During your mindful leader program,
We taught you two basic techniques that you would use anytime you were sitting down to meditate to just break distraction with the outside world and allow you to step from the busyness of your life into the quiet time where you can enjoy your meditation.
One of those techniques is called six breaths and was dealt with in the first recording.
The second one is called seat and feet.
And it's based upon the human ability that we saw on the program every one of us have to bring attention to any part of our bodies and knowing what's going on in there.
And in doing so,
In noticing what's going on in any part of your body in any instant,
You are immediately in the present.
When you're noticing what's going on with you right now,
You cannot be worrying about the future or worrying about the past.
You're not distracted.
You're absolutely in the moment.
So this is a technique that we will use before we sit down to practice to bring ourselves more present.
But it's also a technique like the six breaths technique that you can use throughout your daily life.
Anytime you want to bring yourself present and focus your attention.
For the sake of this practice,
We're going to do it a little bit more formally,
But you could do this as you're standing around,
As you're talking.
You can do it anytime.
So as usual,
I invite you to sit in a relaxed but alert pose,
Straight but not stiff,
And just place your feet flat on the ground.
And as you continue to breathe gently,
Just gently bring your attention to your feet on the ground.
Now I don't mean visualize your feet.
Just become aware of the sensations that are there in your feet.
You can reach out and become aware of the sensations in any part of your body.
But for now,
Just bring attention to your feet.
Notice,
Are there any sensations there?
Is there hot or cold,
Tingling,
Pulsing,
Anything?
And you may notice that there are no sensations whatsoever.
And that's OK,
Too.
Just become aware of your foot on the ground.
Notice your foot in contact with your sock or your stocking,
And in turn in contact with the inside of your shoe.
And you may notice the sensation of your shoe on the ground and your foot through all those layers just in touch with the ground.
Just notice what's going on,
If there's anything,
Any sensation.
Another thing that people frequently report when they do this exercise is the sensation of gravity.
That when they bring their attention to their feet on the ground,
They're suddenly aware of the effect of gravity rooting them to the spot.
Some people say it feels like they're growing roots out of their feet down to the ground.
And that can be a useful thought or exercise to think that way.
So I'm going to leave you for a few seconds just to sit and notice whatever sensations are going on in your feet.
Just notice them.
Don't change them.
Don't follow them.
Don't wonder why.
Just notice what's going on.
And if there's nothing going on,
If there's nothing,
Just pay attention to the fact that there's no sensation.
We'll do that for a few seconds.
So,
Again,
The exercise is just noticing the feet.
Are there sensations or no?
Now,
Having spent a few moments noticing what's going on with your feet,
Draw the spotlight of your attention up to your behind where it's in contact with the chair.
And again,
Just bring attention to that.
Don't visualize it.
Just notice,
Are there any sensations there?
Is there any sense of the blood flowing through that area?
Is there pulsing or tingling?
Is it hot or cold?
Tight or loose?
And if there are no sensations,
Just notice that too.
Just bring your attention to that area,
Not visualizing your behind on the chair,
But sensing into it.
Notice for example,
Your clothing in contact with your flesh and in turn in contact with the chair.
Once again,
People often report that one of the sensations they notice when they bring attention to your seat and feet is this gravity drawing them down onto the chair.
They can feel their weight on the chair more than they normally do.
Just notice that.
So for a few moments,
I'm going to invite you to relax into this practice and just notice.
Don't strain it.
Don't stress it.
Don't visualize.
Just be relaxed and noticing what's going on in your seat and your feet.
So now,
Just take your fingers and relax as I go.
So having settled and brought your attention to the seat and the feet together you'll likely find that this has begun to quiet some of the thoughts that typically race through our minds on an ongoing basis.
Or you know what today maybe it didn't and that's okay too.
And usually at the end of this practice we'll start into our core meditation practice.
But as I said at the outset of this recording this is a technique that you can bring into your everyday life.
Anytime you just want to bring yourself into the moment,
Be attentive,
Notice what's going on,
Bringing attention to your seat and your feet,
No matter what you're doing is a great way of doing that.
