So let's practice our meditation together.
And we're going to start today.
With some breath work as we often do.
And this is a this is a breath work which I think is sort of a bit of a selective engagement and also connecting of the dots.
And it's just basic alternate nostril breathing.
So if you take your first finger and your middle finger together.
What I like about this is it's.
Selectively engaging one side of our body at a time.
And then bridges them together when we breathe back again.
So you put your two fingers at the middle of your forehead.
And your thumb is going to block off.
One nostril.
And your ring finger is going to block off the other nostril.
And we're just going to breathe through one nostril at a time,
Selectively,
Like kind of bringing all of our attention together.
On one side of the body.
So you can block off.
Your right nostril or whatever is your dominant nostril with your thumb and breathe in through one side,
Breathing in.
Closing both nostrils at the top and breathing out on the other side.
Breathing in through one side.
Closing off.
And breathing out through the other side.
Breathing in through the left nostril.
Holding them together.
And then breathing out through the right.
And keep this slow breath in and out.
Really bringing focus and attention to each side of the body.
And noticing if one side feels more open or one side feels more blocked than the other.
Balancing out the right and the left.
This selective attention.
To your breath,
To each side,
And to your body.
And then finishing one more slow round of this alternate breathing.
Go ahead and place both palms down.
Place your palms in your lap.
And take some slow breaths with me.
Both nostrils,
So breathing in and out of your nose.
Expanding this space.
And then from here,
I'm going to ring a bell to just bring our attention back to.
A natural breath to our natural breathing to open our meditation.
Taking a breath in.
Coming back to your body.
And coming back to yourself.
So there's a gathering of attention.
Gathering the attention from your thoughts.
Gathering the attention from what's happening around you or the day that led up to this moment.
Even gathering the attention that's on your feelings or sensations you may be having.
And can you gather that attention all together,
All the way up?
And first,
Just land.
In your heart.
And you.
And we'll start with this question of,
What are you loving about yourself right now?
Self-appreciation.
What are you loving about yourself right now?
And if you can just be in the feeling state of that.
In your body,
That feeling state of self-appreciation?
Where do you feel that in your body?
And then you can expand the space.
You have contact with that feeling of appreciation.
In your body and yourself.
But also then expanding.
The space by.
Dissolving the edges.
Dissolving the edges of your body.
Dissolving the edges of your awareness so that there's a expansive space around you.
That flows easily inside of you.
Much like a seed that's being spread in the wind.
You're bringing more awareness to just the wind,
Being in the wind.
Than the seed itself.
So there's a seed of self-appreciation.
And there's a wind that carries that seed of you.
There is a seed of your breath.
You can follow your breath and notice the breath.
But there is a wind.
That carries that breath.
There's the air around you moving in and out of you.
That's so much bigger.
Than just this breath.
So we're incubating here.
Aware of the self,
Self-appreciation.
Aware of the breath and the body.
But also that bigger awareness.
The air that's coming in and out.
The wind and space that carries you.
And you're connecting the dots.
So much like you can shade in a a picture where there's all these little separate dots or numbers.
You're just connecting the dots between yourself and this greater expansive awareness.
Aware of your breath and your body.
And aware of the space,
The expansive space that's so much bigger.
That you're incubating in.
And there's a soft fascination that you can bring.
So a soft fascination to sounds.
Or sensations.
Feeling states.
And if your mind gets captured or scattered.
There's always this tether of the breath.
A tether of self-appreciation.
The warmth of your heart you can return to.
And then you just open up and expand that space again.
Incubating.
Connecting the dots.
You're just one dot and a whole sea is scattered.
Maybe one seed.
Floating through this wind.
Of life.
And you can notice how your mind wants to get pulled off.
Into the scatter.
You just bring it back,
You expand the space.
Orient to your self-appreciation,
Orient to your heart and your breath.
Incubate.
This is your time.
To incubate.
Rest.
To let yourself be carried by the wind but not carried by your thoughts.
You're carried by something so much bigger.
Soft fascination.
For what's happening now.
And as we practice this together,
Sort of the seeds that are floating in the wind.
We also know that we're just one.
One of many.
So there's something that's happening as we meditate together.
So that collective energy.
Of being part of a group that's chosen to sit down and get quiet.
You can feel that collective energy.
And just soft fascination for that as well.
Interconnected space that we're in,
We're sharing in this.
Space,
This air,
This earth.
One breath.
So your breath becomes sort of like the anchor or the tether.
You feel it moving in and out.
But it's not the whole focus.
It's just sort of like an anchor or a tether to.
You know,
To a boat or.
.
.
The anchor of seaweed in the ground of the ocean.
The rest of you is just.
.
.
Open,
Expanding to the space that you're in.
With this soft fascination.
And with this stance of self-appreciation.
Or just appreciation.
So appreciative mind and appreciative heart.
And as we started,
We got oriented through self-appreciation.
We can expand that appreciation to what are you?
Loving about this world right now.
What are you loving about this life right now?
And just feeling that appreciation.
Spread.
Into the space you're in.
And then you can gather your attention back up again.
Knowing how to gather the attention from the spaciousness.
Back to.
The breath in the present moment.
Following a breath from its very beginning all the way up.
Expanding.
Following the breath all the way down.
Releasing.
You bell rings So we always close with three bows.
And the first bow is to yourself.
Thank you to yourself for showing up.
A big bow to you.
Your true nature.
And the next bow is to the teachers and teachings from today and bringing in the teachers and teachings from SLN today.
Into this talk.
And then the last vow is our community to our sangha.
Thank you for.
Gathering together on these Monday afternoons.
Big bow to our Sangha.
