Good morning,
And welcome to the artist's morning.
My name is Darius,
And I am so grateful that you and I get this time together.
Let's begin our practice,
If your eyes are open,
Let's gently close them now as we begin to go inwards together.
Let's go slow,
Connecting with our body,
Connecting with our breath.
Today's practice is for those days where there's a lot going on and we have a lot of emotions.
And we could use a little state change.
We're going to start with a little bit of simple breath work.
I'll guide you through some box breathing.
It's really simple.
I find this is a great short practice when my mind is really scattered and I need to bring myself back inwards,
Allowing a gentle softness just to fall upon your body,
Softening your forehead,
Your neck,
Your back.
It's really gentle.
Allowing whatever's happening in your mind,
In your heart,
Just to be.
Box breathing,
If you've never done it before,
Has four states.
The inhale for four,
The hold your breath for four,
Exhale for four,
Hold your breath for four.
We're going to do four rounds of four seconds.
And let's begin.
Deep breath in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Last time,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Hold,
Hold as long as you can,
And let it all go,
Finding your natural breath.
Usually I find after just a little bit of box breathing,
I'm centered,
My state comes back in words as opposed to being bombarded by all of the things that life can throw at us.
Finding your center,
A gentle reminder that no matter what you've been through this week,
This month,
This year,
This life,
You,
Dear artist,
Have made it through,
You've made it all the way to here,
You have survived every single one of your worst days,
And you're here now,
You are here now,
You are here now,
As your mind tries to go into the past,
Go into the future,
Don't fight it,
Gently reminded that you are here now,
You are here now,
I'd like to invite you to repeat that very simple statement a few different ways,
Emphasizing different words,
I am here now,
I am here now,
I am here now.
Some days are more challenging than others,
Some weeks,
Some months,
Even some years are more challenging than others.
On those more challenging days,
I like to keep it really simple,
Really basic.
On those more challenging days,
I like to remind myself that despite it all,
All the ups and downs,
I'm still here,
No matter how hard yesterday was,
I'm still here,
I am still here,
I am still here,
Might seem obvious,
It might seem basic,
And I'm still here,
There's something deeply grounding about that,
I am still here,
I can feel my voice,
I can feel the life force energy within me,
I am still here,
Like to invite you to repeat that very simple statement,
I am still here,
And allow it to work its way through your system,
Changing the delivery of the statement,
Emphasizing certain words,
And seeing what comes alive inside you,
I am still here,
I am still here,
You are still here,
We are still here.
Now the truth is,
Not everyone can say that about today,
Not everyone made it to today,
But we did,
We are still here,
We are still here,
Today is a gift that not everyone receive,
But we did,
But we did,
This is our last song this morning,
And I'm going to stay quiet,
And let you explore what you might want to do with this gift.
Bravo,
Dear artist,
You made it to the end of our meditation today,
You made it to the end of our meditation today,
And for that I am so grateful.
For those joining live at the artist morning,
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock and invite us into some private personal journaling,
I'll share a journaling prompt,
And you can continue this exploration.
Of course,
If you're catching us on a replay,
Perhaps on insight timer,
You can do the same,
Put some time on your own clock and see what's here and ready to be expressed through you.
Thank you for meditating with me,
My name is Darius,
And I will see you next time.
