Come back into your body.
Welcome.
This is a little space to come back into your body.
Particularly if you've noticed that you've been spending an awful lot of time up here in your head.
Thinking,
Planning,
Replaying,
Anticipating.
Trying to work things out.
Perhaps having entire conversations with people who aren't even in the room.
Our minds are very,
Very good at keeping us busy.
So for the next few minutes.
We're not going to try to stop your thoughts.
We're simply going to give your attention somewhere else to go.
Back here.
Into your body.
Into this moment.
And you don't need to feel particularly calm to do this.
You don't need to empty your mind.
You don't even have to close your eyes.
Just find a position that feels comfortable enough for the next few minutes.
And begin by noticing something wonderfully ordinary.
The fact that your body is already here.
Before your mind catches up.
Your body is already here.
Notice where your body is making contact with whatever is supporting you.
If you're sitting.
Perhaps notice the weight of your body in the chair.
If you're lying down,
Notice the places where your body meets the surface beneath you.
If your feet are on the floor,
Feel the flow underneath them.
No need to imagine anything.
There's actually something there.
Chair.
The floor.
The bait.
The ground.
Something solid enough to receive some of your weight.
See whether you can allow yourself.
To give it just a tiny bit more.
You don't have to hold quite so much of yourself up for these next few minutes.
Give yourself permission.
To be held.
Now notice your hands.
Not what you think about your hands.
Actually feel them.
How do you even know you have hands?
Perhaps there's warmth.
Coolness.
Tingling Pressure?
Maybe you can feel one finger touching another.
Maybe you can't feel very much at all.
That's information too.
There is no particular sensation we're looking for.
We're simply noticing what is already happening.
And perhaps gently move your fingers.
Nothing dramatic.
Just enough movement to feel.
There they are.
These are my hands.
Now bring your attention towards your feet.
You might wiggle your toes inside your shoes or your socks.
Feel pressure.
Temperature.
Fabric.
UGH!
The flow.
And again,
We're not trying to create some profound experience.
We're simply giving the brain some very current information.
This is where I am.
This is what's happening now,
In this moment.
See if you can notice the temperature of the air against some part of your skin.
Perhaps your face,
Your arms.
Maybe your hands.
Notice whether there are places covered by clothing.
And places exposed to the air.
And now listen.
What can you hear?
Perhaps my voice?
Perhaps sounds inside the room?
Perhaps something further away.
You don't need to identify everything.
Just allow sound to reach you.
There is a world happening around you that doesn't require you.
To think about it.
Sound arrives.
The floor holds you.
Air touches your skin.
Your body breathes.
And speaking of breathing,
Let's notice that too.
But we're not going to take great big healing breaths.
We're not going to breathe in for four and out for seven and get it right.
Just find the breath that's already happening.
Your body has been doing this whole time.
Without waiting for instructions,
That breath.
Find that one.
And as you observe it,
Where do you notice it most easily?
Maybe your nose,
Your chest,
Your ribs or your back.
Belly.
And maybe you notice it simply because you feel your clothing as you inhale and exhale.
So perhaps somewhere else.
And if you don't particularly notice your breath,
That's okay too.
You can just simply notice the movement created by the breathing.
A tiny expansion.
And the release.
And now.
Let's widen our attention slightly.
Rather than focusing on one part of your body,
See if you can get a sense of your body as a whole.
Your feet.
Legs,
Torso,
Arms.
Hands.
Not perfectly.
Just the general sense of occupying this human-shaped space.
And perhaps ask yourself quietly.
What tells me?
Did I even have a body right now?
How do I know?
Try not to think too hard about the answer.
Maybe it's the weight of you.
The temperature of you.
Maybe it's your heartbeat.
Your breath.
Or a tight shoulder.
A rumbling stomach.
The feeling of your clothing,
An itch,
An ache.
Warm hands or cold toes.
Whatever you notice.
That's your body communicating in sensation.
And you don't have to do anything with the information.
That's important.
You don't have to analyse every tight muscle.
You don't have to work out why your chest feels the way it does.
You don't have to turn your body into another problem to solve.
For now.
You can simply notice.
That's here.
And if there is an area that feels particularly noticeable today.
See whether you can become curious about it.
Without immediately moving in to fix it.
What does it actually feel like?
Heavy light.
Tight,
Loose?
Warm.
Cold.
Still.
Moving.
Buzzy.
Hollow.
Fool.
Or something that doesn't have a neat word at all.
What does it actually feel like?
You don't have to know why.
We're practicing something much simpler.
Feeling what is here.
Without immediately needing a story about it.
Go ahead and feel.
And now notice the edges of your body.
Where does your body end?
And the world around you begin.
Perhaps feel the outline of your shoulders.
Your arms.
Your legs.
Maybe the shape of your feet against the floor.
You're back.
Against the chair,
Your skin against the air.
Notice the edges of your body.
You are here inside this body.
In this particular room.
On this particular day.
At this particular moment.
And there still may be thoughts.
Of course there are.
You haven't failed at grounding because your brain continued to be a brain.
The invitation isn't to get rid of your mind.
It's simply to remember that your mind isn't the only place you live.
You live here.
In your body.
So before we notice,
We finish,
Let's notice three things.
Something you can feel.
Something you can hear.
And something happening inside your body.
And take one ordinary comfortable breath,
Nothing special required.
And as you exhale,
Perhaps move your fingers again,
Move your toes,
Roll your shoulders if that feels good.
Stretch,
Take up space.
And if your eyes have been closed,
Allow them to open in their own time.
Let the room come back into focus.
You don't need to leave this practice feeling transformed.
You don't even need to feel calmer.
You've done something much more fundamental.
For a few minutes.
You came back.
You came home.
Out of all the thinking,
The planning,
Remembering,
Anticipating,
Worrying,
And into direct contact with yourself.
Your feet,
Your hands,
Your breath,
Your weight.
Your body.
And wherever you go next today.
This body goes with you.
So perhaps every now and again.
Come back and meet it.
Right here.
Where you already are.
