Good morning beautiful people from all over the world.
It is such an honor to be with you this morning.
My name is Leslie Hubbard and I work as the program director of student engagement here at UVA at the Contemplative Science Center.
And I'm logged in here today here on a foggy fall morning near Charlottesville,
Virginia.
But last week at this time,
I was in the San Francisco Bay Area spending a good amount of time in the UCSF hospital there with my dad,
Who was undergoing surgery for cancer removal.
And from one human being to another,
I can safely say that all of us at times in our lives,
We are thrust into the unknown,
Either individually or collectively.
And our daily lives get disrupted by something we didn't expect when we woke up in the morning or even when we thought about what we're going to do in a couple of weeks or months down the line.
And for me,
This experience of being in the hospital with my dad shed some perspective of what is really important to me and worthy of my attention moment by moment in my day.
And basically,
I was trusted,
So to say,
Into practicing a simple meditation or contemplation,
And which I really think about it as one of the foundational practices in my life that kicks into place in times like this.
And the simple practice could be titled Breathe,
You Are Live,
Which is actually a title of a book written by Thich Nhat Hanh.
But it's one of those meditation book titles that really gets the heart of it all in its profoundness and also in its simplicity.
So this practice that I'm going to share with you today,
It's simple.
It's stopping the daily transactional things that we do with our bodies and our thinking and planning,
And creating this meditation pause in the body and pause in our planning brains.
And it's an invitation to pay attention to this profound thing that goes on all the time.
But we just don't pay attention to it.
It's the fact that,
Hey,
Right now in this moment,
I'm alive and healthy enough to be here.
My heart is beating.
My feet are on this miraculous thing we call the earth.
And I'm breathing,
Even if it's through a mask for some of us.
And before me in this day,
I'm gifted by the world with 24 fresh new hours to live.
Being alive and present here and now,
This is it.
It's good enough.
In fact,
It's more than good enough.
And then going more into the practice,
We can open our awareness to this preciousness of our life,
Not just our own individual life,
But the lives of our loved ones,
Our family,
Our friends.
And we can just notice that these beautiful people are here with us,
Maybe not right next to us,
But they're here in the world with us.
And so I practiced this meditation in the hospital,
Which was kind of a cutting edge hospital.
They had a meditation garden.
And at the time,
I was really at my edge physically and mentally.
I was tired.
I was anxious.
My surgery was taking too much time.
And I just went into this garden outside.
I sat down in a chair and I practiced this.
I also had a cup of espresso in my hand.
So in this meditation,
You want to bring a cup of coffee along,
You're welcome to do so.
It helps us remind ourselves that,
Hey,
We're alive.
We have these amazing things in our lives.
So now I invite you to practice this meditation with me.
And let's bring a type of meditation energy just into the very nature of getting into the position to meditate.
So notice your feet right now.
I'm assuming most of us are sitting in a chair.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Notice the sensation.
And then sit upright.
So you feel your spine,
But it's not stiff so that it's uncomfortable.
And allow your shoulders to be at ease.
Soften the muscles in your face.
And if you like,
You can close your eyes either completely,
Partially,
Or if you feel more comfortable,
Just keep your eyes open and just gaze downward so that you're not distracted.
And place your hands on your thighs or on your belly.
Take a moment to pause and notice the sense of the felt touch of your hands against your body.
It's warmth,
It's vitality.
And with a sense of ease and alertness,
Rest in this state of full awareness of the fact that right now you are here sitting upright,
Alive,
Breathing fully there.
And throughout this short practice,
If your brain starts up planning for the next thing,
Which is what it's supposed to be doing,
Supposed to be keeping us alive and planning,
Just note my brain is planning right now and return to this simple felt sense of being here in this chair,
On this cushion,
Deep planted on the ground,
Fully alive,
Fully present.
In this silence,
Rest your attention on the felt sense of your body breathing.
Rest your attention that you're alive,
Present in this space.
And just notice your being,
Its beauty and its profoundness.
Breath by breath.
Nowhere to go,
Nothing to do with our attention,
But to simply rest in the simplicity of being.
Arriving fully moment by moment,
Is it.
Every time our minds take us on to a journey somewhere else,
Notice and planning,
That's what my brain does.
Let go and come back,
Come back to the felt sense of your breath,
The felt sense of your feet planted on the earth,
The simple awareness of I am here breathing,
And that's good enough.
Let go and come back to the felt sense of your breath.
As we settle more and more to just noticing our being,
Start to bring your attention to the loved ones in your life,
Your family members,
Dear friends and mentors.
Just note that they too in this moment,
Are somewhere near or far,
Breathing,
Being.
Just take a moment to recognize their presence in your life.
Taking a pause to notice that they're here too.
And how amazing is that?
Surrounded near and far by supported human beings who love me,
Who care for me.
Perhaps out of this simple awareness of our being and the beings of all the people who love and cherish,
The sense of simple gratitude arises.
Thank you just for the presence of that being in our life and what that means to us.
Gratitude for all the conditions which are supporting our own very life right now.
The breath moment by moment,
The vitality within our own body,
All the beings that help support that.
The space to which we dwell provides us comfort and use.
And in the silence,
Enjoying the presence of our full awareness of our body and mind and celebrating the presence of others,
Just resting more and more in this sense,
Being alive and grateful.
Even if our minds start to ponder,
Notice it's natural and gently return back.
The presence of being here,
Fully alive,
Leading up to this feeling moment by moment.
In a few moments,
We'll transition back to opening up our eyes.
The invitation here is to let this be part of the meditation itself.
So we're not necessarily ending our meditation,
We're just opening up to a new form of meditation by opening our eyes,
Almost being like a child again and noticing the amazing ability to see with our eyes and all the colors and the miracle of the world that exists around you.
Appreciating the miracle of the technology that allows us to be connected across the oceans and mountains and hundreds of miles right now.
As your eyes are closed,
Slowly opening your eyes,
A sense of ease in the body.
And thank you so much,
Everybody,
For taking 15 minutes this morning to practice with me.
And please let this simple practice be in your back pocket as a resource to tap into when you need a contemplative break or when life there is something unexpected at you,
It could be something small or something big.
Just simply noticing breathing on the live in this moment good enough.
Also please check out our other resources at the Contemplative Sciences Center like our free virtual and in-person drop in yoga and mindfulness classes and other resources that can be found by visiting CSE.
Virginia.
Edu or following us on Instagram.
And thank you so much again to everyone for being here.
Thank you for our sponsors.
And have a great day.
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