My name is Larissa and as often we do,
We will sit and practice together.
Just taking these first couple of moments here to settle into your body.
And I hope oftentimes most of you just have your eyes closed and you're already settled in,
But almost every morning when I say that,
I wiggle.
I say settle into your body and I do this little wiggle and it's something that I naturally do.
I think in the beginning I used to judge myself,
Why can't I just sit still?
But it's this little opportunity for me to check in with my body.
Very often movement tells us where tension is in our body.
And it is helpful to find a bit of stillness in your meditation practice,
But just a reminder that there's no quote unquote right way to do it.
It's just what's wise for you in the moment,
What's right for you in the moment.
So very often we have a familiar posture.
Choose that and at the same time check into your habits.
Is this posture supportive for me in this moment?
Sometimes just that little wiggle helps us recognize,
Oh I'm holding a little tension in my spine or in my jaw.
A reminder too,
Sometimes a standing meditation might be supportive.
I stand sometimes if my mind is a little extra busy or I'm super super sleepy.
But whether you're standing or sitting or reclining,
Just taking a moment,
You might close your eyes,
Set your gaze downward,
Just softening your external gaze so you can really check in.
Does my body have the right amount of support?
Because my body is what I'm going to come back to a dozen times,
A hundred times,
A thousand times as we stay.
This foundation of your body,
Seeking support,
Making those small adjustments is a way that you care for yourself.
Very often throughout the day we're moving,
We're doing,
We're experiencing.
And we sometimes might miss the subtle cues of our body.
We certainly notice when we're hungry,
When we have to use the restroom.
But even that,
Sometimes our body has to make it urgent for us to slow down and notice.
And here we've chosen the slow time.
You can really start to notice all of these little sensory awareness points.
And our mind will move and draw us away from these moments of sensory presence.
And we're never trying to battle that.
We're just noticing,
Oh yeah,
There's my mind,
There's thinking.
You might just put a little label on it.
Oh,
I'm future thinking today.
Okay,
There's thinking.
Here's my body.
Here's my breath.
And sometimes quite literally placing a hand on your chest or wiggling your toes.
It's just a reminder to travel that short distance from your mind back down into your body.
Oh yeah,
That's right.
I'm just right here.
And just noticing what does it feel like to just be here with a breath.
Notice the expansiveness of the inhale.
Invite in the softening of your exhale.
And as you gain access to deeply listening to these subtle experiences in your body,
We start to tap into the wisdom of our body.
So often we've been taught to think our way through things,
And that is a beautiful,
Brilliant experience that we carry with us,
This mind of ours.
But our body is about 97 to 98% of our physiological experience.
And certainly our brain is sending signals down,
But our body is also sending signals up to our brain.
So to consider that we have this vehicle that carries us around,
That's experiencing a good 97 to 98% of the world,
That we can slow down and really tap into our body's wisdom.
Oftentimes our body is telling us how we feel before we can even register,
How is it that I feel?
If we're in stress,
Our breath ever so suddenly quickens a bit.
And just noticing how our breath will shift and change.
Then we have phrases for it.
And we'll say like,
Ooh,
It caught my breath.
I realized it was holding my breath.
And then we have these little phrases that we'll name our breath.
And right here we have the opportunity to really just notice the breath,
Not waiting until our breath is taken from us or that we're holding it in tension,
But that we gently place our attention on our breath and experience the world through our breathing,
Rather than just through our thinking mind.
It's an observational experience rather than a thinking experience.
And just settling here,
Just allowing yourself to receive all of the sensory awareness.
And just as an example,
It's so quiet in my house right now.
I can hear the little bubbles in my tea settling.
And it's a sound that I often miss when I'm sipping my tea and also trying to write an email.
And it might not be quiet in your space.
You might be hearing different layers of sound,
But just settle in for a moment.
What do you notice in that space between breaths?
What do you hear?
What do you feel?
What are you experiencing?
Let's take a deep breath in.
Allow the exhale to just soften your whole body and then pause for a moment in that space at the bottom of the exhale.
What do you notice?
And there's a subtlety,
Deep subtlety,
Between experiencing and receiving and thinking about what I'm experiencing and receiving.
And it's quick.
Our minds are so fast.
And we don't need to push our mind away,
But that moment of pause,
Just that curiosity,
What do I notice?
What am I receiving?
We start to build more and more connection to our body's wisdom.
We already know the brilliance of our minds,
How fast our minds can be,
Sometimes quickly moving on to a solution,
Sometimes quickly moving into an old pattern of anxiety or judgment.
But when we can slow down and just experience the presence at the very bottom of the exhale,
We start to build a bridge to presence.
And then eventually we don't even have to walk the bridge,
We can just land in presence.
It's just right here.
It's not a place I need to get to.
It's just right here.
Take a deep breath again.
Let your exhale soften your shoulders.
And then notice that little space before your body breathes in again for you.
Just witnessing your breath move.
And this practice of experiencing through breath rather than experiencing through thinking,
It's subtle.
And the harder we think about it,
The more confusing it can get.
So it's just noticing a breath.
It's considering that you're seeing through the eyes of your heart rather than seeing through the eyes that are constantly looking for something.
And the more we can soften into an exhale,
The more our heart opens.
It's this open-hearted vision of the world.
And we practice that just by noticing a breath.
And I'll invite you to place one of your hands over your heart.
Just notice that contact.
So maybe noticing a warmth or a coolness,
The physical sensation of the weight of your hand.
Just getting to know this touch.
And remembering that you can place your hand here,
Just like you might place a hand on a loved one's shoulder and receive that same loving tenderness just through this moment of touch.
It's a reminder too of your practice.
You might just leave your hand there or bring your hands into any of your closing habits or practices.
And we'll end with a few loving kindness phrases.
Just repeating these phrases back to yourself as they make sense for you.
May I remember the innate goodness of my breath.
May I pause to appreciate my breath today.
May I see the world through the eye of my open heart 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 take your time.
Just whenever you feel complete,
Go slow if you can.
Find a little movement.
Open your eyes when you feel ready.
Just take a moment to thank yourself for showing up.
As always,
Thank you for being here.
Thanks for supporting each other.
