Resting Home

You might like to start by just taking some time to get yourself comfortable.

Feeling into your body and noticing how it wants to be positioned tonight.

Perhaps for you that might mean just moving a little bit,

Moving your head or neck or shoulders,

Just letting yourself really get comfortable in the position and in the space,

The environment that you're in.

And if you have closed your eyes,

You might like to just open them and spend a few moments having a look around the space that you're in.

Just noticing the different shapes,

Different shapes,

The colors,

The objects where you are,

The shades of light,

Are there any surfaces glistening,

Noticing different textures,

Perhaps there's objects that you haven't noticed before,

And also noticing your position in the space you're in.

So the space between yourself and the objects,

The space between yourself and the walls.

And when you're ready,

Just coming back to center,

You might like to gently close your eyes and allowing your attention to move out to the sounds around you,

Noticing what sounds are where you are,

What sounds are arriving at your ears,

Arriving and being received by your attention.

Perhaps there's the sound of traffic or people outside the space you're in,

Maybe birds chirping,

Just noticing what's there,

And then coming a little closer in,

Inside the space you're in.

Perhaps there's the hum of a computer,

What other sounds are there,

The sound of this voice,

And noticing too any silence between the sounds,

Gently moving awareness to the connection that your body's made with the surface supporting you.

So feeling the sensations of contact between your feet and the floor,

Perhaps the sensations in your bottom where it meets the chair or the floor,

Sensations in your back,

If your back's supported,

Noticing where your hands meet,

If there's any sensations of contact where your hands are,

And just bringing awareness to your whole body and how it's supported here,

Supported by the earth below,

Just held here unconditionally,

And sensing into the vastness and the stillness of the earth below,

Letting the earth hold you,

Letting yourself rest in its embrace,

And slowly bringing awareness to your breath and the sensations of each in-breath and out-breath,

Noticing where you feel each breath in your body,

Perhaps there's a sense of your tummy rising and falling,

Or the air moving over your top lip and into your nostrils,

Perhaps a sense of the changing temperature of the air as you breathe in,

And then as you breathe out,

Being with the breath,

Letting it flow naturally.

On your next in-breath,

Bringing awareness to your sense of smell,

Noticing any fragrances in the space you're in,

Perhaps a sense of perfume or aftershave,

A sense of incense,

Flowers,

Pets,

Just noticing any fragrances in your environment,

Or the absence of fragrances,

The absence of smell,

And gently shifting awareness to the tastes in your mouth,

Are there any tastes there?

Moving awareness now,

Letting awareness drop into your body,

Noticing how you feel,

Opening to any sensations that are there,

Perhaps there's some areas that are a little uncomfortable,

Tense or tight,

Observing those sensations,

Holding them in awareness,

Allowing them to be as they are,

Perhaps noticing any subtle change in sensation as you give it your attention.

You might notice some areas of openness,

A sense of spaciousness,

Areas that feel light or areas that feel heavy,

Letting whatever sensations you notice be as they are as best you can.

There might be a sense of emotion,

Perhaps an emotion that you label or you'd like to label,

And then once you've labeled it,

Can you let the label drop away,

Just feeling the raw sensation,

Feeling the emotion in its rawness as a pure sensation and holding what's there in awareness,

Receiving the emotion with a kindness and a gentleness,

Just letting it be exactly as it is without needing to change it,

But holding what's there in love,

Letting it move and flow,

Holding it in a deep acceptance,

And if there's anything that becomes overwhelming,

Just gently bringing awareness to an anchor that resonates for you,

So one of the sense awarenesses or perhaps the sensations of your breath,

It might be the sense of touch of your feet on the floor,

It might be the sounds around you,

Just moving within the meditation as you wish to move,

Following your own inner guidance if you're called to,

You might find that thoughts arise,

Can you hold the thoughts and observe the thoughts and let them move and flow,

So without needing to get rid of them,

Resist them,

Just allowing thoughts to move and be as they are,

And gently resting,

Observing the thoughts,

So resting as the observing presence for whatever's arising,

Sensations might come and go,

Thoughts,

Sounds,

Just letting everything be exactly as it is,

As best you can without needing to change anything,

And if you notice resistance arise,

Can you allow that to be as it is,

If you notice judgment arise,

Just resting back,

Observing that,

Holding it just as you're being held unconditionally by the earth,

Holding it with compassion and kindness,

Without having to do or change anything,

You may find that you move,

Your attention moves from experience to experience without settling or slowing,

That's okay,

Can you rest and observe that and let that be okay as it is,

Just letting what is be okay,

Be enough and resting here,

Present and aware of what is,

Gently bring awareness into your body,

Just noticing how you feel,

Perhaps breathing in and sensing the connection of your breath with your body,

Sensing too into how you're being held here in the space you're in by the earth,

Holding you unconditionally,

Breathing in and feeling the sensations of your in-breath and the sensations of your out-breath,

Starting to reconnect more and more to the space and environment around you,

Bringing awareness to the different sounds,

Perhaps wiggling fingers and toes and bringing some movement into your body,

And just slowly and in your own time,

When you're ready,

Gently opening your eyes.