Good morning.
Welcome to your Wednesday morning meditation.
Great to have you all here this morning.
We are going to use the neti neti meditation once again and neti neti translates to not this,
Not that.
So we are in the month of Shravana.
Shravana being represented by the symbol of the ear.
And this is a sacred month dedicated to Lord Shiva,
The one who dissolves,
The dissolutionist,
The one who destroys,
We could say makes way for the new or kind of the ending of a cycle before we move into a sense of rebirth.
And we have a solar eclipse today.
So we're in a really potent portal of listening and in meditation.
Patient.
You're probably not new to hearing the sound of your own thoughts as you are in your practice.
And while your thoughts can sometimes be frustrating,
Be insightful,
Be distractions.
The idea of meditation is that we can begin to find some space between these thoughts,
That we can quiet the surface layer of the mind that is constantly taking in information through the five senses and then translating that information so we know what to do with it.
And so this practice of neti neti is disrupting.
It's creating kind of disruption to our normal thoughts.
I don't remember the exact kind of estimate for the number of thoughts that we have each day.
It's in the thousands,
Hundreds of thousands possibly.
But what is really interesting is that we may have that many thoughts,
But those thoughts tend to stay within the same several categories or themes.
We tend to ruminate over the same things over and over again.
And this,
In the tradition,
Is what we would call samskaras or vasanas.
There is a repetitive pattern,
Not just to our thoughts,
But also to our actions.
And we have to find tools and practices that disrupt this patterning,
Disrupt these samskaras or these vasanas,
If we would like to create change.
My one of my very first yoga teachers had a great kind of analogy for this.
Think about it's winter.
Fresh snow has just fallen.
You're a little kid and you take your sled out to go sledding down the big neighborhood hill.
And at first it's beautiful powder and you're getting a pretty good ride each time.
But after a while you're choosing the same path over and over.
And because that snow becomes more packed more solid there's a groove being worn in to that path,
You start going faster and faster and faster and you love it.
It's easy.
There's no obstruction.
That's what our thoughts do.
That's what our mind is doing.
We create this neural pathway that we just continue down the same path without thinking much about it.
We just go.
We just do.
We just react instead of respond.
And so eventually if we would like to create some change or a different experience on our our journey or a different ride down that hill,
We have to pick up our sled and we have to move it to a fresh spot.
And initially,
It might not go as fast down the hill.
We might not find it as easy or maybe even fun,
We'll use the word fun here,
Until we use that same path over and over and that groove is once again worn.
And so again,
The practice of neti neti is this disruption.
It's not,
And let me make clear,
It's not avoiding,
It's not bypassing,
It's disrupting a pattern so that the mind slows down.
And when we slow down,
We can begin to become aware or recognize our tendencies,
Our habits,
And then we can from there choose if we want to take a different path.
We can walk around the situation,
We can respond instead of react.
So the practice of neti neti,
What happens is we'll take a few moments to just drop into a meditative seat to get comfortable,
To land,
And to arrive.
And I'll guide you through some breath awareness just to establish the breath.
And then I'll begin to offer neti neti,
Meaning that anytime you have a thought that arises or you hear a sound in the environment around you that maybe pulls you out,
That you will become distracted,
You can silently repeat the mantra neti neti and slowly just draw yourself back into the present moment.
You're just breaking this kind of patterning and you may find that you're repeating neti neti really frequently and that's okay.
But then as you progress through the meditation this morning,
You might find that you repeat it less,
That it becomes a little more spacious.
And again,
Just be easy with yourself.
There's not a right or wrong way to do this practice.
Some mornings you may use the technique of neti neti and it feels like that's all you say.
And then other mornings you may use the technique and it may feel very spacious,
Very calm.
So again,
Just arrive to your practice today in whatever way you're coming to the mat.
Take a few moments to settle.
Wiggle your body.
Take some cleansing breaths or some long,
Slow exhales.
And you can close your eyes or just soften your gaze.
Begin to feel your seat growing heavy with gravity,
The sense of anchoring downward towards the earth.
Maybe you're seated on the ground,
Some props beneath you,
Maybe you're on a chair or a couch or a bed.
Wherever you are,
Just sense that your body's growing heavy with gravity.
You're finding an anchor into the earth beneath you,
The earth being steady,
Being supportive,
It's solid,
It holds you.
And from that anchor,
Find a little more length to your spine.
So a gentle lift through the crown of your head.
Allowing your face,
Your throat,
Your shoulders,
Your belly to stay relaxed.
Notice if you're possibly holding any tension in the jaw,
The hinges of the jaw,
And maybe just kind of loosen the hinges of the jaw.
Let your teeth slightly separate.
And then begin to notice sounds off in the distance.
Allowing your awareness to move from sound to sound.
And you're not currently using a technique of any sort,
So no netty netty yet.
You're just listening.
To hear what is going on in the environment around you.
Now allow those sounds in the distance to dissolve as you draw your awareness into the space and begin to listen for the sounds in the room around you.
And allow those sounds to dissolve.
Draw your awareness in even more.
Begin to listen for the sound of your breath.
