Welcome to this meditation on presence for times of uncertainty.
I will invite you to start in a comfortable seat,
Somewhere you feel supported,
With your back in a relaxed yet upright posture.
Place your hands where they feel most comfortable on your body,
If that feels good to you.
If they're resting,
I'll invite you to place your palms down in a grounding position,
Perhaps on your knees or another part of your body.
First,
Just take a minute with your eyes open and just notice the room that you're in.
Take some time to look around and just ground yourself where you are.
Notice the light or absence of it.
Notice the temperature.
As you notice these things,
I'll invite you just to take one deep breath in through your nose and out through the mouth.
On this next breath,
We're going to close our eyes on the exhale.
Inhale through the nose.
Close your eyes on the exhale.
As you return to a normal breathing cadence,
Notice the feeling of the clothes on your body.
Maybe notice the weight of yourself and the seat that you're sitting in.
How you feel supported,
Where your body feels contained and held.
Maybe if there's any sensations in your body.
Let's focus in next on the breath without judgment.
The breath may be shallow,
May be deep.
Your breath may be long,
Short,
Full.
Just experience your natural breath.
Notice where you feel it most in your body.
Maybe under your nostrils,
Maybe in your throat,
Your chest,
Your belly,
Maybe your back.
Just take some time to notice the sensation of breathing,
Breathing naturally.
Now I'll invite you to notice if you're experiencing any thoughts that are floating through your mind unrelated to the present moment of this meditation.
There's no reason to shoo them away or look at them with any sort of judgment.
Just have awareness that they're here,
But that's not attached to them.
We'll look at our thoughts now through the lens of just them floating by without any level of attachment.
You may even notice if they just come into your mind and go out.
I'll invite you to sort of take on the visualization of a running stream.
Notice the water flowing,
Perhaps it's over rocks.
Notice the glistening of the water,
Perhaps under some sort of light,
Whether it's daytime or nighttime.
And then attach to these thoughts as if they're leaves floating down this stream.
You may notice a leaf sort of come into the stream,
Perhaps from the river bank,
The bank of the stream.
And then just float past you,
Into your line of vision,
And then out.
I'm going to give you a few minutes so that every time you think you have a thought,
Notice it come into consciousness.
Just picture the leaf floating down the stream.
And to ground ourselves,
Let's again focus on noticing that natural breath.
Notice where you feel it in your body.
Notice where you might feel tension,
You might feel relief.
And if any thoughts do arise,
Treat them as the leaf floating down the river.
In times of uncertainty,
We often desire more control.
We search for ways in which we can find that control,
Whether through others or through ourselves.
In times of collective uncertainty,
Where the world itself feels uncertain,
Where events will unfold no matter what we have done on a personal level,
The most grounding practice can often be found in returning inwards.
I ask you to refocus again on your body and on your breath.
What is your body's experience in the world?
Is it either sensations,
Absence of sensations?
Whatever you're noticing,
Notice your body's experience in the world right now.
Right now.
Right now.
Right now.
In this moment.
I'm going to invite you just to take three deep breaths at your own pace.
And notice if there's any areas of tension in your body.
Give them a little extra focus as you breathe in and breathe out.
And see if the tension changes.
Okay,
And to close out our practice today,
I'm going to invite you to take a deep,
Deep inhale.
Vision it coming all the way up from your toes,
Up your legs.
And as you're doing this,
You see it come through the abdomen,
Up through the chest.
As you get to your shoulders,
I want to bring your shoulders all the way to your ears.
And begin to roll them down your back as you envision the breath going all the way up to the top,
Top,
Top,
Top of your head.
When we get to the top of your head,
I want you to take another brief inhale.
And then exhale.
Deep exhale,
Shoulders down the back.
Envision that flow of healing.
Exhale,
Breath.
Just going out,
Out,
Out.
The way your breath came in.
Take one more deep inhale.
I invite you to place your hands to your heart.
And give yourself gratitude and appreciation for taking this time to focus on the present moment today.
And whenever you're ready,
I invite you to open your eyes and come back to your space in this world at this moment.
