EQ- Emotional Tending, Present Moment Awareness (Mar 4, 26)

Noticing your breath is the beginning of noticing your emotions, not only in the way that our breath often changes before we even recognize an emotions has arrived, but when we can notice the subtitles of breathing, we can also feel the subtleties of our emotional landscape. This gives us clarity so we don't have to wait until the "BIG" emotion arrives (and often times, it arrives in a non-optimal moment :).
Practice noticed these subtle layers of yourself, then learn took to be gentle with yourself, no matter what kinds of emotions arise.

Transcript

My name is Larissa and we're going to practice together for about 15 minutes. As always, Just an opportunity to slow down a little bit and spend some time with yourself. Spend some time with yourself being good to yourself. And I say the word good very rarely actually because we often put bad on the other side of it, Like some others, A comparison. But just treating yourself with gentleness, With kindness, Treating yourself as you would treat a dear friend on your best of days. And that is practice oftentimes. It's practice, Just a gentle focus, Practice, Gentle concentration. And practicing opening yourself up to being okay with whatever shows up. We all have little resistance points. Like, I don't like it when I feel like this. I wish I'd gotten more sleep. You know, We all have these little things that land in our mind. We have an opportunity here just to watch those things. And they don't have to be who we are. But sometimes we make it that way on accident. Like, I've done this to myself where I've thought enough times in the morning, Oh my gosh, I didn't get enough sleep. And I thought it so many times, I felt more exhausted than when I first woke up. And so sometimes we run those little loops in our mind. And never to push them away or make ourselves wrong for thinking them, But just to witness ourselves. Oh yeah, I'm stuck in a loop right now. And there's a real gentleness to that. Just to be able to witness yourself. If any of you have ever watched a baby sleeping and felt soothed by just the rhythm of their breath, It's a little bit like that. Have you ever watched a bird or a squirrel or clouds moving in the sky? And how that can be so soothing for our nervous system. Can we bring that same quality to our meditation, Just witnessing yourself with that form of gentleness, With that kind of curiosity. And if you haven't already done so, You're welcome, Of course, To close your eyes or set your gaze downward. Just turning inward with this invitation to witness yourself with gentleness and curiosity. Take a few moments here just to notice your body in space. Notice the foundation beneath you where you feel a lot of firmness and support. And then curious, Where do you feel a bit of movement? Your breath coming in and out. Different sounds coming in and out. Can you notice the movement of your mind is the exact same thing? It's like we're not creating the sounds outside of us. We're often not creating the thoughts within us. They're just arriving. These next few moments, Can you just witness the movement of your breath? Sometimes it feels like a rising and a falling or an expanding and softening. You might even say to yourself as you're breathing in and out, Expansion, Softness, Expansion, Softness. And just bringing your attention back with deep curiosity, Just to notice your breath. And just like we're practicing moment-by-moment present awareness, Just like we're practicing gentle attention towards just noticing breath, We can bring that same gentle quality when we notice thinking. Yeah, Thinking is happening right now. Just like we might think, Oh, The leaves are blowing in the trees right now. It's just something that's happening. It's not something that's happening to us per se, But it's just something that's happening. It's creating a little bit of spaciousness, Just like we create space in our body with every single inhale. We create a little spaciousness in our mind when we just notice, Oh, Thinking is happening. And we unhook for just that half second. Instead of our thoughts leading us in a particular direction, Future or past, We just land in the present again for just a moment. Yeah, Breathing is happening. And how grateful we can be that our body is breathing for us. We don't have to think our way into how the oxygen is exchanged at the level of the blood. We can just trust that it's happening. And anytime you notice your mind has moved to the future or the past, Or a random barrage of thoughts is kind of coming and going, Anytime you notice that, You're strengthening your ability to witness yourself with gentleness and kindness. So yeah, Thinking is happening. Here's my breath. Right here is my breath. It's just one breath at a time. It's moment-by-moment present awareness. And just noticing, Oh yeah, Thinking is happening. Sometimes bringing some curiosity. Where was my mind? We might put a little label, Future, Past, Planning. We might even notice certain loops. So that was a particular memory that I go back to often. Oh, I notice I very often am planning for the next step. And the moment you notice it, You're present again. The benefit of being present is massive, Multifold. Too many things to name. The presence, To come back to presence for a moment helps us respond wisely rather than reacting from past experience. Being present helps us listen more deeply when we're with our loved ones. Being present brings us so much more joy in our lives, To be able to witness what's happening here in the present moment and receive everything that's happening in this moment. And we have all of these subtle ways of accidentally or sometimes purposefully rejecting what we're feeling. It's like, Oh, I don't want to feel that way. I'm going to change my mind about that, Or I don't want to think about that right now. Or sometimes a thought grips us and we start judging, Why I like this? What's wrong with me? Why are they like this? What's wrong with them? But it's the moment that we recognize that's happening, That we start to build our emotional resilience, Our emotional intelligence. It's like, Oh yeah, I'm resisting something. Okay, I can feel that happening in my body. Where do I feel it in my body? My shoulders tense up a little? Did my jaw tense up a little? Is my breath a bit more shallow? And in that way, We tend to the present moment rather than tending to the story in our mind. It's just what's happening in the here and now. Let's notice again a breath. Let this next breath be deep and full. Maybe even sigh out your exhale. Invite in some softening somewhere in your body. And remember, Your breath is always with you. You can use it any moment of the day for that tiny little reset. Let's do it together again. Take a big, Deep breath in. Let your ribs expand. And then when you exhale, Invite in softening your jaw, Your neck, Your shoulders. And I'll invite you to bring your hands into any of your closing habits or practices. Just witnessing the ease with which you can just bring your hands together. It seems like such a simple thing. But to pause and appreciate those simple things. That's also part of bringing our meditation with us. I'll end with a few loving kindness phrases. Repeat these back as they make sense for you. May I slow down and appreciate my body today. May I appreciate all of the beings I encounter today. When action is needed, May I choose to move with ease and peace. And may the merits of our practice ripple out to benefit all beings. And go slow if you can. Just whenever you feel like it, No rush. Find a little movement. Flutter your eyes open. Take a moment to thank yourself just for showing up. As always, Thank you each for being here, Being a part of our sangha, Our community.