Taking a moment to become as comfortable as possible, and settle in here for this meditation. And as you begin to settle in, you might like to close the eyes. And then bringing the focus of your attention into the physical body. And just beginning to scan through the body. Just noticing any pockets of tension, tightness or holding.

And for the next few exhales, seeing if it's possible to soften any tension, using the support of your exhale to let it go. Soft jaw. Scalp. And relaxing the shoulders a little. And seeing if the belly can let go of any clenching or efforts to hold it in.

Hands letting go of their grip. And even all of the muscles behind the eyes can soften. Having a sense of really settling in here, just feeling the rhythm of the breathing, not trying to change it in any way or control it. And if you find it helpful, you might even like to place a hand on your belly and feel the rising and the falling of the hand as the breath comes in, and as the breath comes out. And as you follow the breath, if at some point you get lost in thought, that's not a problem.

You just mentally note to yourself, thinking, and then letting go of what distracted you and returning to the feeling of the breath. Training the mind to regulate thoughts in a healthy and skillful way. We all have unwanted or difficult or what we might call negative thoughts in our daily lives. And when we do, the tendency for many of us is to try to push them away, resist them, or distract from them. But a more effective and skillful way of regulating these thoughts is just by acknowledging them and letting them be.

Just letting them come and go. Not getting hooked by them, not trying to fight them. Just seeing them as mental events, bits of language that pass through the mind. So each time the mind wanders and we acknowledge that by saying to ourselves, just thinking and come back to the breath, we're training the mind in being more skillful, more wise in response to unhelpful thoughts. So just continuing now to follow the breath as best you can and simply mentally noting and then redirecting attention back to the breath every single time you notice the mind had wandered.

Another tool that we can use to work with unwanted or unhelpful thoughts is not only to acknowledge by mentally noting, but we can deliberately change our focus away from those unhelpful thoughts and bring our focus to something more nourishing, more empowering or more uplifting. In this meditation we've been using the breath to redirect our focus to. In daily life we can also redirect our mental focus by asking ourselves empowering questions, like, how do I want to learn and grow from this situation? Or, who or what am I really grateful for? How can I make the best of this situation? How can I have the most fun doing the things that I need to get done today? How can I serve during this time? Who can I help and support today? So, by asking ourselves empowering questions, we can redirect our mental focus and that can help us to stay in touch with more nourishing, more uplifting, and more helpful ways of thinking and living. So this is something that you can experiment with today and ongoing. And as this practice draws to a close, take a deep breath in.

And as you breathe out, beginning to wriggle the fingers and the toes. And when you're ready, you can open the eyes. And throughout the rest of your day today, you might like to take this practice of mental noting with you. The more you note your thoughts, the less they hook you and draw you into reactivity. And with continued practice of mental noting, it can become like second nature and act as an anchor to your calm center and a steady awareness.

And if you need the extra support, you can ask yourself empowering questions to redirect the focus of your mind in a more helpful and uplifting direction. And wishing you a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow.