Hi,
And welcome to today's practice.
So finding a comfortable position,
Have a fidget,
Have a stretch.
And when you're ready,
Close your eyes or lower your gaze to a fixed point in front of you.
And take a moment to be still.
Don't need to do anything,
We're not really practicing yet.
We're just settling ourselves.
Doesn't matter if the mind is racing,
If the body feels energetic,
Or maybe you're already feeling quite calm,
Quite relaxed already.
But just settle and be still.
And begin by taking some deep breaths in and out through the nose.
As you slowly inhale,
Allow the belly to feel like a balloon,
Allowing it to be soft.
And then just slowly exhaling and letting go.
Each time you exhale,
Soften as much as you can in this moment into your posture.
Soften into the support of whatever is beneath you.
Just allowing yourself to be held.
And in a way that's comfortable for you,
Seeing if you can start to gently slow down that exhale.
You'll notice that as each breath rolls on,
This becomes easier.
Just getting a sense of letting go,
Of slowing each time you exhale.
Letting go of the constant doing we can become trapped in,
And just be.
And after the next long,
Slow exhale,
Just rest in the pause after it for a moment,
Noticing the stillness.
Then inhale and start to breathe naturally in your own rhythm,
At your own pace.
And noticing where you feel the breath the most in this moment.
Is it the movement of the tummy,
The rising and falling of the ribs,
The throat,
The nose?
Just find that spot.
Observe the movement,
The sensations.
And if your mind starts to drift off into thought,
Just noticing that it's happened and return back to the breath.
However many times you have to do it.
You focus,
You will lose focus and then you simply refocus.
And begin again.
And now opening your awareness to also take in your body and the different sensations that might be there.
You might feel tingling,
Parts might feel numb,
There might be warmth or cold.
You might notice how some sensations come and go,
Or how some stick around.
But we aren't trying to change anything here.
Again,
We're just observing what is happening in this moment.
And opening our awareness to both the breath and the body.
Allowing these things to naturally come,
To go as they please.
And now opening your awareness further again to take in the sounds you can also hear around you.
Some of them might be close by,
The sound of my voice,
Sounds your body is making,
Sounds in the room.
And there might also be sounds that are further away,
People,
Traffic.
Just allowing these sounds to come to you.
Just noticing how they share space with you.
Opening your awareness to take in the breath,
The body and sounds around you.
Noticing how all of these things are happening in the same space.
In your awareness.
We're not moving from one thing to another like a checklist.
We're just observing what appears.
And now opening your awareness again.
And noticing your thoughts.
And this can feel a little tricky.
We're not trying to get caught up in the thoughts.
To discuss them,
To analyze them.
We're just noticing what our mind is doing.
And a thought will arise and sure enough if we don't grip onto it,
Something else will replace it in our awareness.
And if at any point you find this a bit challenging or overwhelming,
You can return to the breath and slowly open the awareness again.
Breath,
Body,
Sounds and thoughts.
And just begin again as if this next moment is the very beginning of the meditation.
The more we practice like this,
The more we start to realize we don't have to change any part of our experience in order to find stillness.
We don't need to push anything away.
We're able to rest in the middle of it,
Even just for a moment.
The breath,
Body,
Sounds and our thoughts.
And now just letting the technique go completely.
And once again be still.
Resting in this space.
Becoming aware of how your body is feeling once again.
Noticing the connection with the chair or the floor.
And taking some deep breaths here,
In through the nose and letting go through the mouth.
And when you're ready,
Lift your gaze or blink open your eyes and just take a moment before you move.
Slowly taking in the space around you.
And see if whatever you're doing next,
You can give yourself the opportunity to do it as mindfully as possible before you return back to the rush of the world.
And just see how long you can rest in the space you've created today.
So thank you so much for joining me today and I look forward to sitting with you next time.
