So just check that you are in a posture that's going to be supportive.
An uprightness doesn't necessarily have to mean being upright.
We can feel upright even when we're lying down,
You know,
Sensing the integrity of the length of the body.
Wonderful balance between alertness,
Aliveness,
Presence,
And relaxed at ease.
Allowing for openness,
Receptivity,
Yeah.
So it's not a rigid alertness.
It's an open,
Soft alertness or presence,
Aliveness.
So whatever shape the body needs to take now to support that,
I invite you to set yourself up in.
And if you're already set up in the posture,
Feel free to take three deep breaths if that's comfortable for you.
This can just help kind of clear out any stuck,
Stale energy in the body,
Bringing in a freshness and aliveness right now.
Feel free to make any sounds that feel good to you on the out-breath or any movements.
And then as you allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm,
Just really seeing if we can support a dropping down into the points of contact with the ground.
Maybe on an out-breath,
You know,
Really feeling how the whole body naturally wants to descend into that supportive holding that the ground provides.
Surrender to it.
Through the points of contact with the ground,
We can begin to feel connected.
Connected to earth and the energy of the earth.
Connected to our ancestors who returned to the earth.
Connected to all of life,
Sustained equally as we are by this earth.
And connected to our own life force that is sustained by this earth and intimately connected to this earth.
Grounding.
And then from here,
Just inviting a sense of the upper body rising into space towards the sky.
If you're laying down,
The whole of the front of the body softening into space.
So we've got the solidity of the support of the ground and the openness,
Spaciousness of the sky.
Stretching infinitely in all directions from here.
And the sense of outer spaciousness can also support us to connect with inner spaciousness.
Which we can imagine through the central channel.
So this is a channel of energy that stretches from navel to crown.
Said to rest just in front of the spine.
Deep blue in color and full of infinite space.
So if you'd like,
You can imagine as you breathe that you're breathing along the central channel.
Connecting with the life force of the very core of us that sustains us.
Allowing the breath to begin to simply be known in awareness.
So just rising up into awareness as it is.
Using just enough effort here to support that.
That knowing of the breath.
Allowing these two things that are always happening,
Awareness and breath,
To find each other and merge.
And one way we can support this is through getting curious about how it actually is.
So I'm just going to point to a few things we might notice.
So firstly,
Just noticing the location where in the body you feel movement,
Sensation,
As air comes and goes.
Testing the awareness here and just noticing the changing sensations.
With an intention to stay with.
Finding a second location where you can feel the breath.
Sensations of breathing.
And then seeing if you can hold both locations together.
With a light touch of even joining them up a bit.
Feeling the fullness of the breath.
And allowing even more places where it's felt to come into awareness.
So I can hear,
For example,
I can feel the rise and fall of the belly.
I can feel air entering and leaving the nostrils.
And I also have a sense of tingling way out on the edges,
As the body gently expands and contracts with each breath.
So I'm just getting a sense now of the whole body breathing.
The wholeness of that.
From the very depth to the very edges.
So you might get curious about how deeply you can sense the breath in the body.
And also how widely.
Side to side,
Front to back,
Top to bottom.
Depth and breath.
You might also get curious about the changing temperature as air comes and goes.
Just noticing the changes in the air.
Noticing that.
Noticing duration or how long the breath lasts.
You stay with the whole of the inhalation.
A brief moment in between.
And the whole of the exhalation.
How is that?
Finally,
Just tuning in here to the texture of the breath.
It's quality as it comes and goes.
Sometimes the breath can feel really fine,
Like silk.
Or it might feel a bit more coarse,
Like sand.
Or something in between the two,
Or changing as it comes and goes.
Smooth,
Jaggedy.
Just sensing into its qualities.
Textures.
And then just notice how much effort is needed here.
Other than thinking,
I am bringing attention to my breath.
Maybe it's a bit more like,
The body knowing directly its aliveness just now.
All body suffused with awareness.
As it breathes.
And then it's possible that you may go off into some kind of distraction.
A hindrance of some kind.
Aversion towards something that's happening,
Or getting caught up.
In planning,
Rumination.
Doubting thoughts,
Confused parts.
Sleepiness,
Sluggishness,
Vagueness.
So if there's anything like that,
That you wake up to,
Then the invitation is to simply notice the clarity of awareness of that moment.
The mysteriousness of how that happens,
All of a sudden we come to.
Remember our intention.
And then using the clarity of that awareness to get curious about what it is that we can't be with right now,
Or what are we distracted from.
So I'll just leave us for the next few minutes to explore that on our own.
Appreciating we may be sometimes getting to the edge of our window of tolerance.
And then getting curious about what supports a return to presence and availability.
So here I want to give you permission to feel into what can resource you in order to return to what may be hard to be with,
Or whatever it is you've been distracted from.
So a few options,
Returning to the ground.
Literally just starting again from here.
Or maybe opening the eyes and having a little look around,
Orienting.
And then when you feel ready,
Closing the eyes and beginning again.
Or maybe bringing a little bit of movement in,
A little shake or a stretch or rub.
Or maybe some self-holding,
A hand somewhere that feels like it needs a bit of support.
So all of these options are available to us in any moment.
If it begins to feel hard to be with internal experience,
You could open to sound as well.
It's another option.
What's happening now?
For the last couple of minutes here,
I just want to invite you to let go of all effort now.
I want to take a few deeper breaths.
Having a sense of the ground beneath you.
Feeling into the space all around,
Opening to sounds,
Smells,
Tastes,
Physical sensations in the body.
You could even open the eyes,
Opening to color,
Shape,
Light,
Shadow.
You might want to put the hands,
Palm up in the lap,
If that's comfortable.
And here we're just going to embody our best see an enemy.
We're just being like these very supple beings,
Gently swaying in the tide,
Totally open,
At ease,
Relaxed.
Nothing to do,
But be here.
As life flows through you,
In a moment,
I'll be ringing a bell to mark the end of this formal period of practice.
And we'll just have a couple of minutes of quiet reflection.
Feel free to make notes if you'd like,
Or any other way that you know supports you to reflect on anything at all that you noticed during the practice.
