For me,
It's good morning,
But maybe for you,
It's good afternoon or good night,
And I just welcome you into the space of creating a little bit of mindfulness.
So let's start in a comfortable position.
We know that can be seated or potentially laying down,
It could be on your side or your belly,
As long as it's a place that you can stay attentive to this experience.
And as you start to shift yourself into the space,
Let it be a representation of also shifting your attention away from maybe the million other things that you could be paying attention to.
Beginning to notice your body and your breath and settling in the best way that you know how.
We're going to start today just by drawing a deep inhale,
Not only into the chest,
But let's inhale so much that we feel the belly expand a bit.
So big inhale,
And then full long exhale,
Let it go.
And as you settle in more and more,
Deeper and deeper,
You might find that it's almost instinct to close the eyes.
And you might find just the opposite.
So if closing the eyes creates more anxiousness,
Or instability in the body,
You can keep your eyes open,
Let's place them at a soft gaze toward the floor,
Or toward the ceiling,
Just depending on how you're arranging your body.
So I wanted to begin with a small story that one of my teachers shared with me.
And it's a story about Swami Kripalu.
And it said one day that he was meditating in a small hut,
Alongside a raging river.
And the river was raging because of all the wonderful rain that they had had in the area.
And Swami was meditating inside of this hut for quite a long time.
And so when he came out of his hut,
He was just a little bit disoriented.
And he came out of the hut and began to stretch his arms open and peer up toward the sky,
But he wandered a little too close to the river's edge.
And some of the land gave way and sent Swami into the raging waters.
Now Swami Kripalu could not swim.
But he was trying.
And so as the river carried him down along the winding paths,
Swami kept going under and popping up and gasping and gasping for air.
He was struggling so much to just try and stay afloat.
And his disciples had watched him fall in the river.
So they were running alongside the river's edge,
Yelling and screaming to him and Kripalu,
Kripalu.
But Swami Kripalu couldn't really hear and so he kept trying so very hard to stay afloat,
Going under and coming up and gasping for air.
And as the disciples ran closer and closer and finally caught up to Swami Kripalu,
They yelled to him,
Stop swimming,
Swami stop swimming.
And Swami Kripalu heard the yelling of his disciples and he immediately stopped thrashing around in the water and allowed his body to float up to the top so that the river could carry him in a more gentle way.
And indeed it did.
To the banks of the river where his wonderful disciples helped to pull him to safety.
The story reminds us that sometimes we are fighting so hard to surrender,
We're fighting so hard to let go.
We're thrashing and barely able to stay afloat.
But the trying over and over again,
It becomes exhausting.
And so we're reminded that in our practice of meditation and mindfulness and our practice of yoga,
We are invited to do just what Swami did to stop swimming,
To stop thrashing,
To stop trying so very hard.
So from where you are,
I just want you to try to turn your palms up and open.
And let it be that small representation of a willingness.
Sometimes that's all we need is a willingness to surrender,
A willingness to allow the natural forces,
Natural energy,
The natural flow of the world to move us and to move through us.
And as you lay here,
Or maybe sit here with palms turned up,
Tuning into the breath and noticing how the breath itself is part of that flow.
It almost effortlessly moves in and out of the body.
And we become the watchers,
We become the observers of this process.
Here with me for a few more moments,
A few more breaths,
Just tuning in.
Letting the things around you naturally have their own cadence.
Letting things within you do the same.
And then let's take a big breath together again.
A breath that not only expands the lungs,
But let's try to allow the belly to expand as well.
So big inhale,
Fill it up.
And then slow release.
I'm starting to bring your attention back to small movements of the body from where you are,
Maybe closing the fingers into a fist,
Or wiggling the toes or shifting the head.
If you're seated,
You might fold.
Just bringing your,
Your body back into this experience.
And after you move a bit after you feel ready to return to whatever you're returning to.
Take your time.
Keep your hands and heart open.
And I will be with you soon.
From my heart to yours.
Namaste.
