My name is Larissa.
We're going to practice together for about 15 minutes.
As always,
Take these first couple of moments to settle into your body.
Very often we have a familiar posture that we go to for our meditation practice and rituals and habits can be so beneficial.
And then notice and check into those rituals and habits.
Is this beneficial for me right now?
The smallest adjustment can be the biggest kindness to yourself.
And as you're settling in,
Maybe making some neck rolls,
Maybe choosing to close your eyes to let your eyes soften in their sockets a bit.
Just beginning to slow down.
Just bring some curiosity.
Where do you feel your breath right now?
Where do you feel your breath the most?
And just to notice too,
When you bring your awareness to your breath,
Suddenly you can feel it more.
It's not that it wasn't happening before,
But when you point your attention towards it,
Suddenly you notice it.
And that is our awareness.
So we talk a lot about awareness,
Noticing,
These gentle concentration practices that we work with in our meditation.
Pure awareness.
You can live without any judgment of how we want things to be,
Of any expectations we have,
Sometimes even unknown expectations.
This is pure awareness.
And every once in a while,
We start to notice little judgment starts to come in,
And you never want to add layers of difficulty to judgment.
You don't have to judge the judgment,
And just notice,
Oh yeah,
I got a little tense in there.
I got a little tight in my thinking.
And very often when we're tight in our thinking,
We notice it in our body.
A little tension comes in our jaw.
You might notice squeezing your eyes shut rather than letting them rest.
So we always come back here,
Just noticing your breath,
Your body,
Because it has so much information for your pure awareness.
Where do you feel your breath?
Anytime you notice a thought,
Celebrate the noticing.
I noticed I was thinking,
And now suddenly I'm present again.
I notice the purity of your breath.
Quite literally,
The cilia in your nostrils and sinuses purifying the air as it comes into your body.
But a breath has never judged you.
There's a pure awareness in just noticing your breath.
And you just linger in that sweetness,
This slow time,
This tiny small miracle of being able to take a breath.
We practice this moment-by-moment present awareness.
Who knows what's to come in the next moments,
But we might notice our brain starts future thinking,
Planning,
Remembering something from the past.
And we never have to make that wrong.
You never have to shut your mind down just to notice it,
Become more aware.
Where are my thoughts?
And yesterday I worked a little bit with thought labeling,
Which can be so helpful.
Just a little label,
Future,
Future thinking.
Future thinking is happening a lot right now.
Okay,
I'm noticing that.
We can work with little labels on our emotions.
Oh,
I notice I'm caught in a worry loop.
I don't need to judge that,
I'm just noticing it.
I'm caught in an excitement loop that leads me to planning.
And then suddenly my brain is elsewhere.
But no matter,
Your body is right here.
You just come back to that pure awareness,
No judgment in the breath.
And that pure awareness is a form of unlabeling,
Just letting everything be freely as it is.
Notice the pure sensation of movement as your breath comes in and out of your body.
Notice again where your mind is.
It's the smallest label,
Thinking is happening,
The broadest label.
To label your thoughts helps you become familiar,
You start to notice habits of mind.
Once we have a little label on a thought,
It's easier to let it go for a moment.
And just come back again to that pure awareness,
Just letting yourself be breathed.
To work with this balance of labeling and unlabeling,
Naming and unnaming,
Creating a little container in order to create a little freedom.
And that is the practice in meditation,
Freedom from the constructs of the mind.
You don't have to stop your mind.
It's just witnessing what it's doing,
Having those little tiny moments of freedom,
Of ease,
Of peace.
You don't have to cling to those moments.
And you don't have to worry when anxiety drops in for time.
It's just part of being human.
We might name that moment,
Ah,
Anxiety has arrived.
It's visiting for a moment.
How can I tend to it?
Treat it the exact same way as you treat joy when it arrives.
How can I tend to it?
How can I receive it?
And no matter what,
You can just come back to the pure awareness of breathing.
Where do you feel this breath?
Notice again a breath here.
Let it be free and full in your body.
And you might even sigh out your exhale,
Softening some part of you as you do so.
I invite you to bring your hands into any of your closing habits or practices.
Ending with a few loving kindness phrases,
Just repeating them back as they make sense for you.
May I give myself permission to feel today.
May I give myself permission to rest today.
May I find moments of freedom today.
When I take action,
May I move with ease and peace.
And may the merits of our collective practice ripple out to benefit all beings.
And go slow if you can,
Never any rush.
Whenever you feel complete,
Find a bit of movement.
Thank yourself just for showing up.
And as always,
Thank you for being here,
Being a part of our sangha,
Supporting each other.
