Give yourself a moment just to get comfortable.
Find the position and the posture that helps you to feel both relaxed and present.
Become aware of the ground underneath you and let it receive your weight.
You might feel the contact that you make through your feet or your legs or through what you're sitting on.
And see what effort you can let go,
Effort that you don't need right now.
In this very moment,
You don't need to contract in order to move or get anywhere.
You don't need to hold anything.
You don't need to be anything other than who you are,
Just as you are.
Invite a simple presence through your spine,
From your tailbone,
Through the curves of your back,
All the way up between your ears.
And you might see if you can let energy continue out through the crown of your head,
Endlessly up to the sky.
So you can feel grounded,
Solid,
And you can also feel light.
And right now,
You don't need to use your shoulders to hold you up.
They can just hang and drop down and relax.
It can help to feel the weight of your arms resting,
Truly resting.
Letting your hands and your fingers be still.
What's it like just to be still?
What's it like just to be still?
And now you might bring your attention to your abdomen and your ribcage.
And see if you're holding them in at all.
Can you let them be free to move in response to your breathing?
Right now,
You don't need to hold yourself in.
Your breath can be free.
You can be free.
You might bring your attention to your throat and just notice if you're contracting in your throat.
Can you let it be open?
Which might then bring your attention to your jaw.
Allow your jaw to be at ease.
You can let some space between your upper and lower teeth.
Let your tongue drop down from the roof of your mouth.
See if you're holding any tension in your lips that you can soften.
Or any tension in your cheeks around your temples.
You can let your eyes rest.
Letting go of any effort in the corners of your eyes or behind your eyes,
Between your eyes.
In this very moment,
There's nothing you need to reach out to discern.
You don't need to narrow your eyes to see or to focus.
Your whole face can be open.
What's it like to have an open face?
A relaxed brow.
A spacious forehead.
And set the intention for yourself to allow yourself this time.
Time when you can consciously put down thinking about what's coming later.
To make that choice.
To make that choice.
And put down thinking about what has already transpired.
Making that choice.
And instead,
Give yourself space to slow down and simply be.
Right here in the present moment.
In this stopping,
You can hear whatever sounds are around.
You can feel yourself breathing.
The beauty of it is that you don't have to make yourself breathe.
You can simply follow along.
Enjoy its rhythm.
Even if at first it feels subtle or shallow.
Just let yourself follow.
It will change.
Now we'll work with a handful of phrases that you can coordinate with your inhale and your exhale.
So you can use either the long phrase or the short phrase.
Breathing in with the first part.
Breathing out the second part.
You can let the imagery and some of the phrases help you.
Starting very simply with,
I'm breathing in.
I'm breathing out.
So as you feel yourself breathing in,
So as you feel yourself breathing in,
I'm breathing in.
As you feel yourself breathing out,
I'm breathing out.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Let the words follow the sensation.
So you feel yourself breathing in,
I'm breathing in.
And when you feel yourself breathing out,
I'm breathing out.
So you don't have to control your breathing.
You're just experiencing it,
One breath at a time.
And feel where the breath begins.
Follow it in.
Notice it turn.
Feel it leave the body.
And that pause that happens before the next in-breath comes.
However fast that cycle may be,
It's okay.
Just stay with it.
I'm breathing in.
I'm breathing out.
May my mind be clear.
May I experience myself like a clear blue sky.
As you breathe in,
May my mind be clear.
As you breathe out,
May I experience myself like a clear blue sky.
My mind like a clear blue sky.
My mind like a clear blue sky.
Like a clear blue sky.
And every time a thought comes in,
You recognize it and you can let it go.
Like watching a cloud come in and then move and shift aside.
And you see just a blue sky again.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
My mind like a clear blue sky.
Now as you breathe in,
May my heart be open.
As you breathe out,
May I experience myself like a flower in bloom.
Experience myself like a flower in bloom.
May my heart be open.
May I experience myself like a flower in bloom.
Heart opening like a flower in bloom.
Even if it's just in this very moment,
To feel what it's like to let your heart be open.
Just like a flower opens.
It doesn't hold back,
It just opens.
Knowing that in this very moment,
You're safe,
You're okay.
In this very moment,
There's nothing you need to protect yourself from,
Guard yourself from.
Heart opening like a flower in bloom.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
My mind like a clear blue sky.
Like a clear blue sky.
Heart opening like a flower.
As you breathe in,
May I experience this moment.
As you breathe out,
May I experience pure being.
May I experience this moment.
May I experience pure being.
This moment,
Experiencing.
This moment,
Experiencing.
Experiencing.
You can let yourself do just that.
Just experience this moment of being alive,
Just as you are.
Just as this moment is.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
My mind like a clear blue sky.
Heart opening like a flower in bloom.
Experiencing this moment.
Experiencing pure being.
As you breathe in,
May I relax into this process.
As you breathe out,
May I flow with life's unfolding.
May I relax into this process.
May I flow with life's unfolding.
Relaxing.
Flowing.
Relaxing.
Flowing.
Flowing.
Right here,
In this moment,
You can give yourself that.
To let yourself relax into this process of living.
That you can allow yourself to flow with life's unfolding.
Letting go.
Relaxing.
Flowing.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
My mind like a clear blue sky.
Heart opening like a flower in bloom.
Experiencing this moment.
Experiencing pure being.
Relaxing.
Flowing with life's unfolding.
And be gentle with yourself as you let this meditation wind down.
Wind down.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
May you go gently into your next moment.
