G'day,
My name is Rachel Grace.
Thanks for joining me for this practice entitled Warmth and Care.
In this short practice you'll be invited to cultivate and connect with a sense of care and warm-heartedness.
So let's begin.
To prepare for this practice I invite you to find a sitting posture that supports you to be both alert and relaxed.
As you settle into this posture I also invite you to just take a moment to look around at the environment around you.
Taking in the space you're in and noticing the sounds that are around you too.
Just gently allowing yourself to arrive in this space and place that you're in.
Then I invite you to join me in taking a deep breath in,
Filling the lungs right up.
And then exhaling gently and slowly as you allow your eyes to gently close.
Or if you prefer just allowing your eyes to be gently downcast with a soft gaze towards the floor.
And we'll begin the practice with the ring of a gong.
GONG Just allowing yourself to breathe in a natural and gentle rhythm.
And noticing the physical sensations that accompany your breathing.
Noticing how it feels in the body as you breathe in and out.
Now I invite you to bring awareness to the body and notice how it feels in this moment.
Opening to all the different sensations throughout the body,
Whatever is there to be felt.
And noticing too what the state of your heart and mind is right now.
Holding whatever is there with a gentle and kind attention.
Then I invite you to let your attention rest either with the breath or the feet.
Whichever feels most comfortable for you.
So right now either focusing on feeling the physical sensations of the breath.
Wherever you feel the breath most easily.
Like the upper lip or the belly or the chest.
Or if focusing on the breath feels uncomfortable for you then I invite you to focus on feeling the feet.
Noticing both the strong and subtle physical sensations that are there to be felt in the feet right now.
Wherever you've chosen to rest your attention at the breath or the feet.
So you can get really curious right now about all the sensations there.
And how they change from moment to moment.
Noticing where your attention is now.
If the attention has drifted away that's normal,
It's totally okay.
You can simply respond by gently and kindly bringing your attention back to feeling the sensations again.
At either your feet or feeling the breath.
Concentrating the mind can calm the mind.
And so responding to the wandering mind with kindness also helps to stabilize this concentration.
So each time you notice your mind wanders pay attention to bringing your attention back each time you notice it wanders with an attitude of kindness.
Returning your attention with kindness each time you notice it wanders.
Now I invite you to allow your awareness of your breath or feet to ebb into the background.
As into the foreground I invite you to focus on following the instructions designed to help you connect with a sense of warmth and care.
So right now I invite you to be aware of the physical area around your heart and in your chest.
Feeling into the chest area and sensing the heart.
Then I invite you to bring to mind one or more beings that you feel caring towards.
Bringing to mind the humans and animals that evoke in you a strong sense of caring and kindness.
Could be people you just naturally like or the humans and animals that you love or perhaps a being for whom you feel a lot of compassion because you've been touched by their suffering.
So let whoever or whatever being spring to mind let them come to mind see them in your mind's eye and use the ideas or memories or images of these people and animals to help yourself physically feel that sense of caring for them in your chest within your heart.
So let's move on to the next slide.
Noticing too how the breath feels flowing in and out through this caring heart.
Your own caring for these beings flowing outward from a warm heart as you breathe out.
And warm feelings of caring flowing in towards you into your heart as you breathe in.
A cycle of connection on the out breath flowing out warmth and care to others.
On the in breath taking in warmth and care for yourself.
Increasingly resting in a simple sense of caring flowing out towards others and flowing in towards you.
Care is care whether it flows out or it flows in.
So resting with this ongoing cycle of caring of warm heartedness.
Care going out to others.
Care flowing in for you.
You can also invite a sense of warm heartedness to grow.
Allowing the warmth of the heart to spread out inside of you and radiate from within you.
Allowing warm heartedness to become well established within you.
Connecting with your calm and kind strength.
Feeling that and letting it sink in.
Learning to be at home with these qualities of calm and strength.
With these qualities that support resilient well being.
Dwelling in these aspects of resilient well being now.
And savouring this sense of warmth and care for yourself and others.
As we move towards the end of our practice I invite you to consciously intentionally sustain whatever beneficial states of body and mind that you're experiencing.
Thank you.
And I invite you to once again bring your attention back to the feet or to the breath.
And feeling the sensations,
Noticing the experiences there.
Now I invite you to join me in taking a deep breath in,
Filling the lungs.
And then exhaling gently and slowly releasing all the air from your lungs.
Allowing your body and mind to relax and let go.
And we'll finish the practice with the ring of a gong.
Allowing your eyes to open.
Gently bringing your attention back up into the environment around you.
And then I invite you to just take a moment to notice and savour the impact of this practice on your state of body and mind.
May mindfulness positively impact you,
What you do and all of those around you.
Thank you for practicing with me.
I hope you will join me again.
