So we're just gonna jump right into our practice really quickly.
I'll just share first with you that my name is Joshua Young.
I'm a yoga,
Meditation,
And emotional intelligence teacher and a lot of my work right now centers around the way we think and how our posture has an influence on the way we think.
So in today's practice we will really just start to explore how making some some little changes can welcome in a different perspective.
So to get started just find yourself in a comfortable seat taking this as your opportunity to get comfortable,
Support the back,
Do whatever it is you need to do.
And once you feel comfortable you can keep the eyes open to start but just notice what your breath feels like in the body.
And so you're not really needing to change anything,
You're not needing to shift anything,
You're just simply noticing what it feels like to breathe.
And over the course of the next two or three breaths you can just go ahead and gently close the eyes.
Just taking in the room around you,
Taking a mental picture and then closing the eyes.
And then continuing to feel the body as it takes in the inhale as the stomach expands and then feeling the body as you exhale and the stomach contracts.
And so do this on your own,
Just breathing in,
Breathing out.
And so check in with your quality of thought.
You don't need to tell yourself,
Oh I need to stop thinking now.
Just notice what's coming to mind for you.
And just continue breathing,
Looking right at it,
Letting it come up,
Letting the mind chatter.
But notice if this has a panicked undertone or anxious undertone,
Just notice.
This may be the first time in a long time that you have had the opportunity to sit with your thoughts.
And so if you find yourself challenged with a thought,
Just take a deep inhale through the nose and exhale through your mouth with an audible sigh.
And then giving that thought the opportunity to surrender itself with the exhale.
And you can do that as many times as you need to.
And so check in with your body.
You can start at the belly,
Just noticing how the breath feels and whatever posture you're in,
You don't need to shift or move at all.
Just notice what it feels like to breathe in and out in this space.
And then check in with the heart,
With the space in the chest.
And notice if the chest is caving in.
And if you notice that the chest is caving in,
Gently press the chest forward and up,
Not so much that your shoulder blades need to touch in the back,
But just enough for you to feel an opening in the chest.
Right?
And so start to notice the difference in the chest now that you open it up.
Drop down into the belly and start to notice how the inhale and the exhale feel so different.
And just start to notice in this posture where your thoughts go.
Noticing if the mind is willing to embrace a more positive thought.
And continue breathing and noticing the shift that happens in the body and how that affects what happens in the mind.
And for your next three breaths,
Press the chest open just a little bit more,
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through your mouth.
Making your last inhale the deepest inhale you've taken all day.
And letting that exhale go with a loud,
Deep sigh.
And then just allow the body to relax,
Returning back to its natural pace.
Noticing the effects of a deep inhale and a deep exhale.
Check in one last time with the body and notice if you returned to the heart caving in.
And if so,
Just gently press your heart back up and back open.
And as you move throughout your day,
Simply noticing when your heart is caving in.
Just give yourself a gentle reminder that the heart deserves to be open.
And so you can take the next few moments to acknowledge yourself,
To acknowledge the practice,
The people who practice with you,
And whatever way that looks like for you.
You can start to move the toes,
You can start to move the fingers.
You can even start to do a bit of cat cow in your seat,
Pressing the chest forward,
Curling the spine,
Just slowly getting the body back into the present moment.
Bringing any movement that you feel necessary to wake the body back up.
And whenever you're ready you can start to slowly blink the eyes open.
Can start to join us back in the space.
And so if it's a part of your practice,
Then Namaste.
And so if you would like to,
You can share anything in the comment section that you noticed,
Anything that came up for you,
And if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer those.
I'll be here for another three or so minutes.
And so thank you to everyone who showed up and sat down and practiced or listened or even just stepped into the room to see what was happening.
Thanks for being here.
