My name is Larissa.
We're going to practice together for about 15 minutes.
It's a little bit of time to slow down,
Spend some time with yourself.
We get to do it in community.
Taking these first few moments as we often do just to settle into your body.
Choose a posture that feels supportive if you haven't already done so.
And then take a moment,
Just a tiny little wiggle can sometimes help your sit bones settle a little deeper into your cushion.
If you've chosen to stand or recline,
Notice whatever posture you've chosen,
Notice what parts of you are being supported.
Where do you feel contact in your body?
That contact that you feel,
That's something we can return to over and over.
It's present and it's consistent.
And sometimes the contact might feel really lovely in some moments and then it shifts.
What felt like support beneath one of your feet after several minutes starts to feel like uncomfortable pressure.
What was chilly a moment ago starts to feel cozy and warm.
We're constantly shifting,
Constantly changing our feeling tone.
We're just practicing witnessing as these changes occur,
Not getting caught up in every single change.
Thoughts will come and go and we're just sitting in this present seat,
Seat of awareness.
We're just aware.
So yeah,
Sensations are changing and different thoughts are coming and going.
And we have this very broad frame,
Pleasant,
Neutral and unpleasant when we look at feeling tone in our body,
In our emotional landscape.
And very often our mind will put these broad labels on before we even realize what it is that we're feeling.
And so bring things some curiosity.
You never want to stay with discomfort so long that it turns into a pain point.
But you might stay and be really curious where sometimes our brain will say,
Oh I don't like that.
Like a tiny tangle in our foot and we want to shift away from it quickly so our foot doesn't fall asleep.
But just noticing these quick reactions and seeing how long we can stay.
And instead of the way our brain labels tingling means discomfort,
Can we open up some curiosity?
That way we can start to shift from reacting,
I have an itch,
I must scratch it immediately,
To just awareness.
I'm aware of a sensation.
And we start to open up a possibility.
On that scale of pleasant,
Neutral,
Unpleasant,
Perhaps we have a little more neutral space.
Our mind becomes less quick to judge,
I like it,
I don't like it.
And we just notice broad spaces of neutrality.
Just bring some curiosity these next few moments in silence.
What kind of labels does your mind place?
What are some of these automatic thoughts that just appear in your mind?
What do you notice as you're just witnessing the different thoughts coming and going?
I'm just curious again,
Where were my thoughts just now?
And you might be curious,
What kind of labels is my thought automatically coming up with?
And you can also place labels on your thoughts that can be so helpful and supportive.
So just notice some future thinking.
Or you might have a label of tension in my chest,
It might be a physical feeling.
It might be a label like planning,
Remembering.
And you don't have to get too detailed,
Our mind really loves to think,
You don't have to think too hard about it.
Just to notice.
Where was my mind just now?
Put a little label on it.
I was in the future.
I was in the past.
And then notice again the present moment awareness in your body.
What parts of your body are being supported by the earth?
Notice that contact.
Settling again again to a little bit of a silent space.
And just witness and watch.
Awareness of where your mind takes you.
What is your mind doing?
And you're just witnessing it with curiosity.
Deep curiosity.
Let's notice where was my mind just now?
Maybe I was just right here,
Steady with your breath.
Maybe in the future,
Maybe in the past.
You might start to notice little patterns.
My mind keeps telling me this particular thing.
It's a co-creation.
I'm not trying to fix your mind or stop it or figure it out.
But you might notice there's a part of your mind that is trying to figure things out.
So I just noticed that thinking is happening.
So whether you're noticing,
Starting to see the patterns of mind,
Seeing those kinds of containers,
Or you're creating these little containers of just labeling a thought,
A future,
Past,
Planning,
Worrying.
These little labels can be so helpful because our brain likes things to be concrete.
When it can predict what's happening,
It believes it can keep us very safe.
And so when change occurs,
Sometimes we can get caught up in trying to fix or figure out.
Here in the steadiness of your body,
You're just witnessing these little changes occurring.
These little feelings that shift from pleasant,
To neutral,
To unpleasant,
To back again.
And from the steadiness of your body,
Just witnessing.
Allowing movement,
The movement of your breath,
The movement of mind,
Small adjustments,
So that you can stay for a while and just continue this witnessing.
Where is my mind headed?
Let me invite it back just to notice the steadiness of my body and the movement of my breath.
This labeling also helps us create a little space,
A little space between the stimulus and the response.
The thought creates stimulus within us.
Very often our responses are habitual.
So we might start to witness little things.
Our brain is saying,
I like this,
I don't like this.
Our brain sometimes,
I don't like to be still.
And then other times,
I really wish I could slow down.
And so our mind is constantly changing its mind.
And we don't need to make any of that good or bad,
We're just witnessing with as much curiosity as possible.
And sometimes as we create these little labels,
These little containers that our mind can rest within for a moment,
It also gives us the opportunity to then open up.
Sometimes our mind will think,
Well,
I don't like to slow down,
I'm uncomfortable when I'm still.
And you can just bring some curiosity to that.
Is that true in this moment?
Maybe I'm feeling the movement of my breath,
But the stillness of my feet just resting on the earth.
And can I just bring some curiosity questioning these concrete thoughts that my mind tells me habitually.
A little phrase I like to work with is,
Maybe it's not set in stone.
And I just ask my mind with curiosity,
Maybe it's not set in stone.
It's a little play with labeling where our mind wants to go or where it's been.
And then unlabeling,
Bringing curiosity.
And no matter what your mind is doing,
You can always just come back to the groundedness of your body,
The steadiness,
What parts of you are being supported by the earth.
And notice to your breath,
This rhythmic,
Consistent movement.
Our bodies are deeply soothed by rhythmic movement.
Sometimes I just find a little sway can be so helpful in my meditation.
I'll invite you into that now.
Just place one hand over your chest,
The other over your abdomen,
So that we can feel your breath moving.
And then just really gently rock your body side to side.
And just notice the shift in your sit bones,
How that gentle swaying motion might be offering just a soothing motion.
And then starting to settle back into stillness,
Give yourself a big,
Deep,
Full breath.
Might even sigh out your exhale,
Just releasing softness through your body.
We'll end as we often do with our loving kindness phrases.
You can bring your hands into any of your closing habits or practices,
Or just leave them where they're resting now.
You can repeat these loving kindness phrases back as they make sense for you.
May I give myself permission to slow down today.
May I pause and remember the innate goodness of my breath.
When action is needed,
May I choose to move with ease,
Peace.
And may the merits of our practice ripple out to benefit all beings.
And go slow if you can.
It's no rush.
It's just whenever you feel complete.
Find a little movement.
Take a moment to thank yourself just for showing up.
As always,
Thanks for being here and supporting each other and our lovely community,
Our sangha.
