Finding Comfort In Times Of Discomfort

So we begin this practice today by just consciously coming to a stop and moving our awareness from outside the body to inside the body or perhaps from our heads into the body.

So doing that by perhaps beginning by bringing all of your attention to your feet.

See if you can gather your busy awareness.

Gather it all together and move it to the bottoms of your feet.

You may want to move them so that they're flat on the floor.

May help to wiggle your toes.

Just briefly,

Almost as if you can use that to capture your mind's attention.

Then allow the movement to stop and see if you can still tune into sensation.

Perhaps noticing the feeling of your feet on the floor,

On the cushion,

Resting on each other,

Whatever you can feel your feet touching.

Perhaps you can feel socks or shoes.

Perhaps nothing if you have bare feet.

Maybe you can feel air moving on your skin.

Just see what you can notice.

Now gradually see if you have managed to gather your awareness here at your feet.

See if you can gently move that awareness up into your legs.

See if you can tune into how the muscles feel,

The skin,

The bones of your lower legs.

Just seeing if you can be aware of what's here right now in this moment.

Don't worry if it feels difficult to gather your attention in this one place.

If your mind is pulling your attention to other places or to other things,

That's okay.

Notice that's happening and simply redirect your attention back to your lower legs.

It may help to really see if you can bring curiosity to any sensations at all that you can feel.

Attention by its very nature is tangible so it's easier to hook our attention to sensation sometimes.

So notice anything.

Tingling,

Warmth,

The feeling of clothes on your skin,

Even discomfort.

Use any kind of sensation as a way of attaching your awareness in this area,

Drawing it away from your busy mind.

Bring it away from distractions of anything that's going on outside.

Moving your attention up to your upper legs,

Aware again of the muscles,

The bones,

Sensations on the surface of the skin.

Really see if you can bring all of your attention to these things and only these things.

It doesn't need to become a battle.

If you find your mind is easily distracted,

That's okay.

That's normal.

We have 50 to 70,

000 thoughts a day.

We cannot just simply make them stop.

But if you notice you've been distracted,

If you notice your attention is hooked into something else,

Simply gently,

Kindly redirect it back to this area,

Your upper legs.

Notice what you feel here.

Once again,

Gathering that attention and moving it up into your torso.

Perhaps just noticing anything that comes to your attention as you bring it to the main part of your body.

Perhaps also be curious and check in.

Understanding perhaps the area of the stomach,

The muscles.

How does it feel here?

Often a seat of emotion,

Perhaps tension.

So with curiosity,

Notice how the muscles of the stomach area feel.

No need to change anything.

We're not trying to fix anything or be a certain way.

Just checking in to see what's here today,

To see what we're working with.

Maybe tuning into the area around the heart.

See if you can have a sense of your heartbeat.

Maybe you can.

Maybe you can't.

It doesn't matter.

But be curious.

See what's here.

Now where perhaps of your breath moving in this part of the body?

Notice how that feels.

A variety of sensation as a result of breathing.

Where do you feel breathing in your body?

Movement at your ribs.

Rise and fall of your chest.

Moving your attention once more to your shoulders.

This is an area that I invite you to bring some real curiosity but also some gentleness.

Whether through worry or through working at an unfamiliar desk.

Your shoulders may be holding quite a lot of tension as we sit today.

Be curious.

Notice how your shoulders feel.

Notice if there is any tension,

Any discomfort.

And once again there is no need to change anything.

We're not trying to fix anything.

There's no particular way you need to feel.

But in bringing your awareness to this area,

If you find any holding,

Any unnecessary gripping,

Just be curious about how that feels.

Notice whether with awareness you can allow that to soften.

That might happen on its own.

Or you can choose to consciously relax your muscles.

Even move your shoulders,

Roll your shoulders and allow them to settle into a different position if that helps.

Moving your awareness down both arms and to your hands.

Perhaps noticing the upper arm,

The lower arm.

Open your hands.

Aware again of what's here.

Tuning into sensation.

Just paying full attention to your arms and hands for a few moments.

Choosing where your attention goes.

Your attention may hop about,

But that's okay.

Just keep coming back.

I invite you to see if you can really fine tune that awareness and see if you can feel,

Perhaps choose one palm and see if you can feel exactly what the skin in the centre of that palm feels like.

It will be a very subtle sensation if there is anything here at all.

Can you have a sense of bringing all of your attention to that spot and noticing what's here?

No particular way you need to feel.

Just a conscious,

Curious use of your attention just for a few moments.

Now I invite you to move your awareness to your head and to your face and notice what's here,

Particularly in the form of sensation.

So notice how the bones of your face and your head feel.

Perhaps tuning into the skin of your forehead.

Perhaps seeing if you can even tune into that space between your eyebrows.

Notice how it is.

Is there tension furrowing in your brow?

Or does it feel open and spacious in this area?

Perhaps tuning into your jaw bone,

That area of your face where very often there can be tension holding.

How does this area of your face feel right now?

So I invite you now to bring your awareness to your breath again.

Find where it's moving in your body and see if you can hold your whole body in a gentle awareness around the breath right now.

So breathing unaware of your breath,

Moving perhaps in the centre of your body but also as it affects the whole body when you breathe.

Almost as if you could breathe into and through your whole body.

To the ends of your fingers,

Tips of your toes,

The top of your head.

Really gentle awareness of your whole body.

Breathing now as you do exactly how you are,

Exactly how your body feels.

And I invite you to ask yourself,

Where is comfort in my body today?

And having scanned through your whole body,

Given it this gentle awareness,

Be curious about what comes up.

Where is comfort in my body right now?

And if you can tune into a sense of comfort anywhere in your body,

Notice that.

Notice how it feels.

It might be tiny.

Your hand resting in your lap feels comfortable.

Might be your body resting in this seat and feeling supported feels comfortable.

Notice where there is even the tiniest sense of comfort.

Because there is a lot of discomfort in our environment and in us at the moment.

Because this comfort comes from uncertainty and lack of control.

So with this practice I just invite you to find comfort,

Wherever it is for you right now in the body.

I invite you to remember that you can consciously find comfort in the most difficult of situations.

And you can cultivate comfort.

You can choose what you wear.

You can choose how you sit.

You can choose what you eat and drink.

So in these times when there is so much discomfort readily available,

Being thrown at us,

Being experienced all around,

This is just a reminder that we can choose to bring comfort into our lives,

Into our bodies.

And while their effects may seem small,

They are so important.

We can make ourselves as comfortable as possible in our discomfort simply by coming back to our bodies,

By taking care of what we need.

So just for the last few moments of this practice I invite you to tune back into your breath.

And perhaps even making your breath longer and deeper and see if you can draw any comfort from the sense of your breath moving in your whole body.

Calming your nervous system,

Feeding your body and your brain with oxygen and bringing a little relaxation and letting go with the out breath.

Once you have a sense of your breath leaving,

Feel free to III,

Scorpio is all in it.

Feeding Kindness.