Take a moment to settle into your space.
Feel your feet on the ground,
On the earth beneath you,
And feel your seat rising up to support you.
Take a deep breath in,
And a long,
Slow,
Deep exhale out.
Return to your normal breath,
And observe your breath.
Now turn your awareness to other sensations.
Notice the feeling of air on your face.
Is it warm?
Is it cool?
Observe the pressure of your legs pressing down into your seat.
Attend to the feeling in your fingertips.
Feel your heart beating.
Feel your feet grounded on the floor.
Scan your body from head to toe,
Pausing when you notice any area of tension or tightness.
See if you can breathe into that space,
And let the tightness go.
Now move to observing sounds.
Without naming them,
Listen to different sounds.
Start with sounds that are farther away.
The whir of traffic outside.
The humming of the building that you're in.
Move to sounds that are closer.
Sounds that are inside your room.
A ticking clock.
Your own breath.
What do you hear around you right now?
Life is always changing.
There are highs and lows.
We get fixated on the shoulds.
What should have happened.
What we should have done.
What we should be doing right now.
We don't know our right path.
Life can be unpredictable,
And sometimes we cannot change the situation that we are in.
We feel uneasy,
Tense,
Uncertain,
Wishing things were different than they actually are right now.
We all look for peace in many places,
But we always have the ability to find peace inside ourselves.
Think of a place where you feel total and utter peace.
This could be a real place that you've been to before,
Or an imaginary place that you conjure inside your imagination.
What does this place look like?
What kind of colors do you see?
Is it sunny?
Is it full of shadows?
Look around.
What do you see in this peaceful place?
What do you hear in your peaceful place?
Do you hear the waves lapping up on the shore?
Do you hear birds chirping in the forest?
Do you hear the sound of wind gently whispering through the trees?
What do you hear when you're in your peaceful place?
What do you smell when you're in your peaceful place?
Do you smell salt from the ocean?
Do you smell flowers wafting along the wind?
Do you smell pine from a deep,
Dark forest?
What do you smell when you're in your peaceful place?
What do you feel when you're in your peaceful place?
How does the breeze feel along your skin?
Do you feel sun?
Do you feel coolness?
How do your clothes feel as they rest against you?
What do you feel when you're in your peaceful place?
Know that this peaceful place is here for you anytime you need to find a respite of peace within a chaotic world.
You can come here anytime you need to find that moment of peace.
Now observe your own thoughts.
Notice them coming and going without clinging to them or avoiding them.
Watch each thought appear and fade rising and setting like the sun not getting caught up in the content of your thoughts just watching them as you might watch the participants in a parade.
I now want to invite you to use a mantra,
Which is simply a word or phrase that we use to focus our mind and focus our breath.
As you breathe in say to yourself silently peace within me.
And as you breathe out say to yourself peace around me.
As you breathe in peace within me and as you breathe out peace around me.
Imagine as you breathe in you're taking in a seed of light that grows and nourishes you and fills you with peace.
As you breathe out you send this nourishing light all around you creating a bubble of peace around your seat.
Breathe in peace within me breathe out peace around me feel this nourishing light of peace going inside your body and then outside your body surrounding you with a bubble of peace.
Our emotions are like waves coming and going high and low but you are not the waves.
You are the ocean underneath.
The waves are temporary.
They come,
They go they get bigger,
They get smaller you are the peaceful ocean below the waves.
Steady and calm as you practice observing your body thoughts and emotions you will undoubtedly notice your mind wandering to other things.
As always the case with mindfulness the act of noticing that your mind has wandered is a sign of success.
Acknowledge that wandering is what minds are supposed to do and gently bring your mind back to observing What emotions do you have right now?
What are the waves coming and going?
But remember you are not the waves welcome your emotions in recognize them and greet them and watch them come and go like the waves you are perfect you are powerful and you are surrounded by peace you are the sky everything else is just the weather take a slow deep breath inhale in and a long slow gentle exhale out.
Know that regardless of what's happening around you,
You can always come to your seat and find a place of peace gently flutter your eyes open and return to your space.
Namaste
