The Power of Stillness

Let's settle in by finding a comfortable posture. This could be sitting, lying down or standing. If it's comfortable to do so, you can close your eyes. And we'll take one deep breath together. In through the nose.

And slowly out through the mouth. Inviting the jaw to relax and soften. Let the shoulders be at ease. As well as the hands and the belly. As the body relaxes, the breath can fall back into its natural rhythm.

And in this meditation, we're going to practice stillness, specifically through a practice called statue meditation. In statue meditation, the main thing we're working on is being completely still like a statue. This means not wiggling the fingers, not moving the tongue and even trying not to swallow if possible. And this can be tough and we don't want to force it. We only want to do it.

If we're choosing to opt in, otherwise it can feel oppressive. So make the choice if this is something you want to do, and if not, you can go to the meditation as normal and move as you need to. But if you would like to practice the stillness, find a posture that feels okay to be still in for some time. And I'll count down from three. Once I get to one, that's when we'll settle into that stillness.

Three, two, one. So you can bring your attention to your belly. Just feeling the sensations of the inhale and the exhale. Stabilizing your attention there. There will obviously be some parts of the body moving, like the breath, the belly, the chest might move, the back.

That's okay. You don't need to be rigid. In fact, we want a relaxed awareness, relaxed stillness. So if you need to invite the body to soften and it moves a little bit, that's okay. But as you notice maybe little discomforts or restlessness or desire to swallow or move the tongue, see if you can practice total stillness within that, watching it all play out without reacting to it.

And you can use the breath as an anchor point for your attention when it starts to get difficult or overwhelming. So we're almost there. As we come to the end of the meditation, let's take one more deep breath together. In through the nose. And slowly out through the mouth.

And when you're ready, you can start to reorient yourself and allow the eyes to open. Great job doing statue meditation today. Hopefully as you go about your day, this will give you a new empowerment to stand in discomfort without reacting. Thank you for your practice. And until we talk again, take care.