Welcome to today.
Today I would like to do a meditation that exemplifies the ease within the effort.
And I want to start with a quote.
You do not need the strength that comes from putting out or exerting effort.
You need the strength that is the result of the ease within the effort.
This quote makes me think of the resistance that I feel in the doing of all the things that I don't want to do.
I find myself often questioning this.
Is it because it's too hard?
Because it asks too much of me?
Because it affirms something negative about the current circumstance?
Or maybe because of fear?
I had always felt that I was organized when everything was on a list and I knew exactly what was expected of me.
And I never thought of myself as a procrastinator.
Because I was doing and accomplishing many things.
I adored the feeling of checking things off my list.
But one day I noticed that although I was checking things off my list,
There were a few that would carry over to the next day,
And the next day,
And the day after that.
I wondered why I was putting off these certain tasks.
And I realized I was a procrastinator of hard things.
As I sat in silence,
I could see and feel that the things that I avoided were the things I deemed hard for one reason or another.
What was being asked of me to complete that task felt uncomfortable.
So I tended to choose the easy ones first.
And when time ran out,
The hard things got shifted to the next day,
And so on.
It felt like I was exerting too much effort to accomplish the hard ones.
And that was strength that I did not possess.
I wanted them to all feel as easy as doing a load of laundry or reorganizing my pantry.
When I had the realization of this level of procrastination,
The one I did not own and yet very much did,
I knew I had to make a change.
I wanted to feel the ease in my effort.
I was actually a procrastinating doer,
A doer of all things,
But not getting all things done.
Maybe this sounds familiar or resonates with you.
So join me in this practice as we meditate and take this a little bit deeper.
I invite you to find a comfortable position in the space that you are in maybe that's lying down or sitting or maybe even standing.
Allow yourself to drop into the space quietly,
Relaxing your body,
Softening your muscles,
Softening your mind,
And softening your heart.
Releasing tension and stress and tightness.
Letting go of constriction and any resistance.
I invite you to close your eyes or bring your gaze towards the ground to turn your attention inward.
And here you can observe your breath,
Just feeling the flow in and out.
You might begin to deepen the inhales and exhales in an effort to bring in more relaxation into the space.
And with some ease,
Allow the quiet to settle in to stillness.
I'm going to guide you through a short series of mantras that you may repeat in your mind as we go along.
May my mind be still.
May my body be still.
May my mind be at ease.
May my body be at ease.
Allow yourself this time and space to release the urge to do,
To exert effort,
And settle in to the ease of the stillness and peace.
The past is gone.
The future has yet to come.
In this moment,
I am at peace.
I am happy.
I am calm.
Bring your attention to your breath.
And just watch and observe the ease of the natural flow in and out.
The rise and the fall of your heart space.
The rise and the fall of your belly.
No resistance.
Just ease and softness.
I invite you to embrace this moment with care and attention.
Feel into your breath.
Feel into the ease.
Maybe by placing one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.
Feeling into the rise and the fall of the breath and the softness of the body.
Allow this to be an embodiment of this ease.
Notice the effort is natural.
It's almost like a harmonious dance.
And if your mind is becoming pulled away and you're noticing thoughts that might feel hard or tight or intrusive just acknowledge them.
Let them go.
And come back to the breath and the ease of the flow.
As it is natural for the mind to produce the thoughts it is natural for the body to feel emotion or sensation around those thoughts.
Just stay here.
Soft and quiet.
Breathe again.
Come back to the breath and breathe again.
Feel into the ease and the flow.
A few more phrases to repeat quietly in your mind if you feel called to do so.
I am comfortable in this space.
I am at ease in my mind and my body.
Each breath allows me to release tension stress and negativity.
Being in this moment and staying with the breath helps me to observe the ease and the natural flow.
Observe the ease and the natural flow.
The thoughts will produce effort to think.
Breath will produce ease in the mind because it is our natural state.
Because it is in our natural state.
You might notice sounds or sensations around you.
You can welcome them in.
And then come back to the breath.
And then quietly repeating these phrases in your mind that resonate or feel comforting.
I am peaceful.
I am calm.
I am at rest.
I am free.
I am held here.
I am at ease.
I invite you to come back and take a few breaths deep into the belly and slowly out the nose into the mouth starting to feel into your space coming back into the room and then as you are ready gently opening your eyes or lifting your gaze.
My hope is as you are coming back into this space that you can notice the ease that you have cultivated in your body taking time to cultivate these physical sensations in the body helps to retrain the brain to think differently when the hard things arise.
There are times when we all have dis-ease in our body where it is uncomfortable,
Annoying or even sometimes painful.
When we practice to meditate we can soften some of this and see deeper into the disruption or disconnection.
I challenged myself to do one hard thing each day from the list first before any of the others and I learned it was not necessarily the task that was hard it was more the anticipation of the doing the hard thing that led to the dis-ease in my body which then led to the procrastination.
I discovered that anticipation was a result of something deeper.
I also learned that I felt just as accomplished doing the hard things as I felt doing the easy ones.
There was really no increase in satisfaction between the two.
When I began this experiment with myself I found the ease in the effort.
And the wonderful bonus was that I was building trust in myself that I could do hard things with ease.
So the invitation to you today is to maybe challenge yourself in a similar way what are the things you avoid no matter how small or large they feel make a list then choose one hard thing to do each day and take some time to just notice and observe the physical and emotional sensations in your body and what may have changed or shifted because of looking for the ease in the effort.
I encourage you to come back to this practice when you feel challenged or like you might be resisting something or having feelings of procrastination know it is here to support you and give you what you need to face the challenge and that it is possible to find the ease at the same time.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today sending you lots of love and light Namaste
