My name is Larissa,
And we're going to practice together for about 15 minutes.
As always,
Just a little bit of time to slow down,
Spend a little time with yourself.
You're welcome to just begin with the simplest form.
What is the physical shape of your body right now?
Is it a posture that feels supportive?
And if it is,
Excellent,
Just settle in,
Even the tiniest little shift,
A little shimmy of your shoulders,
A rolling of your neck,
Or even a rolling of your eyes behind closed lids can be a really nice way just to check in.
Is there any tension in my body?
And as you find these little movements,
Movement is often how we find tension,
And then the movement itself helps to start to relieve it,
Just finding this wise balance of effort and ease,
The gentle effort of your core container holding you upright,
Or even the gentle effort of giving yourself permission to lean back and feel fully supported.
And then the ease,
Just looking for ease not only in your physical posture,
But even ease in any expectations.
We just get to be together for a little bit of time,
And you get to witness yourself.
And whatever comes up is whatever comes up,
Just remembering we're not trying to get to a place of calm,
Although sometimes calm naturally happens when we invite in the slowing down.
Just allowing the full humanity of yourself to exist.
And we'll take a few moments here just to continue grounding into your body.
You might wiggle your toes a bit just to notice your foundation.
I was curious,
What parts of my body are being held right now?
Where can I feel a chair or the earth beneath me?
And then from those steady places that are not moving,
Where do you notice movement in your body?
Very often it's subtle,
Noticing the movement of your breath,
Perhaps even the subtler movement of your heartbeat.
I'm just curious,
Finding that balance of both effort and ease,
And noticing from your deep stillness that there's still ever so subtle movement happening.
Noticing again,
It's movement and stillness,
Both occurring at the same time.
Some schools of thought might say if movement is happening,
There is no stillness.
But both are occurring.
There might be a deep stillness in your legs,
In your seat,
And a subtle movement in your abdomen as you breathe in and out.
Being able to notice,
Be aware of,
And then tend to these subtleties not only helps us get to know ourselves better,
But it also is the foundation for our emotional intelligence,
Our emotional well-being.
It's part of our meditation practices,
Our mental well-being.
Just giving your mind permission to rest.
When you're in a waking state,
That's not something we often can do throughout the day.
And it truly is not only a skill,
But a gift.
When we're in our most stressful times,
Or if you've ever been in the place where it's difficult to find your basic needs being met,
Not being able to purchase food,
Not having consistent shelter,
Those are the times it's incredibly difficult to have these moments of stillness.
And so to receive any moment that you can just witness your breath,
It truly is a gift.
Just giving your mind,
Your nervous system,
A little bit of time to just be still.
And from the steadiness of this witness,
The steadiness of our ability to observe ourself,
Rather than getting caught in the flow and waves of mental chatter,
We can sit back and instead watch those waves of mental chatter.
So yeah,
There's thinking happening.
And when we hone our ability to do that,
We can then tend to any lingering movement in our body.
So when I watched that particular thought land,
I felt a tension in my jaw.
And when I noticed that particular thought land,
I felt a smile come to my face.
And these are subtle things.
Sometimes we don't notice tension in our chest because the thought is so big,
Because the But when you can recognize,
Oh,
That's a thought happening,
Then you can tend to your body.
Your body is what carries these lingering memories.
Sure,
Our brain might conjure them up,
But where do you feel it in your body?
And there might not be any particular thought or emotion to tend to right now.
But it's remembering that just the simplicity of being able to witness your breath moving through you is the beginning of the tending,
The ability to even notice,
What am I feeling in my body when that thought arrives?
And just for a moment,
Letting go of the tendency to follow the thought,
Just recognizing,
Oh,
That's a thought happening.
Does anything land in my body from that thought?
Is there tension?
Is there softness?
Do I have the ability to just settle into my exhale,
Let my whole body soften with it?
And this silence and stillness that we invite ourselves into in meditation allows us to witness the continued fluctuations of our mind,
Of our emotional landscape,
And to really listen to the physical cues from our body.
Just becoming more and more familiar with who you are right now in this moment.
And we witness our thoughts because very often our thoughts are repetitive.
And we need our beautiful mind to plan,
To figure things out,
To remember.
We also need this beautiful mind to take rest,
Allow the wisdom of your body to speak instead.
Because our body speaks in sensation and movement.
It requires this quiet time.
Not everything is available to speak into words.
Sometimes just noticing the sensation is enough.
Very often our mind is wanting to figure out why,
Wanting to plan ahead,
Wanting to avoid some difficult sensation.
And instead of running with,
Well,
Why is this happening,
We move away from the happening itself.
And then we return.
Breath is happening.
Thinking is happening.
A particular form of tension is happening in the right side of my chest where there's a softening happening as I recognize that tension is there.
Softening the thinking for a moment and just tending to the happening of now.
And I'll share here just this little quote.
This particular one is from Rabbi Akiva.
From the Jewish tradition.
And the quote is,
Silence is a fence around wisdom.
Silence is a fence,
A protection around wisdom.
And from one of the Buddhist suttas there's a similar phrase that says,
Silence and stillness hold your wisdom.
It's very often our intuition gets a little buried by the business of knowledge and thinking.
As these moments of silence allow you to get beyond the constructs of mind for a moment and just listen to what's beneath,
The wisdom of your body,
The beating of your literal heart.
And I'll invite you to place one or both of your hands over your heart or bringing your hands into any of your closing habits or practices.
And we'll end with a few loving kindness phrases,
Repeating them back as they make sense for you.
May I be healthy and supported today.
May I seek and find contentment within my body 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 then go slow.
So whenever you feel complete,
Take a moment to thank yourself,
Find a little movement in your body.
And as always,
Thank you for being here,
Supporting each other.
