You can rest down into your seat and grow through your spine as you allow your eyes to close.
And we use the sound of the bell to transition from a mode of going and doing,
Thinking and planning,
Back into a mode of being with,
Opening in curious observation and non-judgmental awareness.
You can place all of your attention on the breath as you allow it to naturally and gently lengthen and deepen,
Not forcing any changes,
Just being with the ones that happen naturally,
Accompanying focused attention.
You can give yourself permission not to have a busy body or a busy mind as you arrive fully and completely in the present moment,
Allowing this moment to be enough.
You can let go of the need to do anything else or be anywhere else as you allow the stillness of just being to be enough.
And in this stillness,
We can allow the body to become the most important thing.
You can follow the breath back inward and reconnect with the body,
Remembering each part of the body with love and compassion and recognizing each part as an integral part of the whole,
Keeping you alive and healthy and balanced.
And we can feel a deep gratitude for the body and all that it does for us,
Even when we are unaware.
And as you're scanning through the body,
You may find those places of pain,
Of illness,
Of tension,
Or the places that you have been judging or critiquing.
And you can place a hand over this area of the body,
Allowing the hand to carry warm,
Loving,
Healing energy to this area,
Welcoming it back into your whole being.
And as you arrive here with this hurting area of the body,
Let it know that you are here for it,
That you are present just to listen and just to honor what you hear.
And as you reconnect with this part of the body,
Begin to listen to what it needs and listen deeply,
Asking the question over and over,
What do you need?
And at first you may hear things that are more physical,
More rest,
More exercise,
Healthier consumption habits.
But as you're listening more and more and you're asking the question again and again,
You may notice that the answer starts turning towards the mind.
Maybe you're hearing that you need less stress.
Maybe you're hearing that you need a different relationship with the body,
That you speak to it with kinder words,
That maybe you need to have a different story about your body,
What it does for you,
Your relationship to it.
Maybe that even goes further into your relationship with self,
Your ability to love self as you are.
And so listen,
Each time that you ask this ailing part of the body what it needs,
As the answer deepens even further.
And maybe now it comes into the heart and the spirit and we reconnect with our deepest needs that maybe the body is ailing and it's carrying stress because it does not feel accepted.
Or maybe you are lacking a feeling of belonging that would give you the ability to find peace and comfort.
Maybe you are feeling that you are lacking safety so that you can put your guard down and release tension and just be still.
Maybe you need nourishment,
The ability to come back home to self and offer yourself what you need.
And as you're listening,
You're noticing that the ailments in the body are much more connected to our emotional well-being,
Our mental well-being and our spiritual well-being.
So as you're listening to this ailing area of the body,
You're also listening to the emotions,
To the heart,
To the mind.
And maybe you're hearing that your emotional state has been a little bit painful lately.
That this sadness that you're feeling is manifesting in the body.
That this anger that you're feeling arrives in tension in the shoulders.
That this resentment ends up turning into a sickness.
Or that these bad feelings end up creating toxins in the body that turn into a disease.
And so as you're listening,
You may be hearing deeper and deeper levels of healing that need to happen.
And these may not happen today or even tomorrow,
But the first step is recognition.
So as you are listening,
You are recognizing and you may tell these areas of your being,
I hear you.
I hear your needs and my intentions are to honor them so that we can heal together.
And you may notice that the simple act of holding these intentions brings a peace into your being.
Allows the body to start relaxing and brings a little bit of comfort to the mind and the emotional world.
And we remember the heart space.
This energy that's nothing but love,
Peace,
Compassion,
Acceptance and gratitude.
We remember that it's connected with those powers so much bigger than our own and that it is here to support us,
Nurture us and care for us.
And so we find comfort in the energies of the heart.
We remember our own resources of self-care and self-love.
And we hold on to those intentions of listening to our pain and our body so that we can get back in touch with the needs of the heart,
The mind,
The spirit and that we can use the resources within us and around us to nurture ourselves and move closer and closer to healing.
Each and every day.
And we notice how this brings a peace into our being,
Brings a softness to this area of pain as it recognizes that we are listening and we are here to support it.
And we bring this trust and this peace with us as I ring the bell three times and we come back to our shared space.
