Welcome to your practice.
In this meditation,
We'll explore our breath,
Our surroundings,
And a scan of the body to stay grounded in the present moment.
Only when we are fully present can we experience all the possibilities that this moment has to offer.
Find a tall,
Comfortable seat.
If you're sitting on the floor,
Place a cushion or other support beneath your sit bones so that your hips and legs can truly relax.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Move closer to the edge of the chair so that you can feel the soles of your feet easily resting on the earth.
Sense into your lower body and invite your hips and legs to soften and release.
Let them feel heavy,
Connecting you to the earth.
Draw your attention now to the upper body and invite your spine to become lifted and long as you reach up through the crown of your head.
Relax your shoulders,
Your hands,
Your jaw.
Inhale deeply through your nose.
Open your mouth and let it go.
Close your eyes or find a soft,
Receptive gaze to the earth.
Begin to follow your breath.
Notice each inhale,
Each exhale.
Notice the quality of your breath.
Deep,
Shallow,
Smooth,
Jagged.
Welcome each breath exactly as it is.
No need to change or shape the breath in any way.
Notice where you feel the breath moving in your body.
The sensation of air moving through your nostrils.
The rise and fall of your chest.
The expansion and softening of your belly.
Being here now means anchoring our attention to what is happening in each moment,
Without attachment,
Without judgment.
We follow the breath.
Notice its cadence and rhythm.
Notice it moving through our body,
Ebbing and flowing like a smooth ocean wave.
We notice our thoughts coming and going,
Letting them float through our awareness like clouds drifting past in a clear blue sky.
When one of those clouds carries us away,
We come back to the sky,
To the present moment,
Through our primary anchor,
The breath.
It reconnects us time and again to the experience of this moment,
To the beauty that lies in the now.
Expand your awareness and explore your surroundings.
What else lies in this moment for you?
Open your attention to the sounds in the room around you.
Notice sounds that seem nearby and those that are off in the distance.
Perhaps there is the hum of machinery,
The sound of your breath.
Perhaps there is music,
Voices,
The sound of rain falling softly on the rooftop above you.
Observe the sounds as they rise and fall,
And notice the absence of sound in the moments between.
Releasing your attention from sounds,
Come back to the rhythm of your breath and notice the sensations that arise in your body as you breathe.
Feel each inhale,
Each exhale.
Let's begin to move our awareness through the body and attune to the sensations we encounter moment by moment.
Let yourself notice the sensations you find in each area.
Warmth,
Coolness,
Tingling,
Tension,
Softness,
Discomfort,
Ease.
Let your awareness open to discover the sensations that rise and fall with each moment,
And accept all that you find with compassion and loving kindness.
Draw your attention to the soles of your feet and notice what you find.
Notice the toes,
Tops of the feet,
Heels,
Ankles.
Move your awareness to the lower legs,
Your calves and shins.
Notice your knees and the backs of the knees.
Sense into your thighs,
Backs of the thighs,
Your hips and seat.
Feel into the whole lower body,
From your navel to your toes,
And observe the myriad sensations that arise.
Move your attention now to your back body.
Visualize the spine,
Vertebra stacking upon vertebra.
Notice sensation in the muscles of your low back,
Mid back,
Upper back.
Feel into your shoulders.
Let your awareness travel down your arms,
Along the upper arms,
Across your elbows,
Along the forearms,
Across the wrists.
Allow your attention to settle in your hands and notice what you find.
Sense into the palms,
The backs of your hands.
Notice your thumbs.
Notice each finger.
Slowly releasing attention from your hands.
Level back up along the arms,
Moving across your shoulders and into your chest.
Notice the chest rise and fall with your breath.
Perhaps sense the beating of your heart.
Slowly draw your awareness down into your belly and see what lies there.
Hunger,
Fullness,
Tension,
Softness.
A gentle expansion and release with each inhale and exhale.
Let your attention move slowly upward,
Across your chest,
Along your throat,
Into your jaw.
Notice the muscles of your face,
Across your brow and along your cheeks,
Around your eyes.
Sense into the muscles of the scalp,
Moving across the crown and into the back of the skull.
Feel into the sensations in the head and neck together now.
And then let that awareness expand to encompass the whole upper body.
Expanding again,
Feel into your whole body.
Feel it alive with sensation,
Large and small,
Changing moment by moment.
Welcome all that you find,
Embrace it with acceptance and compassion.
Acknowledge each sensation as part of this moment's experience.
Invite your attention back to the breath now,
Back to where it all began.
Feel the peace and beauty that exists in the breath in this moment.
With each inhale and exhale that you follow,
Bask in presence,
In awareness,
In the now.
Take a deep,
Full inhale through your nose.
Exhale to let it go.
Let your eyes flutter open,
Your attention slowly coming back into the room.
Notice how you feel in this moment.
Perhaps you feel a greater sense of ease and calm,
A connection to the present moment and all that it offers.
Know that you can always come back to the present,
No matter how often you drift away.
Know that coming back to this place of calm and peace is as simple as inviting yourself to be here now.
