Welcome to Still Body,
Still Mind by Kirsten Dothall,
Still Potential.
This meditation is best followed in sitting in a chair.
But if you cannot be comfortable in sitting,
Then please choose a position of comfort.
Please feel welcome to move throughout this meditation as comfort is best.
If you do need to move,
Do it with awareness and kind attention.
As you make yourself comfortable,
Consciously allow yourself to unhook from the thoughts that may have held your attention today.
Prepare to take this time for yourself now.
Your sitting posture is one of stability and grace.
Feet flat on the floor,
Supported,
Sit bones and buttocks resting into the chair,
Spine long.
Some muscle activity present to hold you upright,
But it is as if you are suspended from above.
Your spine curves naturally and your head feels perfectly balanced on the top of your spine.
Your chin is dropped a little,
Shoulders soft,
Jaw let go,
Your arms rest in your laps,
Palm up or palm down.
Just settle into this position and notice a sense of alertness,
Awareness and safety.
Feel the effect of gravity grounding you.
Rest into the pull of the earth.
Feel your feet,
Sit bones and arms give over their weight to gravity.
Stable and supported.
Rest in awareness of that constant support.
Scan slowly through your body seeking to notice any areas that are still holding.
Start at the top of your head and bit by bit tune into,
Notice and release any tension.
Travel your body asking at each place,
What more can I let go of?
Allowing the tension to melt as ice melts to water,
To unravel,
To release.
I will be silent now as you bring your body to a state of ease.
Notice your quiet breath,
Your body breathes itself.
Shift your noticing awareness to the back ribs and feel the subtle movement here.
Be curious but in no rush.
Notice that you are present to the physical sensation of breath at your ribs but unattached.
The breath takes its own rhythm and pace and you just notice without opinion or judgement.
The sensations are welcome as part of your moment to moment experience.
Dissolve your focus from breathing and with ease and gentleness begin to notice your mental activity.
Feel the grounded sensation of your still body.
Then shift and widen the light of your attention to the arising thoughts.
Like tuning into the TV,
Just notice with interest what arises in the channel of your mind.
As if from a distance see the thoughts arise and with a sense of some disconnection let them take their path away.
No rush.
Offer a sense of welcoming and allowing to the arising and passing just as you did with the observing of the physical sensation of breath at your back ribs.
Allow,
Welcome,
Release.
Observing from neutral.
Should you have a gap in your mental activity be with that space.
Even if it is short,
Notice it,
Sense it,
Feel it.
The still mind.
No need to seek it or go out after it.
Just realise it as it arises.
Some days there will be more space and still mind,
Other days the mental activity is more intense.
Feel into your internal spaces now.
Your pelvis.
Invite your curious awareness inside.
Wait,
Rest here.
Grounded.
Your centre of gravity.
Then wander up and notice the internal sensations from your solar plexus area.
Be patient and welcoming.
If your mind butts in,
No thank you mind.
I'm attending to my body.
Stroll your internal noticing to your heart space.
Breathe into your heart space.
Welcome with kindness your moment to moment experience here.
Farewell this space and move your awareness to your throat.
Soften.
Rest here a moment on the journey inside.
Now become aware of the sensation in the palms of your hands.
Left and right together.
Tune in with a sense of interest.
A childlike enquiry.
Now take your internal awareness to the area inside your skull.
Simply notice.
Return again to your breath.
To the sensation of your body in the chair.
Your posture upright.
Dignified.
Calm.
Grounded and sure.
Know that you can return to this state of being.
That you can hold this calm seed of grounded stillness with you at all times.
Feel it in your body.
Sense it in yourself.
And now to transition.
Take a final overview of how this feels for you.
Thank yourself for taking this time to discover such a healthful and stable state.
Take in a deep breath and invite in a little movement.
As you let the air out with ease expand these movements to stretches.
And in your own time gradually open your eyes and return to your day.
Thank you.
Be well.
