Hi, welcome to Day One of the

seven day meditation challenge

entitled Come Home to Yourself.

My name is Cory and I first just want

to acknowledge you for being here,

for taking the time and energy out of

your day and your life to really learn

about yourself and invest in yourself

and to also seek out some support along

this big, complicated human journey.

As a recap, each day, you're going

to receive a new video like this, and

you'll also receive a corresponding

meditation ranging in length from

five minutes to 10 minutes to 20

minutes, all the way up to 30 minutes.

And in today's session, we're going to

specifically explore finding your ground.

Finding your ground.

And what I mean by that is really

connecting to a place within you

that feels like a refuge, a place

that allows you to feel a sense of

stability amidst a lot of instability.

And that's the interesting thing about

finding your ground, which is that

there's no place within your experience

or outside of your experience that

is inherently stable, meaning there's

no thought, emotion, sensation within

your body, and there's no external

experience that is going to be lasting,

that is going to be here forever, that

we could take a permanent refuge in.

It's always changing.

And this is one of the inherent aspects

of being alive, being human in the world.

But we can find some stability by

relaxing into that instability and

by feeling a sense of being rooted

into a long history that has come

before us and even the ground beneath

us that has supported people going

through this journey for a very long

time and getting through that journey.

So if you'd like, you could just

take a moment to close your eyes.

And maybe feel where you're

at in your life right now.

Everything moving through you, everything

you're navigating - the confusion,

the joy, the goodness, the pain.

Recognizing that, you know,

all of it will change.

But there won't come a moment

where experience is not in flux.

And so what's it like just to use

this moment as an opportunity to relax

into things as they are right now?

Not necessarily endorsing it or liking it.

But seeing if we can hold the truth of

what we're experiencing in this moment.

And see that container of

awareness as a point of stability.

Relaxing the jaw, the

shoulders, the belly, the hands.

Noticing the thoughts

moving through your minds.

The soft fear that can

come with being alive.

And relaxing into this moment, as it is.

Feeling the ground beneath your feet.

And being reminded of and many

people who have come before you.

The long lineage of human beings

who have walked this earth.

Who have gotten through hardship.

And whose DNA is in you.

And just take a moment to

breathe in that recognition.

On that exhale, relaxing

again into this moment.

So if your eyes are closed,

you can let them open.

And so we're going to explore

more of this idea of finding

your ground in the meditation.

But as you go about your day today, see if

you can take periodic moments to connect

to the ground beneath you, to feel a sense

of rootedness, and to also see if you can

remember that life is always changing.

But one thing we can trust is relaxing

into this moment as it is right

now and there can be a stability in

that ease in meeting, what we might

call the ongoing dis-ease of life.

Thank you for your practice and let's

settle in for today's meditation.