Meditation for Arriving

Welcome to meditation for arriving back in your body, on your breath, in the present moment. We're going to use a few techniques throughout this meditation. One of them being mudra, we'll use two different mudras. Another being the awareness of our body itself. And lastly, arriving on the breath as it's happening in real time.

Since the breath is only happening in real time, it is the metronome of now. As we bring our awareness to the breath, it will really help us get out of racing fast forward or reviewing and rewinding back to arrive much more in our bodies on the ground in this moment. The two mudras that we're going to use, just so you can have a preview, is first with the thumbs inside the fists and gentle fists, and we'll take our time to release one finger at a time on the breath from that mudra. And then as we move through the meditation, your eyes may be closed, so I just want to show you the mudra position that we use second so you don't have to open your eyes to check in with me then. We'll have the left palm up and the right palm either down on your thigh, or you'll be invited to place your hand actually to touch the earth in front of you, or if it's easier even right by your side body.

So we'll get to that towards the end of our meditation. We'll begin, however, in a comfortable seat of your choice, I'm sitting up on two blankets with an easy cross-legged seat. You are welcome to be in a chair, on blocks, or even lying down. Begin by taking your thumbs inside your palms and wrapping your fingers around your thumbs, bringing them to rest on your legs. Close your eyes if you wish as we begin with three breaths, just stretching them a little bit longer than natural, just to arrive initially on this stretched breath, tracing the breath with your mind as you exhale, follow the breath out.

And as you inhale, follow the breath as it comes from around your body into you, following the breath back out into the space around you on your exhale. Trace the path of the breath one more time, gently stretching its length. Long exhale, really land now on the exhale on the ground. Trace your seat, the outline of your seat on the ground, and allow your seat to spread beyond your outline. Allow your body to be on the ground.

Any squinting around your eyes, soften your eyelids, drape. Your lobes drape, your jaw drapes, and your shoulder blades drape down your back. Begin to travel your awareness down from your head and shoulders all the way down your arms, bringing all your awareness first into your right hand. And we'll begin with the right hand, using the next five breaths on each exhale to unfurl one finger at a time. So first we will place now the back of our hands on our thighs.

So you're still in fists, your fists are face up to the sky. All the awareness is in the right hand. And on your next exhale, simply allow your right pinky to unfurl from the fist, traveling your awareness down the pinky. And stay there for an inhale, feel the breath, feel the volume of your pinky, the space inside. On your exhale, unfurl your ring finger of the right hand.

Let the inhale fill the volume, the space inside your finger. The center finger unfurls, the index, at the pace of your breath on each exhale, a finger unfurls, pause for the inhale, and then the thumb. Just take a moment aware of the whole right hand, the space inside the right hand. As your hand rests on your thigh, let your breath fill the space inside your hand, your awareness fill the space inside your hand. The inside body.

Then placing the right palm down on your thigh, turn your awareness now to the left hand. On your next exhale, unfurl your pinky. Feel the space inside your pinky on your inhale, unfurl the ring finger. The inhale expands the space inside. Your exhale, the center finger, index, and thumb.

Just pause and feel the whole inside of your left palm and fingers, the volume of your left hand. Feeling your body from the inside, your weight is on the ground, you can be inside your left palm. We're going to keep our left palm just as it is. You can keep your right palm down on your thigh and stay there just as you are. If you prefer to bring your right fingers all the way to touch the ground, you're welcome to do that either in front of your body or on the side of your body.

So your right hand is either touching the earth or grounded on your thigh. The left palm is up. Body weight held by the floor completely. We turn our attention to the breath. We will practice staying with the breath as it's happening, as we trace an imaginary path now.

So you can imagine a nostril on your left palm where the breath comes in and a nostril on your right palm or fingers where the breath goes out. So imagine the breath, your next inhale coming in through your left palm, up your left arm all the way into your third eye point. Turns around for the exhale, down from the third eye, down your right arm and out through the right fingertips or palm. Just each inhale comes in through the left. Trace the length of the breath as it's happening up to your third eye.

From the third eye, exhale down, trace the length of the breath down your right arm and out through your right palm, fingers. Just do this in through the left, down and out through the right. Stay with the length of your breath as it's actually happening. Grounding breath coming in through the left, up to the third eye. Grounding breath down the right arm into the earth.

Through the circuit on your own, inhale up through the left. Each exhale down through the right. If you'd like to add a mantra, a reminder on the inhale, mentally note I am as the breath comes in and up. And on the exhale, here, now, as it goes down and out onto the earth, I am here, now. I'm just going to offer you a little bit of time on your own with no guidance, a little bit of silence to continue just the breathing pattern or the breathing pattern and the mantra.

Each exhale at the end, as you mentally note the ground underneath you, feel yourself here in the present moment at that pause at the end of the exhale. Okay. Just a few more breaths here, returning your awareness to the ground holding you, your breath coming through the left channel, the calming channel, receptive channel, and going back out through the active channel grounding you. We're going to practice continuing with the technique even as we open our eyes. Very gently, very softly, allow yourself to begin to take in the space around you, the light, a very soft gaze, and you're practicing continuing sensing the ground, continue feeling the receptivity of the breath coming to you, and each exhale that feeling of returning into the now moment on the earth in your body.

And because we're human, we will get carried away out of the now moment, over and over again all day long. And this is a wonderful technique even to use just three breaths of I am here now as a reminder to come back, or unfurling 10 fingers, which only takes 10 breaths to bring you back into the present moment in your body. So last breath here, feel the inhale come to you, I am, looking around if you wish, here now, and slowly bringing your hands together in Anjali and prayer, softening your head to your heart. May you feel more grounded in your body, arriving here on your breath now. May you return to it again and again throughout your activity today.

Namaste.