Let's practice together.
This practice is called Attending with Kindness and Care.
And so starting with this cultivating of kindness and care,
Let's think about how we would like to be in this practice.
Whether you would like to be laying down or sitting up,
And just paying attention with kindness to how you would like to be here for the next five minutes together for this practice.
And the posture is inviting wakefulness.
Sometimes when we lay down there's a tendency to fall asleep if we're tired.
So if you're feeling very tired in this moment,
I would invite you to keep your eyes open.
And the intention being to fall awake in this practice and open up to this kindness and care that sometimes is easy to offer out to others and maybe not as easy to offer to ourselves.
And once you are in this position that feels good,
Making any last adjustments as you invite yourself to be still,
And then bring awareness to your hands.
And the position you have the option to place your hands in is to rest the back of your hands on your thighs,
Or if you're laying down it'll be on the floor.
Back of your hands resting on your thighs or on the floor,
Palms facing up in this gesture of receiving and attending to the moment just as it is right here.
And bringing awareness to your breath.
Becoming curious of where you feel your breath in this moment.
And the intention being to create long,
Slow,
Deep breaths.
Breathing in deeply and exhaling completely.
And with this awareness and inhale we receive the moment as it is,
How we are showing up.
And with our exhale the invitation is letting go,
Letting go of our morning this far,
Of our day,
Whatever part of your day you're in,
In this moment.
And then bringing awareness back to your hands as you bring attention to maybe a situation that is challenging,
Not over challenging,
Maybe bringing attention to a moment that is difficult,
Or a moment of your day that has been challenging so far.
And this gesture of attention with your hands sets the intention to bring awareness to whatever this difficult moment has been.
And with each exhale letting go.
And remembering these qualities of kindness and care.
This gesture of palms facing up and resting the back of your hands on your thighs can be used at any time during your day.
When there is ease in your day or when there is challenge in your day and it's really just an offering of attention without there needing to be an action or words.
Simply this offering of attention to the moment,
To yourself.
And you are welcome to sit in this posture for as long as you would like.
Or if you're ready to finish you can begin to introduce a little bit of movement into your body.
Any kind of movement that feels good,
That reawakens and orientates you back to this present moment,
Opening up your eyes,
Maybe looking around the room that you're in.
And thank you for taking this time for yourself and for practicing with me.
