Becoming A Calm & Steady Presence

This is a guided meditation intended to calm you and steady you during uncertain times,

During times of anxiety,

Feeling unsettled,

Or simply for a time when you want to feel more deeply rooted inside yourself.

Take the next 20 minutes or so,

Carve out a space for yourself where you can be comfortable,

Where there will be no distractions,

And you could relax your mind and settle into your body.

Let's begin.

Start by bringing your awareness to the ground underneath you,

Whether you're seated or lying down.

Feel the solidity of the ground underneath you.

Bring your awareness in your body down.

Feel the physical sensations in your seat,

In your feet,

And notice as you sink more into the ground,

Sensations underneath you in your seat or your back or the bottoms of your feet increase as they meet the ground.

And as you sink deeper into the ground of being,

Notice how the ground in its own way rises up to meet you.

Getting up through your seat,

Through your feet,

Into you.

Solidity,

Stillness,

Rootedness.

Feel what it's like now to feel your awareness going down,

Dropping down.

Now bring your awareness to your breathing.

Notice your breathing and don't do anything to alter it for now.

Feel the movement of your breath as it goes through your body,

Through your core.

The movement and the flow of your inhalation to the full point and spilling over into your exhalation all the way through and out until you're empty.

Feel the quality in the experience of breath moving through you.

The sensations of your breathing and the bodily sensations of your seat underneath you.

And now allow your next exhalation to go down,

To drop down without forcing it.

No need to push.

Just give yourself the time,

The space,

The patience you need to allow your inhalation to drop down.

Feel the movement happening in your body,

Your breath deepening.

Once again,

Follow your exhalation all the way out without forcing or pushing the air out.

Find the still point at the end of your exhalation and let go into the stillness,

Into that space.

Your seat rooted in the ground,

Your breath moving,

Beginning to flow and deepen.

Again,

Follow your inhalation as it comes in and through.

Let it move through you.

And then follow your exhalation all the way through and out to the still point.

Let go into the still point.

Allow your next inhalation to come in on its own without you doing anything.

Feel it happen.

Feel yourself taking in your in-breath and taking it down,

Down into the ground of your own being.

Again,

Seat rooted,

Breath flowing,

Mind quieting,

Clearing.

Allow yourself to experience your breath going down once again and see if you can begin to let go into your inhalation as it drops down,

Just like you let go of your exhalation.

Directing the breath downward on the inhalation.

Letting go,

Letting down,

Deepening.

It's as if your body was a stone dropped in water,

Sinking down slowly,

Gently all the way to the sandy bottom of the sea,

Resting into the ground.

You can stay with following your breath just as you're doing,

Or now you can join with your breath,

Deepen.

Pull it in a little more.

Inhaling down.

And exhaling all the way out.

Feel yourself emptying,

Clearing,

Grounding.

Once more,

Your next inhalation comes in on its own and you join with that.

Your body is like the river bed.

And your breath flows like the river.

As thoughts occur,

Let them pass and flow,

Go by,

Just like the river current.

Not attaching yourself to any thoughts,

But rooting yourself in your bodily sensations,

The movement of your breath.

And the space in between.

On your next exhalation,

Follow your breath all the way out through your legs,

All the way down out the bottoms of your feet.

Clearing.

Emptying.

Restoring.

Once again,

Following the next exhalation as it naturally comes.

Let this out-breath move through your seat,

Through your pelvis,

Through your sacrum.

Balancing,

Clearing.

Rooting you even more.

Follow your next exhalation as it moves through your intestines,

Your internal organs,

Your belly.

Energy,

Breath,

Moving,

Flowing,

Clearing.

All the way out and through.

Find and follow your next exhalation as it moves through the center of your being,

Through your diaphragm,

Mid-back.

Letting go completely to the center of our being.

Follow your next exhalation now through your heart and your chest,

Through your shoulder blades and your lungs.

Releasing,

Relaxing.

Letting go,

Letting flow.

You may even feel the beating of your heart.

Calm and steady.

Following now your next exhalation down the sides of your neck,

Shoulders,

All the way down your arms,

Through your elbows,

Forearms and wrists,

Out each of your fingertips and thumb tips,

Through your palms.

Lengthening,

Releasing,

Clearing,

Letting go.

Following your next exhalation out now through your throat and mouth,

Through your cheeks,

Your nasal passages,

Deep behind your eyes,

Forehead and tongue,

The crown of your head,

Your entire face and letting go.

Sinking in,

Quieting.

Now,

Following this next exhalation through your entire body,

Through your legs and arms,

Your torso and head,

Your entire being,

Letting go into the ground underneath you,

Into the salinity of being,

Into the groundedness of your own being here now.

Your entire body moving in the earth.

Your breath moving through you like a deep,

Quiet underground river of energy,

Restoring you,

Clearing you.

And now,

With your next exhalation,

Following it all the way out into the void,

Black velvet void,

Into the silence and the stillness of a complete being.

And now,

With your next inhalation,

Let come.

Let a new breath come in,

All on its own,

No forcing,

No striving.

Let the sound come and move through your body.

Fresh in-breath coming in.

And again,

In-breath joining with it.

Let yourself deepen into your inhalation.

Perhaps stretching your bed,

Fingertips,

Lips,

Toes.

Letting your body hump with new life.

And now take all the time you need to transition.

Prepare yourself for your return to the life around you,

To the space around you,

And maybe to the people around you.

But in your time,

And as you're ready to do so.

Namaste.