Welcome.

Let's start by finding

a comfortable posture.

So this means you're

both alert and relaxed.

You may be seated with your feet

firmly rooted on the ground, your

hands on your lap, your eyes perhaps

gently lowered or your eyes closed.

The theme of this meditation is

to meet yourself with presence.

And so many of us don't meet

ourselves with presence, with a

kind, loving, curious attention.

Rather, we meet ourselves with judgment

or we don't even meet ourselves.

Uh, we may be checked out of

our bodies and minds and just

navigating life on autopilot.

And this practice will help you

to learn ways to meet yourself

with something that is already

naturally there, your own presence.

It's important to recognize

it first and then learn how to

meet what comes in your life.

You know, a situation, a

thought, a difficult emotion,

happiness pain in your body.

All of it.

You get the point here.

So let's get into the practice.

First, noticing the flow

of the breath in and out.

No need to change your breath.

Simply bringing attention to your breath.

Opening your senses.

Feeling your body.

Now become aware of your own presence.

So this is a quality of being that

you already have and already are.

It may be a felt sense in your

body actually, a global felt

sense of being here, being alive,

of noticing your experience.

There are a few qualities to your own

presence that when you're out of your

own way, you can deeply experience.

So welcome in these qualities now, like

kindness, love, a kind, curious attention.

The part of you that isn't judging.

That isn't refusing your experience.

That isn't avoiding your experience.

Get in touch more deeply with this

part of yourself that is open to

what comes with curiosity, actually.

Not with fear, but with curiosity and

love, can you invite in this aspect

of who you are, your very presence?

And for those of us who have

a judging mind, it can be hard

to find this in ourselves.

So give yourself some time to explore.

And looking for my own presence

that's always here it's

actually loving and caring.

And when you come across it, simply

acknowledge it and deepen into it.

So this means let go of your

thinking mind, let, go of trying

to figure this out and just be.

Just rest here in an open way, curious,

and kind about what comes including

your judging mind, that's something

that your presence can meet and welcome.

Okay.

Now that we're in touch with the

quality of presence in ourselves,

it's naturally here that we.

Really just need to tune into.

Well, let's turn toward our experience

with this presence and meet ourselves.

One phrase I like to

say is, 'Oh, this too.

This too.' In other words,

deeply acknowledging.

Oh, this is here.

This too is here.

This joy, thi sadness, this

pain, this pleasure.This too.

When we can orient to our experience

from a sense of wholeness and of

presence, our lives can change.

We begin to learn and understand what

it means to meet ourselves deeply.

And this translates out into being able to

meet others, but first we meet ourselves.

So let's practice bringing

this presence to our body.

First, sensing your whole body, all

the way from soles of your feet,

hips, shoulders, crown of the head.

Welcoming your whole body as

it is in this moment, with no

agenda to change, fix, improve.

But just being with yourself as you are

with a quality of curiosity, of kindness.

How is it to meet your body from presence?

Now bring attention to the breath,

the flow of the breath in and out.

Meeting your breath from presence.

Again, no need to change,

alter, make better.

Breath has simply flowing in and out and

here you are from a sense of presence

and wholeness meeting what's arising.

So it's very relational, this practice.

Okay.

Now let's meet any emotion

that is present from presence.

Noticing is there an emotion

that I have that's here now?

Maybe peace or a frustration or something

that I've experienced recently that I can

take one moment to meet from presence.

What if this emotion of disappointment,

sadness, whatever it is, what if this

emotion didn't need to be different?

You didn't need it to go away.

Just as my body is here, my breath

is here, my emotions are here as

they are, and I'm meeting them with

a quality of kindness, of curiosity.

What's here?

Oh, this too.

This too is here.

Notice the impact on your body when

you meet yourself with presence.

Now meeting any thoughts,

memories, images with presence.

Noticing.

Have you been having any troubling

or challenging thoughts lately?

Or is there a memory or image

that keeps coming to you?

Maybe a challenging situation that

you're replaying in your head?

If so, can you turn toward this thought,

this image, this memory, and simply

bring your kind, loving attention to what

you're seeing, experiencing in your mind?

As with the breath, no

need to change, get rid of.

It's just arising and returning toward

in this gesture of meeting, of welcoming

what's here with our own presence.

How is it to meet yourself in

this way, this too, this too.

You can use this practice where you

focus more on the presence in you

that's meeting what's arising than

you're focusing on what's arising.

So there's this attitude of

curiosity, of kindness, of love,

care that you'd have for, uh, for

instance, a little newborn child.

This is your own presence that

you're meeting yourself with.

Your body, your breath,

emotions, thoughts, memories,

images, joys, challenges, the

whole mess of life as it were.

The good and the bad and the ugly.

When we're able to connect with our own

presence, it radically changes the way

that we move through life because we're

not living in refusal, denial, ignorance.

We're actually, we're living a life that

is far more vibrant and alive and willing

to meet all that arises in our experience.

This is one of the deep

foundations of mindfulness.

I appreciate you taking the time to be

here and thank you for your practice.