Welcome to this befriending meditation.
So beginning now by bringing your awareness to wherever your body is touching the floor or whatever's supporting you right now,
Maybe the chair beneath you,
The cushion,
Whatever you're sat or laid upon.
You might sense into the soles of the feet or parts of the feet where they press into the floor or mat or whatever's beneath them.
Maybe feeling the back body where it touches what's beneath you if you're laid down.
If you're seated,
Feeling the contact points of your sit bones and the chair or cushion or whatever you're sat on right now.
In these contact points with your body and what's supporting you perhaps sensing a feeling of stability rootedness When your mind wanders into thinking as it will likely do.
No need to give yourself a hard time.
This is a moment of mindfulness,
A moment of waking up to know the mind.
And then gently bringing your awareness back to the sensations of your body meeting what's beneath you.
Now inviting you to move your attention to your hands.
Maybe feeling the warmth or the coolness in your hands or perhaps a bit of both.
You'll be sensing the tingles of aliveness in the fingers,
The fingertips.
The palms of the hands,
The backs of the hands.
Or maybe there's numbness here right now.
Perhaps a sense of where your hands are touching whatever's supporting them.
Maybe noticing the feeling of where your hands are touching each other.
Exploring using the hands now as an anchor for your awareness,
If that feels right for you.
I'm now inviting you to move to sense the flow of your breath.
As it moves in and out of your body,
Wherever you can feel your breath moving the most clearly and comfortably right now.
Maybe feeling the sensations of your breathing at the tummy,
The belly gentle expansion of the abdomen wall as you breathe in perhaps and softening back as you breathe out.
No need to force or change the breath in any way.
We can allow the breath to breathe in its own natural rhythm.
Maybe you can sense the breath most clearly at the chest.
The ribcage Perhaps feeling the breath most clearly at the nostrils or the mouth,
Back of the throat.
Maybe a sense of the air slightly cooler as it comes into the body.
And slightly warmer as it leaves the body.
Choosing somewhere that you can sense the breath most clearly,
Most comfortably.
And if you'd like to using these breath sensations as a way of bringing you back to your body to this moment,
A way of gathering your attention.
We might call this an anchor place for our attention.
You could also come back to the sensations of the hands or the soles of the feet touching the floor or wherever the body's touching the floor or the sensations where your bum is touching what you're sat on.
As an anchor place too,
Just choosing somewhere that offers to you a sense of stability,
Of support,
Of groundedness in this moment.
Whenever the mind wanders into thinking,
Just gently noting where the mind went.
Maybe planning,
Memories,
Worries.
When you notice your mind has wandered,
This is a moment of mindfulness,
A moment of waking up,
Of knowing.
Gently bringing your awareness back to your chosen anchor place when you notice this.
Now inviting you to widen your awareness to feel the body as a whole.
So including your anchor place within an awareness of the whole body.
From the tips of your toes,
Right up through the legs,
The hips,
The pelvis,
Through the torso,
The shoulders,
The hands and the arms.
Right up to the neck,
Face and the head.
A wide spacious awareness of all of the sensations arising and passing away in the space of the body.
Noticing tingles and vibrations,
Pulses in different parts of the body.
Maybe stronger in some parts and maybe not feeling that much at all in other parts.
Maybe noticing some pleasant sensations Maybe some not so pleasant,
Maybe even discomfort arising in the body.
Knowing that we can move our body mindfully to respond to discomfort that might be coming up from how we're sat.
We could also bring our awareness gently towards these uncomfortable sensations and get curious about their qualities.
Where the sensations start and end.
They're pulsing,
They change,
Move.
A hot or cold.
They have a colour,
A shape.
You can also come back to an anchor place at any point as a way of being with,
Making space for the discomfort.
Coming back to a sense of the whole body as it sat here,
Breathing.
Maybe little shifts and movements of posture as you sit here and breathe.
And now we're going to shift into a focus on repeating gently some phrases of befriending for someone we care about and ourselves.
Knowing that we can come back to sensing the body as a whole or an anchor place if this gets intense or overwhelming at any point.
So the intention here is to gently repeat these phrases as a well-wishing.
To ourselves and others.
It doesn't matter if we don't feel a sense of well-wishing.
It's enough to simply incline the mind towards befriending.
Not worrying what feelings come up,
There's no way we're supposed to feel when we're doing this.
So beginning by bringing into your heart and your mind person or maybe even a pet,
An animal that you care deeply for,
Maybe even have a feeling of love for.
Someone that it feels easy to feel friendly towards.
With them in your mind and heart.
Repeating these phrases to yourself.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you have ease of being.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you have ease of being.
Listening as you repeat these phrases to what arises in your body.
As if you're dropping the phrases into a deep well,
Like stones,
Listening for any echoes as the stones hit the water.
Listening to any echoes,
Any sensations coming from your body as the phrases land in your body and mind.
There's no need to judge what comes up.
We're simply noticing.
No,
There's no way you're supposed to feel.
So again,
Offering these phrases to that person or creature you care about.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you have ease of being.
And dropping back into the body,
Listening what's here.
And now inviting you to offer the same sense of friendship and well-wishing that you did for that loved one or person,
Animal that you care for to yourself.
Even if just a little bit.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful.
May I have ease of being.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful.
May I have ease of being.
Sometimes it can be supportive to place a hand on your chest,
Your heart center or another place on your body,
Which resonates with a sense of care.
Which resonates with offering yourself a sense of care.
Noticing what's arising in your body after repeating those phrases without needing to judge what's here.
Bringing a sense of curiosity.
Of openness,
Of exploration to what's arising in your body over the thoughts coming up in your mind in response to these phrases.
At any point,
You come back to an anchor place to recenter yourself,
Reground yourself,
Especially if you get lost in thinking.
Now offering those phrases again.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful.
May I have ease of being.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful.
May I have ease of being.
Returning to a sense of your body as a whole sat here breathing.
Noticing gently the sensations arising in resonance to those phrases,
If there are any.
Not needing to force anything.
Best we can,
Allowing ourselves to be as we are.
Now inviting you to return to your anchor place to regather,
Reground yourself.
In this moment.
Perhaps feeling your breath.
Or another place that offers itself to you.
A sense of stability.
Of groundedness.
Of anchor.
We can take these phrases with us out in our day.
This practice is portable.
You can gently repeat these phrases in a moment of pause,
Maybe waiting in a queue,
Perhaps when we're in a moment of quiet or in a moment of busyness.
We're offering ourselves and our loved ones,
Those we care for,
Some friendship and well-wishing in the midst of our lives.
