Good morning.
Happy Friday.
To everyone.
Everyone who I see and everyone I don't see.
So.
.
.
Let's start.
No time like the present and get yourself comfortable.
In your chair,
On your couch,
On your park bench.
And Feel yourself planted.
As we begin to just become aware of what is around us.
In our immediate area.
Expand it beyond us,
Wherever your focus decides that it wants to go today.
Start by what it is.
Is that is coming in through your eyes,
Whether your eyes are open or shut.
Are you seeing?
Images?
Are you seeing patterns?
Are you seeing colors?
Or maybe you want to just focus on one particular thing.
And really notice it.
Let it in.
To your awareness in a different way.
And when you've had your fill of that.
You can either allow your eyes to close or if they were already closed.
Move into what's coming in through your ears.
A sound from the outside world.
Music playing in your head.
The sound of your beating heart.
Just noticing.
Not judging.
You're not qualifying.
And then when you are ready to move on from that,
Notice if there's any taste.
Or any smell.
And moving on to the sense of touch.
Where are your hands right now?
And did you notice?
Where they were before you turned your attention to them.
What are they touching?
How about the skin of your arms?
Do you have clothing on them?
Is the air around your arms and hands cool or warm?
And where on your body do you want to focus?
Bring your attention to that place.
Whether it's your feet.
On the floor.
Or the place where you're.
Clothing is touching your legs.
Belly.
Now that's all.
Move our attention.
To the belly,
The abdomen.
Notice the rise and fall just of your natural breath.
How the skin on your belly needs to expand a little bit to allow for that extra air to come in.
Noticing how that affects.
The clothing that's on your belly.
Noticing if your breathing is faster or slower.
Than you.
Expected.
Not pushing it or intending it or making any decisions about it.
Just trusting that your breath knows exactly what to do.
And then moving your attention into the middle of the ribcage.
See if you can feel your heart beat.
Just noticing and not judging.
If it's too fast or too slow,
It just is.
It's doing.
What it's built to do.
And now let's bring our attention to deepening the breaths.
Easy.
But a deeper,
More intentional breath.
I breathe in.
And I breathe out.
When your mind starts to wander.
Don't shut it off,
Just acknowledge,
Pause,
Notice.
And tell it you'll get back to it later.
I'm sure it has something very important to say.
But it does not need to be said in the next 10 minutes.
And move back to the breath.
I breathe in.
I breathe out.
Today we're going to pay attention to the heart chakra,
The fourth chakra.
So while I'm talking,
You can continue breathing.
Feeling your chest rise and fall.
Tuning into the heartbeat.
You can listen to my words or you can just repeat your mantra.
I breathe in.
Breathe out,
Or whatever mantra.
You have going today.
This is a quote from Jack Kornfield's newsletter this week.
That I thought was relevant.
We can go to retreats and come out with profound peace and clarity and freedom.
And then life presents us with a difficult conversation.
A crying child.
A strained relationship or a loss we never expected.
And we wonder.
What happened to my spiritual practice?
But perhaps nothing had gone wrong.
Everything in nature opens and closes.
The lungs expand and release.
The heart beats.
The seasons turn.
The tides come in and go out.
The whole universe is breathing.
And we are part of that breathing.
Yet we often imagine that the purpose of spiritual life is to arrive at some beautiful state and stay there forever.
Life doesn't work that way.
There is joy and sorrow,
Gain and loss.
The invitation is not to hold on to the inhale.
The invitation is to learn how to love the exhale too.
So just thinking about this.
Ebb and flow this Hyrule.
Beating heart.
Governed by forces that are seen and unseen,
But they always return.
The tide always returns.
The breath returns.
The heart.
Isn't just beating,
It's actually a muscle.
That contracts.
And releases.
It draws in.
And then it lets go.
Over and over.
Without effort.
Or intention.
Just like the tide.
Tide doesn't decide to return to shore,
It just.
.
.
Follows the deep pull.
Of something larger.
So with each breath.
Each heartbeat.
Think about drawing in.
And then letting go.
And when those thoughts come in.
You can just put them on a little raft.
And send them out to see for.
Just a few more minutes.
Go back to the breath.
The heart.
Drawing in,
Releasing.
Where you can put yourself.
But the seashore.
And imagine each wave coming in.
Going out.
Can you hear?
The sound.
The wash.
Of the wave as it breaks.
Singular sound of it withdrawing.
It does.
The tide comes in.
See if you can receive from it.
Whatever it is that you need.
Wait.
Joy.
Love.
Connection.
And as the tide goes out,
See if you can let go of what isn't serving you.
And that completes your cycle.
Tide coming in.
Receiving.
Going out.
Release.
And as we start to.
.
.
Come back to.
Our present moment.
Just know that.
Even if you only have two minutes.
If you're rushing from place to place.
If you need.
A little bit of mindfulness.
You can just do what we just did.
Those waves coming in and going out.
Can reset.
So bring yourself back to your chair,
Your seat.
Wiggle fingers and toes maybe.
Move.
Shoulders around,
Whatever stretch you need.
And then you can open your eyes.
Thank you all for being with me this morning.
I'm done.
May your heart be full of goodness.
And able to easily let go of what you need to release.
