
Letting go,
Letting go of what came before this morning,
This weekend behind us,
Letting go of the distant future,
What's ahead.
Just breathing,
Just settling into a happiness and a lightness and an ease.
If we think about gratitude for the apertures,
The openings and the vessels and the tubes that conduct air and nutrition throughout our body,
You might wanna notice and begin with your nose,
Your mouth,
However you breathe,
Just the primary interface with the environment.
Don't force it,
Just notice it.
Something you do every day,
Take for granted.
But isn't that neat?
Isn't that a little bit awe-inspiring?
You get to do that.
That you have a nose and a mouth and lungs that were formed,
That function.
Start to draw your breath in with that kind of gratitude,
Pulling it in deeper.
Let yourself wonder about the wondrous nature of your biology and anatomy.
So lucky to get to breathe.
Breathing in with gratitude.
Breathing in with gratitude.
Breathing out and letting go.
What a precious and almost miraculous system it is that you can draw in air from outside of you,
Convert it to energy and expel what you don't need,
Continuing to breathe,
Settling in,
Letting go.
This next part can be a little tricky,
But you can get used to it.
Try to notice your pulse without touching your wrist or your neck,
Just see if you can feel your heartbeat.
Sometimes the easiest place to start is in your upper chest to notice the thrum,
The movement.
Sometimes you can feel it in your thumbs or your fingers or just imagine it,
That works too.
Just imagine blood conveying oxygen or all those blood vessels,
Thousands,
Dozens of times a minute without you having to think about it.
You could barely control it if you wanted,
Just let it pulse through your body.
See if you can notice it or even envision it.
So mysterious and wonderful.
You might be able to feel the blood through your arteries,
Going to your brain,
Your head.
You might be able to feel the blood through your arteries going to your brain,
Your head,
Your lips and your cheeks,
Maybe you wanna smile.
Take that gift of your circulation and smile,
Lift up your eyes and the corners of your mouth,
Let your cheeks be light,
Feel that energy and that warmth flowing through your body,
So cool.
It's inspiring.
Continuing to breathe deeply and steadily along with those autonomic functions of your pulse.
It all works.
Breathing,
Heart beating,
Right now you're alive and safe.
Right now you're alive and safe and healthy,
What a gift.
We're gonna juggle another awareness in addition to the awareness of your breath and the awareness of your pulse.
Let's try to juggle an awareness of your digestion.
Whether you've eaten already or not,
Drunk any water or coffee or not,
It's all there.
Already working,
Waiting,
Participating,
Your teeth,
Your mouth,
Your tongue,
Your sebastian mark,
Your teeth.
Everything's nice and soft and healthy and you can spend Your teeth,
Your mouth,
Your tongue,
Your esophagus,
Dozens of feet of organs inside your small body.
Long and long digestive system doing the work to help you engage with delicious,
Nutritive food giving you energy and strength to be active.
Imagine that impossibly long circuit from lips to tailbone of dozens of feet of organs working on your behalf,
Working with you.
Continuing to breathe.
You're still breathing.
Settling down.
Your heart's still beating continually.
Breath and pulse and digestion.
Incredible systems in your body.
Take stock.
Feel delight that this is all working this morning.
How fascinating.
Breathing.
Settling in.
Letting go.
Relaxing.
Notice your lungs.
Notice your heart.
Finding that pulse.
Notice your belly.
What's more majestic than any one system is that they all work together.
An awesome counterpoint.
Continuing to breathe.
Just letting your attention wander among these three systems of digestion,
Circulation and breath.
We'll just let our attention wander for a few more moments and wonder at the wondrousness of it all.
Smile and start to come back with gratitude for the day and for your wondrous body.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes.
