Hey yogis,
Welcome to this week-long intro to meditation course designed to repeat week after week to help you build a consistent meditation practice by offering a few different ways to drop in and find stillness.
So we'll get started today in a seat.
You might add a block or a pillow beneath your booty to find more comfort in the posture.
Or maybe you sit against a wall with a pillow or small cushion supporting your low spine.
And we'll take a moment to settle in here.
Just find a couple wiggles side to side.
Maybe drop your chin in towards your chest.
Find some easy neck rolls and then gently find stillness at center.
Place your palms on your knees or thighs facing down.
And if you haven't already,
Invite your eyes to close.
Take a deep intentional inhale through your nose.
Pull your shoulders towards your ears and an open mouth exhale to guide them back down your back.
Let's take a couple cleansing breaths together now.
Inhale deeply,
Intentionally through your nose.
Notice your body expand.
We'll hold that inhale at the top.
Now a loud audible open mouth exhale.
Let it go.
Feel that release.
Beautiful.
One more just like that.
Inhale to expand.
Hold your breath at the top.
Then loud open mouth exhale release.
Now let your breath find a natural rhythm here.
No need to change anything about your breath.
Give yourself permission to arrive exactly as you are today.
And then keep directing your focus to the natural rhythm of your breath.
Now it is the nature of the mind to find movement,
To have thoughts.
So if the thought or feeling pops into your head and distracts,
Pulls away from the focus on your breath,
Then your mind is simply doing what it's supposed to do.
So that's awesome.
The purpose of a meditation practice is not to completely silence our minds,
But rather to remind ourselves that the focus on our breath has the ability to soften our thoughts.
The focus on our breath reminds us that we don't need to attach to our thoughts,
That we don't need to identify as our thoughts.
Keep directing your focus to the natural rhythm of your breath.
When a thought surfaces,
Observe it,
Acknowledge it,
And then gently redirect your focus.
Notice if your mind wanders.
Notice if a thought surfaces.
Gently redirect back to your breath.
Soften into this moment.
Notice your inhales expand here,
Your exhales release.
We are always one focus breath away from feeling a little bit more centered.
And the most important choice you can make each day is whether you are the creator of your life or the reactor to the things that happen in it.
This practice and the focus on our breath allows us to blossom as the creator.
Take an intentional inhale through your nose.
Notice your heart space expand.
Hold that inhale at the top.
And an audible open mouth exhale to release.
Guide your palms to prayer at heart center.
Tuck your chin in towards your chest,
A gentle symbol of turning inwards.
Thank yourself for showing up today to build this sacred space.
We bow forward together in love and gratitude.
Namaste.
