Let us start with one deep breath,
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
Repeating that two more times,
Allowing yourself to settle into your body,
Becoming present to us,
Sitting together in practice here.
Allow your breath to return to a natural rhythm.
Notice the quality of the breath.
You may become present to where you feel it's strongest,
Which may be as it enters your nostrils or noticing the sensation of the rise and fall of your chest.
Become present to the feeling of the breath entering your nostrils.
Is it warm or moist?
As you breathe,
You may choose one portion of your body where you feel the breath the strongest,
And this may be in your belly or in your chest.
It may be the breath as it exits your mouth or your upper lip.
We will spend a few moments resting in this place.
As thoughts arise in your mind,
Return to the experience of your body being breathed.
If you find your mind wandering to thoughts,
Consider counting the exhalations,
Numbering from one exhalation up to ten and then returning back to one.
As thoughts enter your mind,
You can return to the count starting at one again.
Now let's become present to our bodies,
Starting with the breath as it enters our nostrils,
Coming into our lungs and our throat.
Notice the air entering your nostrils and your jaw,
Your mouth and your neck and any tension that you're holding in these areas.
Breathe into the jaw and relax,
Relaxing the throat and the neck as the air enters down into your lungs.
Notice the breath in your chest and the rise and fall of your lungs.
Take a moment to relax your shoulders and roll them if you feel tension in them.
Allow the breath to enter your back,
Relaxing the muscles of your back.
With each breath,
You're drawing the breath further down into your body,
Allowing the muscles to relax as you draw it down into your abdomen and your belly.
The breath is a source of energy.
It's a source of healing,
A source of comfort.
So as we draw the breath in,
We're drawing that energy to relax our bodies into it,
To settle ourselves into being here,
Right here now,
Nowhere else.
And our minds can just rest in the ease of being here,
Letting go of any judgment of if we're doing this right,
Our bodies,
Our breathing correctly.
Just being present to any feelings that arise while we're here.
Now I ask that you become present to your feet.
We're going to start at the bottom of our feet and become present to any tingling,
Any sensations you can feel in your toes.
Let's draw the energy from the ground.
If your feet are planted on the ground,
You can feel the weight of the earth bringing that through your feet,
Allowing the muscles of your feet to relax,
Trying to draw your awareness into your energy centers that are at the bottoms of your feet,
Allowing your breath to even enter,
Reside all the way down to the ground.
We'll be drawing that energy up from our feet into our legs,
Becoming present to any tightness we might be holding in our calves and our ankles.
Draw that further up to our knees and our thighs.
If our hands are on our laps,
You can bring that same level of awareness to the feel of our hands touching our legs,
Breathing into any areas that might need a little more attention from us,
Relaxing those muscles,
Acknowledging any tightness,
Any pain that we feel.
Just allowing those sensations to be there,
Not forcing anything or letting go of any sensations,
But just allowing them to be present in our minds.
As we draw our breath even further up into our bellies from our legs,
Becoming now present to any feelings in our pelvis and our lower backs.
You can take a moment to adjust your posture so you can become present to the sensations in our back.
We can draw further up from our lower backs into our shoulders and our arms,
Becoming present to our hands.
Again,
The sensations in our fingertips.
We draw awareness into different parts of our bodies,
Not only to bring the energy there and the breath,
But also to view them as anchors so that we can carry them as anchors throughout our day.
We can become present to any part of our bodies when our minds are wandering,
When we feel tension or upset.
Bring ourselves back to the present moment by anchoring in these moments and these parts of our bodies.
Now draw away from your hands,
Back up into your shoulders and your neck.
Now relax your jaw,
Your face,
The muscles around your eyes,
Your eyebrows and your forehead.
Allow your eyes to again relax if you've been holding them tight.
Allow the light to gently penetrate through your eyelids if there is light in your room.
If your eyes are open,
Hold a soft gaze.
Relaxing the muscles around your eyes.
Notice if you can draw the breath up through your eyes into your cheeks and your mouth,
Feeling the breath in your entire body.
Now we will sit in silence for a few minutes.
If you feel thoughts arising,
Return to the sensations of the breath in the body,
To any anchor that you've chosen where you feel it the strongest,
Whether it be a count or a particular place in your body.
If you're finding thoughts arising,
Return gently to the breath or to the body.
Now as we end our meditation,
Take a moment to acknowledge yourself for coming.
Offer some gratitude for showing up for practice,
For giving yourself the space and time to sit and be present to the breath,
To the body.
Take this with you when you step out into your day.
Offer yourself some gratitude for acknowledging your body,
For noticing it,
For being okay with it,
For letting go of any judgment.
And when I ring the bell,
Please take a moment to still sit.
Sit with the breath for a few more counts before returning to our call and our session.
