Brother Richard

You can say inwardly to yourself, I am thankful for the gift of my body, and I will love my body as it is.

I am thankful for the gift of my body, and I will love my body as it is.

Resting in gratitude for the body, resting in gratitude for the breath and generating a willed intent towards love is a wonderful practice.

It allows us to recognize that love does not have to be a reaction or an emotion, but fundamentally, especially in the meditative tradition, a willed intent towards something.

I am choosing to put love at the center of my relationship with my body.

Breathing in, I breathe in gratitude for life.

Breathing out, I breathe out love towards my body.

If you're finding it a little difficult at the start to generate this willed intent towards your body, then you can start at least with willed intent towards your breath.

Breathing in, I give thanks for the gift of my breath.

Breathing out,

I choose the willed intent towards loving my breath as the foundation of my biological being.

So being with the body, being with the breath, placing the willed intent towards love at the very heart of my relationship with both, this is the beginning of recognizing

the fundamental goodness of your own being, its divine origin in love, its eternal destiny into love, the possibility of being love in the moment.

Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in.

Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out.

Breathing in, I choose to love the gift of breath.

Breathing out, I share that love with my body.

Breathing in, I recognize the gift of breath.

Breathing out I acknowledge any awkward relationship that I have had with my body in the past.

Breathing in I breathe in peace.