Welcome to week two's meditation on mindfulness of breath and body.
I invite you all to find a comfortable seat where you can sit with a sense of uprightness in the spine and also a sense of poise,
A sense of dignity,
And feeling how your spine is supporting you and providing you with a sense of wakefulness as you sit here.
You may let your shoulders drop down and away from the ears,
Bringing a sense of openness to the chest and quality of receptivity,
Letting your hands rest in an easy way,
Finding some ease and relaxation in the body,
Letting any obvious areas of tension be released,
Letting those parts of the body grow soft,
And then just finding some stillness,
Letting your breath be natural,
And seeing if you can notice it flowing deep and down into your belly,
The subtle inflation and deflation of the belly with each breath.
As a support,
You may rest your hand on your belly to notice the sensations,
Letting your attention settle there for a few minutes,
Resting down and deep into your body.
What sensations are alive in the belly?
You may notice space as you breathe in and breathe out,
Or maybe a sense of fullness or warmth.
What's there?
What's present for you?
While keeping your attention rooted in the belly,
I'll also invite you to widen it and include the rest of your body.
You may begin by noticing your feet touching the floor,
And your legs and your buttocks touching the chair or the cushion,
Noticing what sensations are present there,
Maybe tingling,
Pressure,
Warmth,
And also noticing what sensations are alive in the torso,
In the arms,
In the hands,
The shoulders,
This dance of sensations in the body,
Feeling the body come alive as we place awareness on it and notice its qualities of vibrating and pulsing,
This bustling inner life.
If the attention has wandered,
Just taking notice of it and slowly and gently reopening to the aliveness of the body,
Feeling the breath moving into your belly and out,
The subtle swelling and softening of the belly.
For all the ways that we judge our body,
This is a time to let our body relax and meet it just how it is,
Feeling its sensations and giving it an awareness that accepts it and cares for it,
Tapping into this reverence for all that our body does for us without us even asking or noticing.
For the last few minutes of our sit together,
Just regathering and recollecting the attention and letting it rest deep and down into our belly,
Feeling ourselves rooted and grounded there.
No matter how many times we've wandered off and gotten lost in thought,
We can always come back to the body.
It's always here as a support for us.
I welcome you all to slowly bat the eyes open,
Bringing in sight in the room and any sounds that are present and seeing how you can stay rooted in your body and this sense of embodiment as you move through the rest of your day or evening.
I thank you for sitting with me and wish you all a good day and good night.
