Bringing yourself to a comfortable position,
You can do this by sitting on a chair with your feet flat,
Your spine upright,
Maybe resting on the back or slightly away from the back of the seat,
Or taking a simple cross-slide position on the floor,
Supported by your bolster or your cushion,
Again with your spine upright and erect.
Notice how the weight is spread across your sit bones,
Just having a sense of weight evenly spread left and right,
Having a sense of length in between each and every vertebrae,
Reaching from your tailbone all the way through to the base of your crown.
Drawing your shoulder blades,
Your scapula down,
Your back,
Giving space around your ears and your neck.
And as your hands come to rest on your thighs,
You can have your palms turned up or down,
Feeling a softness in your arms,
Your wrists and your hands.
Bringing a sense of awareness across the skin,
The musculature on your face,
Your forehead,
Your eyelids and around your jaw,
And having a sense here of softening as much as feels possible,
Almost like we were smoothing out any wrinkles or tense positions.
And then as you feel settled in your physical body,
A little bit more rested,
Taking a full deep breath in and full breath out.
Keeping your awareness then on a sense of the natural rhythm of your breath,
Just easy in and out.
And as you begin to notice your breath,
Maybe drawing a little attention to breathing into the space around your belly,
Expanding around the ribs and your chest as you breathe in and releasing from ribs,
Belly as you breathe out.
Breathing into your belly,
Expanding out your rib cage,
Creating space across your chest and exhaling from your chest,
From your ribs and releasing all the way from your belly.
Begin to notice the sensation inside your internal experience and how it feels as you take these moments to sit and simply noticing your breath in and out.
If you have recently been anxious or fearful or you've been aware maybe of some anxious or fearful thoughts,
Can you bring your awareness or your attention now to where those sensations might arise in your body?
What does anxiety feel like or fear feel like at the moment?
Can you sense where it maybe holds most tension in your body?
And if possible,
Maybe if it's around your chest or your shoulders or your belly or maybe your face or your neck,
Can you have a sense of breathing softness into those areas now?
And this softness,
It's not necessarily a forced action.
It's a sense of allowing with your breath,
Almost like you were holding a very small baby,
Gentle touch,
Care and attention.
As we breathe in,
Having a sense of this physical softness and then also in your thoughts,
Bringing a sense of a mantra to your practice now.
As you breathe,
Repeating the mantra,
I've got you,
You are okay.
Repeating this mantra a number of times and just noticing how it settles in your system as the words land.
And we can also add to this practice,
Placing your right hand on your belly,
Your left hand on top of your right hand.
And a couple of more times with this action of physical care for yourself with your hands,
Repeating the mantra,
I've got you,
You are okay.
And then as you settle back to attention to your breath,
To the sensation of your hands on your belly,
Maybe visualizing some other people in your life or other people that you encounter in your day to day activities,
Who may also need a sense of kindness and care.
And as you repeat the mantra,
Visualizing some of these people now,
I've got you,
You are okay.
Sensing a feeling of care for yourself and for others.
And then simply resting your attention back to your breath,
The soft rhythm of your breath in,
Your breath out.
Feeling your belly rise,
Your rib cage expand,
Your chest rise,
And your chest release,
Your ribs and all the way out from your belly.
Bringing this meditation to a close,
Having a sense of maybe embracing a little bit more care as you move into your day or your evening,
And a sense of awareness for care for others.
As you feel ready beginning to blink your eyes open,
I'm finishing this meditation now.
