Hello and welcome to your beeing exercise.
Let's go ahead and take a lesson from the bees and learn how to bee.
What does it mean to bee?
How do the bees just bee?
Well,
Like most animals,
They're present.
They're just right in the moment,
Going from one flower to the next,
Looking for the sweetness,
Looking for the pollen and the nectar.
They have this essence of being right where they are.
And I'm so grateful for the bees.
Because of the bees,
We have fruit.
We have vegetables.
We have nourishment.
We have honey,
The most natural sweetener on the planet,
In my opinion.
And we learn how to and we remember how to work together.
The bees teach us so much.
And during this meditation,
We're going to practice being present,
Being right here right now.
I know for myself,
There is this phrase be here now that I've heard over and over and I never really knew what that meant.
So in this exercise,
We are going to practice.
Find yourself in a comfortable position.
Maybe you're standing,
Laying down or sitting.
I personally like to sit up tall,
Elongating my spine,
Stacking my shoulders over my hips,
Bringing a slight tuck of my chin to lengthen the back of my neck.
And I sit cross-legged on the ground,
On the earth.
I like to soften my gaze,
Closing my eyes.
Perhaps that works for you or perhaps you would like to allow for your gaze to rest on the ground in front of you.
And notice your body right here.
What is it that you do first thing to notice yourself right here?
What feels easy for your attention to go to?
I first noticed my breath.
I then noticed my hip bones on the ground.
Then shifting my attention to my shoulders and then my hands.
And then the noises that I hear,
The sensations that I feel,
Saliva in my mouth.
What do you notice?
I notice that as my mind wanders,
I deepen my breath and that brings me back.
That brings you back to being present.
Notice you've found yourself in a thought,
Knowing that that's perfectly normal.
And with your attention muscle,
You can bring your self back to your body.
Knowing if there's any resistance that you feel,
Breathing into the resistance perhaps,
Bringing a sense of childlike curiosity.
What does it look like?
What does it taste like?
What does it smell like to be feeling what you're feeling?
And listening to your inner wisdom.
And as you listen,
You can be present,
Quiet,
Still.
You might notice that your body wants to fidget or move and it's okay to fidget and move.
However,
I encourage you to pause before you move,
Noticing if you're trying to distract or move away from something.
Instead of distracting ourselves with kindness and gentleness,
I invite you to stay,
Stay with your breath.
And if the breath doesn't work for you,
Staying with something tactile,
Something within your five senses.
For example,
What are the colors that you see behind your eyes?
What are the sounds that you hear from your internal voice and from outside of you?
What do your hands feel like?
What do you taste like?
And as you breathe in and out of your nose,
What do you smell?
What subtleties can you notice about right here?
Allowing for your breath to be steady.
To be grounding,
To be an anchor for yourself no matter what arises.
Being is not necessarily about doing nothing,
So to speak.
It's not simply about sitting still.
The sitting still meditation practice that we are doing right now is how we exercise this muscle so that when we're in our day,
We can be more present.
The formal meditation practice allows for us to actually be present by doing what we're doing while we're doing it in the moments throughout our life.
So we practice doing what we're doing right here.
We practice breathing.
We practice noticing emotions and sensations.
We practice saying,
Oh,
There I am in a thought.
Can I bring myself back?
Back to how my toes feel.
Back to the colors that I see.
Back to my heartbeat.
We have to practice being present and formal meditation is the key so that when we're in the chaos of our lives,
The chaos of this world that we live in,
We can find peace.
We can find presence no matter what.
No matter what is happening around us,
We are our own source of grounding.
We are our own source of love.
Perhaps,
Noticing if there are any sensations moving through your body and staying with yourself as kindly as you can.
Noticing if any internal dialogue is happening.
No matter what is arising,
Having compassion for yourself.
Passion can be perhaps placing a hand on your heart,
Just saying it's okay,
Loved one.
The Buddha says,
Calling yourself beloved,
It's okay,
Beloved.
Maybe it looks like adjusting your posture so that you're a bit more comfortable.
Maybe it looks like sitting through the discomfort and stillness,
Knowing that that is the most compassionate act you can give yourself.
Breathing steady.
Noticing if there is any tension or gripping that you feel,
Just letting it be as it is.
Perhaps that resistance,
That gripping has some information for you.
You can be curious about it.
You can listen to it and be present,
Remembering that this is a part of your wholeness.
The joy,
Just as much as the suffering.
We cannot have one without the other.
Remembering that life is full of expansion and contraction.
The inhale and the exhale.
The highs and the lows.
The winters and the summers.
And all the while being kind and gentle towards ourselves.
Being right here and following this being mandala.
This cycle of life that we follow.
Opening to the fullness of this life.
We never know how long we have.
Being grateful.
Being grateful.
Take a few more deep breaths and perhaps you bring something to mind that you are grateful for.
In this moment I am grateful for you for doing this practice,
For practicing this practice,
For being this practice.
This is such important work in the world and I honor you for showing up.
Perhaps you want to carry this way of being into your life and may the bees remind you to be here now.
My name is Eleanor Medina and I am a guide to wholeness.
This being is part of your wholeness.
Thank you for everything that you do to be here now.
See you again.
Goodbye.
You
