Welcome to the sacred pause.
This is a space where you're not expected to fix anything,
Not expected to change anything,
Only to witness and gently return home to now.
Now,
Close your eyes,
Take a deep breath in and as you exhale,
Release any weight that you may be carrying.
Let's do this again,
Take a deep breath in and a relaxing exhale.
Let your shoulders drop,
Let your face soften and let your mind know it is safe to slow down.
Another breath in and one more slower this time,
Deep inhale and hold that breath for three,
Two,
One and exhale gently.
We live most of our lives inside stories,
Stories the mind writes,
Edits and repeats.
Some of them comforting,
Some frightening,
Some so familiar they become our life template.
But there's something the mind often forgets to tell you,
You are not your thoughts,
You're the one who hears them mentally say your name and you notice someone in you hears you.
You are the one who chooses which story to believe,
Which ones to water and which ones to let pass like clouds in the sky.
Choice in the now moment is your biggest superpower.
Take a moment now and simply observe the mind,
No judgment,
No need to silence it,
Just notice.
What are you thinking right now?
Can you name it gently without attaching to it?
Maybe it's a worry,
A plan,
A regret,
A memory.
Now softly whisper to yourself,
I see this thought.
I do not have to become it.
I leave you for a minute to try this and I'll see you on the other side of 60 seconds.
Let's go deeper,
Bring your attention now to your breath,
The gentle rhythm that has always anchored you in this moment.
Inhale slowly through the nose,
Exhale softly through the mouth.
With each breath you come back,
Back to now,
Back to you.
I'm going to leave you again for a minute.
Use this observation,
Label your thoughts as either the past or the future.
Let go of the thought with compassion,
Return to your breath whenever you can.
Remember your breath anchors you in the now,
Neither can you breathe a past breath nor a future one.
Your breath is in the now.
I'll see you after a minute.
What you just did is a life-changing practice.
You can just do this much as a daily practice if you want to,
But in this meditation we go one step further.
We will explore the power of choice in the now.
The real transformation happens here.
Take a deep breath in,
Feel that breath irrigate every atom in you and exhale.
Now the next time we take a conscious inhale,
See if you can inhale a breath with as much love as you can.
Let's do this.
Inhale love,
Let it drench your blood and bones,
Exhale relax.
Inhale peace,
Let it overflow and exhale relax.
One more time,
Let's inhale love,
Let it nourish you,
Exhale relax.
I will leave you for another 30 seconds to select an emotion of your choice and breathe in that emotion.
See you soon.
What you just experienced is personal power.
There is power in this awareness,
There is power to pause and there is power to choose.
In this very moment you can choose to shift,
To breathe instead of panic,
To soften instead of judge,
To rest instead of rush,
To believe a kinder thought.
You don't have to believe everything you think.
You can return my friend again and again to the now and in the now peace awaits you with open arms.
Let's take another deep breath in and let it go with a sigh.
Feel the aliveness in your body,
The steadiness in your breath and the clarity in your presence.
There is nothing missing in this moment.
You are complete and you are free to begin again in every now moment.
I'll leave you here for another 30 seconds.
Think of it as a date with your breath,
A date with the now moment.
Enjoy and I'll see you at the end of 30 seconds.
We bring the awareness back to the body and whenever you're ready,
Gently,
Very gently open your eyes.
Come back into your day grounded,
Empowered and awake.
Choose life now,
Thrive now,
Be completely alive.
Namaste.