A meditation focusing on coming home to the body.
So firstly,
I just want you to just take a look around in your environment.
Just notice where you are.
Just have a look around and notice where you are.
And then close your eyes if you feel comfortable.
And if you don't,
Just have your eyes directed down so as you're not distracted.
And as you close your eyes or direct your eyes downward,
I want you to sink into whatever is supporting you,
Whether it's the chair or the bed or the floor.
So we come home to the body by becoming aware of the body.
And what we mean by becoming aware of the body is simply noticing what the body is touching.
So noticing your feet.
If some of you have got shoes on,
You might just notice the slight tightness around your feet.
If you've got socks on,
Notice the subtle sensation of the sock upon your foot.
And if your feet are bare skinned,
Notice the touch of the air and perhaps the touch of the carpet or whatever your soles of the feet are touching.
So this is how we become aware of the body.
Simply noticing what the body is touching.
So let's move to the sitting bones.
Noticing the seat of your chair or the floor or the bed.
Just noticing the support of your sitting bones,
The sensation.
Noticing what your hands are touching.
Noticing the waistband upon the body.
Those of you who are wearing a bra,
Noticing the sensation of the bra strap around the body.
If you're wearing glasses,
Notice the touch of the glasses upon your face.
If you have headphones on,
Notice the touch of the headphones upon your ears or on your head.
This is how we begin to come home to the body.
Just simply noticing what the body is touching.
But we're not fully home yet.
To bring us home to the body,
Become aware of what the breath is touching.
Maybe you experience the breathing in the abdomen or the chest rising and falling.
Or perhaps the size of your torso expanding.
Or you may even experience the touch of the breathing in the small of your back.
Or you may experience the touch of the breathing in the throat.
And you may experience the touch of the breathing on the upper lip and inside the nostrils.
And I may have mentioned somewhere where you experience the touch of the breathing.
So it doesn't matter where you experience the touch of the breathing.
I just want you to focus on one place and explore the touch of the breathing.
And allow the breath to bring you home to the body.
And see if you can have a taste of freedom.
And what I call a taste of freedom is to be home in the body right now.
And we can do this by having gratitude for this breathing.
We don't breathe.
The body breathes us.
There's nothing we have to do.
The body just breathes us.
And to have gratitude for this amazing gift that we have to breathe.
So see if you can just be in the breathing right now and have a taste of freedom.
And now placing a hand upon your heart.
Just literally raising the hand,
Placing it upon your heart and come home to the body.
And as you take a deep breath in,
Take a deep breath of kindness towards yourself.
So just have that sense of breathing in kindness.
And as you breathe out,
Breathing kindness into the whole of your body.
And as you do this,
Become aware of the sensations in the body.
So rather than intellectually breathing in kindness and breathing out kindness,
Really feel the kindness entering your lungs and being spread throughout the whole body.
Let's all take one deep breath together.
Breathing in kindness,
Filling our lungs with kindness,
And feeling that hand upon your heart.
And then breathing out kindness into the whole body.
Thank you.
