So if you are sitting or lying down,
Making yourself very comfortable.
Don't need to sit rigid or stiff.
Allowing the body to sink into a posture where you can let it be for a couple of minutes.
Meditation will be about 15-20 minutes.
Letting your body be with itself.
And if you are standing or walking or cycling or in some other movement activity.
Being in tune with the movement.
Sinking into that movement as well.
And then briefly scanning the body from top to bottom.
Starting with the face.
Maybe checking in with the area around the eyes.
Perhaps seeing if you can soften this area even a tiny bit.
And the area around the mouth.
Perhaps curling your lips slightly.
A slight smile on the mouth.
Perhaps around the eyes as well.
If that helps you to soften,
To melt the area.
And scanning further down.
Letting the shoulders be soft.
And the hands.
Noticing what sensations are present.
The chest area.
Softening the heart.
And the belly.
Letting the belly be soft.
And then bringing your attention to the area of the sit bones or seat.
And if you are sitting down,
Seeing if you can sink a little deeper into the chair or the cushion.
Letting yourself be carried a tiny bit more.
And then scanning down the legs.
Noticing any sensations present.
All the way down into the feet.
Contact with the floor.
Perhaps sensing the weight of the body.
And then gathering your attention and bringing a gentle awareness to the sensations of the breath.
And noticing where you can sense the waves of the breath most clearly.
At the nostrils or maybe the rising and falling of the chest.
Or at the belly.
And letting your attention rest in that area.
Using it as an anchor for your attention.
And perhaps you are noticing you've got a busy mind.
Thoughts racing around or one or several emotions present.
And that's okay,
That's perfectly normal.
And as soon as you notice the mind wandering away,
You gently bring it back.
To focusing on the breathing in the body.
And following each in-breath for its full duration.
And each out-breath.
By being attentive to the sensations of the breath,
You're present.
Present in the now.
In the present moment.
The breath is not happening yesterday or tomorrow.
The breath is happening right in this very moment.
And training to be present in the moment,
Present with the breath,
You could also ask yourself,
How am I being present with the breath?
Am I allowing the breath to just happen?
Or am I forcing the breath to be a certain way?
Am I trying to breathe more deeply?
More evenly perhaps?
And is that the pattern that you recognize?
Are you able to let things be as they are or are you striving for things to be a certain way?
And being present with the breath in a curious way.
In a welcoming way even.
Welcoming and allowing the breath to nourish you.
To soften you.
And then zooming out for the next step.
Zooming out with your attention and taking in sensations in the body.
Present from moment to moment.
Becoming aware of perhaps tingling or temperature sensations or stinging,
Itching,
Tension,
Restlessness.
Whatever is present for you right in this moment.
Seeing if you can be present with whatever is happening for you,
Whatever enters your awareness.
Whatever sensations and also welcoming the sensations.
Whether you label them as pleasant or neutral or unpleasant.
Whatever it is,
Welcome.
Perhaps also asking yourself the question now.
How am I generally present with the body?
What's my relationship to it?
Not from a wrong or right perspective but from a curious perspective.
We tend to have a very,
Let's say conditional or a very trained way of connecting to our body usually.
We've told ourselves this connection consciously and subconsciously by our inner chatter but also through external pressure or external input.
And each moment,
Again and again,
Every new moment we can teach ourselves to make a new connection with the body.
A new way of being present.
A welcoming way.
A grateful way.
And perhaps also thinking yourself in general in this present moment.
Thinking yourself for taking the time to be with the mind and the body and your experience with presence in this meditation.
And as you continue to sit quietly or lie quietly or walk quietly,
I'd like to close the meditation with a poem.
Stand still.
The trees ahead and the bushes beside you are not lost.
Wherever you are is called here.
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger.
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes.
Listen.
It answers.
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it,
You may come back again saying here.
No two trees are the same to raven.
No two branches are the same to wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost.
Stand still.
The forest knows where you are.
You must let it find you.
The forest breathes.
