Each person will have a different physical space in which to practice and varied abilities and needs with which they are approaching practice. You are welcome and encouraged to practice as you are able, according to the realities of your physical space and your personal needs. Please reach out if we can help make this experience more comfortable and follow these guidelines as they fit for you.

Choose a regular spot to which you can return, as much as is possible.

If you can find a quiet place in which you will not be disturbed, great.

If you are accustomed to sitting on a meditation cushion, please do so.

If you do not have a cushion or prefer a chair or feel like you might need to lie down, these are also good options.

If you are sitting in a chair, choose one in which you can sit comfortably with your knees at a 90-degree angle. If your feet do not reach the ground, try to find something, like a book, upon which you can rest your feet, that will raise them higher.

Notice that you are seated on your pelvis, the bowl of bone at the centre of your body. Let the bottom of the pelvis, your sitting bones, settle into the seat, like roots into the ground. This foundational posture can encourage freedom in the spine, inviting it to rise upright, not rigidly but like a reed rooted in the sand, dancing and floating upwards. Then, perhaps you will be further supported, set up well, for the work of being present to what is arising.

It can feel challenging not to be together physically in the same space. For this reason, it is even more important that we maintain a commitment to presence.

1. Please turn on your video as you are able. For some, this will not be suitable. You know what is best for you. If you are able and feel comfortable, sensing or seeing each other can help to reinforce a feeling of togetherness. This can also support fellow participants and the facilitator.
2. You might want to turn off your view of yourself if you find this distracting. Go to the upper right corner of the box where you are visible. There are three dots, click there. Choose turn off ‘self view’ from the drop down menu.
3. If you are viewing this process, choose ‘gallery view’ in the upper right corner of the zoom box in order to see yourself together with the whole circle of people gathered to practice.
4. Once you settle into your posture for the meditation, you are encouraged to maintain physical stillness as we would when together in person. As some of us are sharing home space with others or are practicing where there may be unforeseeable interruptions, please move and attend to whatever arises as is necessary. Otherwise, please explore remaining in the chosen posture for each particular sit just as you would in person. Notice the desire to shift, to move, to stretch and to get up in the middle of the meditation. Check in with yourself as to whether this is necessary or a distraction from whatever is the meditative task at hand.

Everything that arises is an opportunity for practice.

Things may go awry with the technology.
When you notice something is different, either you can't hear for a moment or the facilitator’s picture breaks, see if you can:

• pause before unmuting
• take a breath.

It is quite possible the internet will have steadied by the time the breath is over. If not, repeat.

If the moment feels urgent, please reach out to the teacher by chat if you are able or unmute if necessary.