My name is Larissa.
We're going to practice for about 15 minutes.
As always,
Just taking these first couple of moments to settle into your body.
Hopefully already having a posture that feels familiar to you,
But remembering to check in.
Take just a little,
This tiny wiggle,
Just letting your shoulders do a little shimmy,
Maybe making a neck roll.
This first choice that we're making,
Just choosing to support ourselves,
Making sure our body feels as comfortable as we can.
You're welcome,
Of course,
To close your eyes or just set your gaze downward,
Letting your external vision soften a bit.
Our eyes do so much for us,
And our eyes have a lot to do also with the way that our brain works.
There's many different therapeutic techniques that work with eye movement,
So just this closing of our eyes or setting your gaze to a single point can start to shift the way that your brain has been doing what it's been doing.
These little gentle decisions that we make,
They truly are a big part of our meditation practice.
Sometimes these little decisions,
They seem too small in the bigness of the world or the bigness of our responsibilities,
But just the fact that you're beginning by choosing comfort for yourself,
You're choosing to invite your eyes to slow down,
Which innately means that we're choosing to believe that we are in a safe space for this moment.
Anytime we're on high alert,
Our eyes are active,
Our ears are very active,
And so right now you're just softening,
Inviting your mind to soften as your eyes do,
Inviting your body to soften every time you exhale,
And just spending a little time here in some stillness and some silence,
Just letting your mind settle into that restful place right where your heart and your lungs live,
Just resting in that activity there.
Almost invariably,
Our mind is pulled by different sounds happening outside of us,
And that's because our mind is trying to keep us safe.
There's never anything wrong with the movement of the mind,
But we're starting to observe it more clearly.
So where is my mind going?
And just with that curiosity,
We start to invite our mind to come back to the present.
Remembering too,
You don't have to practice presence,
It just exists.
There's a simplicity to it.
The moment you notice,
Oh yeah,
There was thinking happening,
And suddenly you're present again.
It's this really simple little disruptor.
Sometimes we think of disruption and distraction as a bad thing.
Sometimes that sound outside my window is the thing that brings me back to presence.
There is nothing quote-unquote good or bad happening,
It's just our mind making these little judgments in order to keep us safe.
But our body,
When we can continue to come back to our body,
Our body is where reality is.
And our mind will tell us a hundred stories about what the body's sensations mean.
Our mind will tell us a hundred stories that create sensation in the body.
If we pull up a difficult memory,
Our body will respond with the same type of stress hormones.
So being able to slow down and just witness our thoughts rather than getting caught up in every single one is so foundational to this practice.
It's never to stop the thoughts,
But just to notice them,
Oh yeah,
There's thinking happening.
There's a gentleness to that.
Anytime you need a little support,
You take a deep breath.
You might take three deep breaths and sigh them out,
Just releasing some energy.
You might really gently rub your hands together in moments where you need a little extra physical contact to help you come back to the present.
So we have so many tools,
But the majority of them are in our body.
So often we go to our mind to try to change our mind.
Instead,
Instead of trying to change anything or fix anything in your mind,
Just witness the miraculousness of taking a breath.
That moment of disruption,
That positive disruptor,
And suddenly we're unhooked from that story or that thought,
Even if it's just for that half second,
But that's enough.
Let's just practice witnessing,
Oh yeah,
There's my thinking mind,
And right here is my breath.
And this practice of just witnessing your thoughts,
And to the best of our ability,
Being kind to ourselves,
Noticing when we're judging,
That's often called choiceless awareness.
And it doesn't mean we don't have choice.
Sometimes that word choiceless can feel confining,
But it means that we take a moment to purposefully let go of the judgment of the mind.
It's a brilliant way to let your mind rest for a moment.
If you think about days that you're feeling really stressed,
Your shoulders get tight,
Your jaw is tight,
That vigilance of stress resides in our body.
So giving your mind permission to rest for a moment gives your body permission to rest.
And when your body is in a restful state,
Your mind recognizes,
Oh,
I'm safe here.
And so our mind and our body,
Of course,
Work together.
But so often we're taught this top-down thinking.
Here we get to practice this bottom-up wisdom.
I don't need to change my mind,
I can just come back to my breath,
And a slow steady exhale lets me know that I'm in a safe space.
Maybe a story took me out for a moment,
But I'm right back here,
Just noticing my breath.
And that choiceless awareness,
It often begins with a choice of just noticing,
Oh,
I'm choosing to notice when a thought is happening versus letting that thought take me away.
Sometimes it feels like we don't have a choice because a thought is extra sticky.
But it's the moments where we can practice,
So yeah,
That's just a random mundane thought.
That's an easy one to just unhook from for a moment.
Oh,
I was planning ahead.
I don't need to do that right this second.
I can set that down just for a moment.
And any time a story or a thought is rather sticky,
Just take your palms and rub them together for a moment.
Just allow the physicality to unhook you from the story just for a moment.
And then notice again this breath right here.
Let it be full and deep.
Invite your whole body to soften into this exhale.
In our last moments here,
I'll invite you again just to notice your breath.
Let it be full on the inhale.
Sigh out your exhale.
Just a couple of deep sighs.
Do that for a few rounds.
Let your inhale be full,
Ribs expanding.
And sigh out.
Let your shoulders,
Your jaw,
Let everything soften as you exhale.
And that releasing is an opportunity to let the energy move from your body.
So even though our mind is where the stories are kept,
Our body keeps the tension of those stories.
And sometimes the tension is the clinging to joy or it's the pushing away of difficulty.
But our body carries those things.
So that small moment of release,
Just letting your breath soften you,
It's important.
And we can do that a hundred times throughout the day.
It's just a remembrance of your practice and a remembrance of the wisdom of your body.
I invite you to bring your hands into any of your closing habits or practices.
Just let your hands feel your breath filling you up.
Notice the natural softening that occurs when you exhale.
Invite it in.
And we'll end with a few loving kindness verses,
Repeating these back as they make sense for you.
May I remember the innate goodness of my breath.
May I seek and find safety within my body today when action is needed.
May I move my body 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 complete,
Open your eyes,
Find a little movement.
Take a moment to thank yourself just for showing up.
Thank you each for being here,
Being a part of our community,
Our sangha.