You don't have to change anything about your breath.
Just listen.
Can you hear the sound of your breath within all the other sounds of the world around you?
Shifting awareness to your sense of smell as you breathe in.
Is there a scent that lingers in the air?
Maybe you have a candle or incense burning in your space.
Maybe there's a fresh cup of coffee or tea you just brewed.
Bringing awareness into the mouth,
Notice if there's a flavor or moisture on the tongue.
Maybe you've recently had a sip of that coffee or tea and that flavor lingers.
And whether your eyes are closed or gazing softly.
Visualize or remember the space that you're in.
Recall the shape of the room and the color of the walls.
And then notice the places.
Where clothing touches your skin.
The points of connection between your body and the surface beneath you.
Once again,
Seat growing heavy with gravity.
Spine tall.
This quality of.
.
.
Rooted awareness.
Arising.
In your body.
And in the mind.
Now bring in awareness to the tip of your nose.
You're just gonna start by sensing or feeling the breath at the tip of the nose as you breathe in and breathe out.
Sensing,
Feeling,
Sensation.
At the tip of the nose,
Maybe along the bridge of the nose.
Maybe you can even sense the change in temperature between the inhale and the exhale.
You're not counting or shaping the breath just yet.
You're just feeling,
Sensing,
Just aware of that movement in and out through your nose.
Now allow that sensing of the breath to dissolve.
And allow your awareness to begin following the breath.
So when you breathe in,
Sense the breath as two streams.
That move in through the nose and arrive at the point right between your eyebrows.
And as you exhale,
Awareness follows the breath from that point between your eyebrows.
Back down through the nose as two streams,
This inverted V shape.
Inhaling the two streams of breath move to the third eye.
And exhaling,
Third eye,
Separating back into the two streams of breath.
Please continue.
Sensing or feeling the two streams of breath merging.
At the third eye.
And then separating.
Once again on the exhale.
Can you allow your awareness to follow your breath?
Meaning that you're not controlling your breath.
The breath is moving freely,
Effortlessly,
And your awareness just follows this movement.
You can continue to sense the breath,
The breath being a sensation,
A feeling.
Or maybe you begin to,
With your mind's eye,
See the breath as two streams of light.
On the inhale,
These two streams of light move in through the nose to the third eye.
Exhaling,
Third eye,
Back down.
Through the nose.
And each time these two streams of breath or two streams of light merge at the third eye point.
Notice any sensation.
The next time you breathe in,
An awareness lands at the third eye.
Dissolve the technique.
Awareness resting at the third eye,
Maybe noticing sensation,
Maybe seeing a point of light.
Awareness just rests right between the eyebrows.
This space will be your anchor point.
That point of light or that sensation right between the eyebrows will be your anchor point as you move into the practice of neti neti.
So awareness is resting on this point of light,
This space right between your eyebrows.
Silently repeating to yourself,
Neti,
Neti.
Or you can even use,
Not this,
Not that.
Anytime a thought,
A sound,
A sensation,
Any distraction arises.
And pulls your awareness away from the space of that point of light.
And that space between your eyebrows.
Natty Natty Again,
If you find yourself repeating this.
Frequently,
Over and over again.
No worries,
Not a problem.
Let it be a mantra that anchors you back to that point between your eyebrows.
That point of light.
Netty netty Not this.
Not that.
Soften the shoulder.
Allow your face to relax.
Belly soft.
Jaw relaxed,
Netty netty.
Now dissolve the technique of neti neti.
Just let go of the mantra.
Awareness continues to rest at that space between your eyebrows.
Resting on the point of light or that sensation at the third eye.
And if the mantra wants to spontaneously arise,
Allow it.
You know,
Slowly and gently begin to bring yourself back.
Allowing your breath to deepen.
And your senses to move outward once again.
Feel the places where your body touches the surface beneath you.
Where you notice clothing resting on your skin.
Hear the different sounds in the space around you.
And then sounds off in the distance.
The background hum of the external world becoming distinct individual sounds once again.
As the breath deepens,
Notice the scent lingering in the air.
Or the sensation of your breath moving in and out through your nose.
Taking a moment to swallow,
Notice a flavor or moisture on the tongue.
And then visualizing or remembering the space that you're in.
Recall the color of the walls.
See yourself in the space.
And as you continue to call yourself back.
Back into the present moment,
Back into your physical body.
Call yourself back in a way that resonates with you.
You're welcome to even sit for longer if you have that time and space today.
Or maybe you wish to take a few moments to journal your experience,
Any insights.
Anything that you heard while you were listening inward.
I encourage you to take any insights,
Any wisdom from this morning's practice into the rest of your day,
Guiding you,
An anchor for your day,
Whatever arises.
Recalling this light within you that is always present,
This wisdom that is always there.
We have to just make time and space to hear that within us.
And so bringing hands to heart center,
Taking a moment,
Offering gratitude for showing up to your practice,
For being in community with each other.
And then bringing thumb knuckles to forehead center,
Bowing in gratitude to each other and to these teachings.
Thank you all.
Great to have you.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
I'll see you next time.
