My name is Larissa.
We're going to practice together for about 15 minutes.
Just take a few moments here.
Settle into your body.
Find that little wiggle that helps you settle just one percent more into your cushion.
These tiny little adjustments make a really big difference.
And it's choosing it.
It's choosing to take care of yourself.
We're doing it all day long.
Your body is always choosing to take care of you.
And sometimes we miss it in the busyness of the day.
Just these little ways that we tend to ourselves.
So just noticing now all these small ways your body is taking care of you.
The fact that as you were planning your day or getting ready to rest or whatever it is that you were just doing,
Your breath was just happening for you.
You didn't have to think about a single breath.
And now instead of trying to think about our breath,
We just get to pause and notice it.
It's the simplest little joys.
The ability to take a breath.
The ability to wiggle your torso and find just a tiny bit more comfort in your body.
Just seek those things as we slowly settle in.
Either closing your eyes or setting your gaze downward to soften.
Give your eyes permission to rest.
And as you're giving that permission,
You start to create an intention.
Just this intentionality of a few moments of rest.
A few moments of concentration.
A few moments to invite your mind to the present moment.
And invariably that gives our mind,
Our nervous system,
Our body,
Our brain a little bit of rest.
We can be oh so grateful for all of the things that our mind does.
But to find balance is to also give our mind permission to rest.
And in modern science it talks about seven different kinds of rest.
Social rest and physical rest.
And rather than going through all of those seven different kinds,
Just this big differentiation.
The difference between going to sleep at night and being awake.
Very often when we're awake there's some form of expectation.
And so even resting from any expectation.
I don't need my meditation to be a certain way.
I just get to be.
I can just be here.
A form of mental rest.
I don't have to figure anything out right now.
Instead of having only one form of rest,
Which we would call sleep,
Which we know is deeply important,
Can we start to settle into those other kinds of rest?
Just this moment here,
The rest of the exhale.
All of our accessory breathing muscles start to soften as we exhale.
What does it feel like right here in the present moment?
Just notice a few expansive inhales and that natural softening quality as you exhale.
And this is a form of caring for yourself.
Anytime you care for yourself you have a greater capacity to care for others.
The whole meditation,
A form of self-care and also this exhale that we receive,
This remembrance of rest.
This is a way to help balance a healthy mind.
Our mind is always seeking safety for us.
It has a vigilance when we are awake.
And because that's already happening,
We can start to seek these tiny moments of rest.
Because our mind is already seeking and scanning for anything that might cause us harm.
It's important that we also seek these tiny moments of joy.
And you don't have to feel particularly joyful to invite in the remembrance that it is a true gift to be able to take a deep breath.
Let's look for a bit of expansion on your inhale.
Let your ribs move a bit more.
And then look for that little quality of softness as you exhale.
One of the rests,
The types of rest that we experience in our meditation is sensory rest.
In yoga that's called pratyahara,
This idea of sensory withdrawal,
This purposeful drawing inward.
And even just removing ourselves from technology for a moment,
Even though you might be on technology right now to contact this meditation,
This sangha,
This community,
We're contacting it in a way that is for connection,
True connection.
With soft eyes and a soft heart,
Not searching for something in that frantic way that sometimes our mind does,
But just inviting in these natural moments of rest as we exhale,
Innately having a bit of sensory rest when our eyes are soft.
We can also work with emotional rest.
And one of the really interesting forms of emotional rest,
It doesn't mean that we try to pretend our emotions aren't there and take a break from them per se.
One of the forms of emotional rest is actual emotional expression.
So we have time here to just allow an emotion to be okay.
So I give myself permission to not be okay today.
I give myself permission to be a little sleepy,
A little grumpy,
A little under-resourced.
I give myself permission to feel these tiny moments of joy.
I give myself permission to seek the good.
I'm just curious,
What do I feel in this moment?
You don't need to conjure anything up.
Just curious,
What physical sensations do I feel?
A warmth,
A coolness,
A pressure beneath me supporting my body,
A gentle movement as my breath comes in and out.
From that physical sensory sensation,
A physical feeling,
Is there anything else subtly?
Is there any feeling tone in the landscape of your heart?
What do you notice here?
What do you feel?
And whatever you noticed,
You're giving it permission to exist.
You're giving it permission to express itself.
Whether you felt neutral or you felt some strong emotion,
Whatever it is,
We just have time and space to allow for all the feelings.
Just like we're allowing for these soft exhales to give us these moments of rest.
Just notice again your breath moving through you,
Letting your body,
The anchoring stable presence of your body,
Be a balance for your mind that tends to want to move to the future and the past.
Just be with this breath in this present moment and invite in the possibility that this breath can bring you a deep contentment.
As your breath quite literally creates expansiveness within your body and softening within your body.
Sometimes these little tiny moments where we're just witnessing our breath can bring up these feelings of appreciation.
Remembering you don't have to feel particularly grateful to invite in the remembrance that it is a privilege to be able to take a breath.
And we're never trying to negate when we're having a hard time.
We're not trying to cover that up with some form of false gratitude.
Well,
At least I can breathe.
You know,
Those types of things that our mind will do.
Just this true moment of receiving your breath is its own form of appreciation.
There's a really beautiful line.
The author,
They call themselves Black Liturgies online.
I can't remember their name right now,
But Black Liturgies is where you might find them.
This line says,
It can feel foolish to pause to marvel at the stars when the world is burning.
It can feel foolish to pause to marvel at the stars when the world is burning.
But wonder is a liberation practice.
A reminder that we contain more than tragedy.
That beauty is our origin and our anchor.
And I'll invite you to bring your hands close to your heart.
Maybe stacking palms over your heart,
Palms together like gratitude.
Feeling the center of your body,
Where your lungs and your heart reside,
Beneath your hands.
The beauty of this connection.
The origin and anchor in your body,
Your breath,
Your heartbeat.
And can we marvel at that?
Can we bring in wonder at times?
That we get to exist in this human form,
Somehow able to animate ourselves in a million ways.
And remembering too,
That our mind is already seeking the challenging things in order to try to keep us safe.
Where is it that I can seek wonder today?
Remembering that it can come in the simplest form.
Just pause and notice a breath.
And we'll end with a few loving kindness phrases.
Repeating them back as they make sense for you.
May I remember the awe of being in my body.
May I remember the wonder of taking a breath.
When action is needed.
May I choose slowness,
Ease,
And peace.
And may the merits of our practice ripple out to benefit all beings.
And then just whenever you feel complete,
Go slow.
Find movement when you feel ready.
Take a moment to thank yourself.
As always,
Thank you for being here,
Supporting each other in our sangha.
