Hello and welcome to this practice which will be focused around grounding into the new year.
Finding yourself a comfortable seated position,
One that's relatively upright and stable.
You may wish to choose to place the feet flat on the floor or on a support like a cushion if needed.
And finding a place either at the front of the chair with the pelvis tilted forward to help keep an upright spine,
Or perhaps all the way to the back of the chair with the lower back pressing against the chair.
Depending on the chair that can also help keep the spine relatively upright.
And once you've found a position for the body in the chair,
The hands can be in the lap or together or on the knees.
And you may wish to keep the eyes open or you may wish to close them.
And beginning to give a little bit of energy to the attention and direct the attention towards the sensation of breathing in the body.
Perhaps noticing the shoulders going up and down alongside the breath.
Or you might notice it more in the chest expanding and contracting.
Or in the belly going out and coming in.
Or elsewhere.
So taking the next few moments to see where in the body the sensation of breathing is most noticeable.
And now perhaps taking a moment to reflect on what about meditation brings me here.
What is it that brought me to this practice today?
And you may wish to imagine a flat stone being dropped into a water well.
And as the stone slowly sinks deeper,
You may ask yourself the question again,
What brought me to the practice today?
And as that stone in the well continues to go deeper,
You may wish to ask yourself the question once more,
What draws me to the mindfulness practice?
And as that settles into the body and the mind,
Seeing if it's possible to at the same time hold that intention,
Be present with it,
Honor it.
And at the same time,
Perhaps practicing letting it go.
Letting go of an intention or loosening our grip on it can make it much easier to carry throughout the practice and throughout the year.
It can inform and guide us,
Even if it's not held too tightly.
So seeing if it's possible to let it go,
Even just a little,
And just turn the attention towards the present moment,
Towards the breath and the sensation of breathing in the body.
Fully experiencing the breath moving in and out of the body.
Noticing if perhaps the attention has wandered,
And if it has,
Viewing it as an opportunity to bring the attention back to the breath after having noticed it wandered.
The attention may wander again,
And that would simply be another opportunity to notice it and choose to bring the attention back once more to the breath.
The wandering attention can be a normal part of the practice,
And simply allowing yourself to be present in this moment with each breath coming and going.
Sensing perhaps the body grounded against the chair,
The chair supporting the body.
And perhaps as the breath settles the mind,
Noticing the mind feeling slightly more grounded alongside the body.
Using the breath and the body to help ground ourselves in the present moment,
Allowing ourselves to fully experience each moment.
And continuing with the attention on the breath and the body,
Allowing the eyes to slowly come up if they've been closed or lowered.
So just looking ahead normally,
With continued attention on the breath and the body grounding us with the eyes open.
Doing so allows us to begin having this type of awareness and this sense of grounding more easily available to us throughout everyday life.
