I would encourage you,
If you can,
To do your meditation in a seated posture,
In a
seated position,
Where you can feel relaxed,
But awake and alert.
If you
prefer to do this lying down,
That's okay too.
This is a judgment-free zone.
As you begin to feel relaxed in your position,
Just check in with your spine.
You want to have an alert and straight back,
But also relaxed.
We don't want to
introduce any unnecessary tension into this position.
You want to be nice and
comfortable.
Let's begin to arrive at our breath.
Feel the sensation of breathing
and to deepen our breath.
Allow your inhales to lengthen and your exhales to lengthen.
If it's helpful,
You
may want to count to five or six during both your inhales and your exhales.
When
we deepen our breath,
We allow that breath to fill our bellies.
A lot of the
time,
We only breathe into our chests,
Never really getting those full
enlivening breaths.
Just allow your belly to soften,
To relax,
To really expand on
those inhales.
What does it feel like to breathe?
What can you notice about this sensation,
This quality of breathing?
If you find
yourself repeatedly getting lost in thoughts,
That's okay.
Every time you
notice,
You're improving your ability to come back to the present.
Allow this
open-ended,
Mysterious nature of the present moment to continue to unfold.
Just let go of your expectations or your desires or even your fears about what
this moment is supposed to be.
Instead,
Open up to this moment.
Accept this
moment.
Say yes to this moment as it is,
Without anywhere to go,
Without anything
to do,
Except be aware.
Let's begin to scan the body.
See if we can notice and feel any places of
tension,
Tightness.
Maybe start with your forehead,
Your eyebrows,
Your jaw.
Many of us carry tension in our faces.
Maybe shift to your shoulders.
Allow them
to lower away from your ears,
Nice and relaxed.
Check in with your chest.
Feel
sensations of tightness.
If you can allow your breath to really fill you and relax
those areas of tightness.
Sometimes we get so used to discomfort in the body
that we don't notice it as much.
Use this time as an opportunity to be aware and
be present with your body and send some love and gratitude and appreciation and
ease to those areas of tightness and tension.
As we come to the end of our practice,
Let's share three deep breaths together.
In and out.
In and out.
In and out.
