Welcome my friends to day seven.
Today in our waxing crescent phase there is a little more light than yesterday.
I invite us to take a moment and notice how you feel today.
How does your body feel?
How does your mind feel?
And in this waxing crescent phase we are like a seed underground that's starting to push its way up through the soil,
Starting to expose itself to the air,
The sunlight,
And the moonlight each day.
You are this little sprout.
Can you be kind to yourself the way you attend your garden to feed your community,
To nourish the birds and the bees by the flower that is starting to grow?
You know when you plant a garden and you start to see the little sprout and how you,
Oh wow look at that little guy,
So beautiful.
May we love ourselves like that.
One of the most powerful ways in this Buddhist tradition to honor and love ourselves and nurture ourselves is to become mindful of the breath.
As Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us,
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky.
Conscious breathing is my anchor.
We're gonna take about a minute here and do a quick practice where I will give us one minute and I'd like for you to drop inside and count the number of breaths that you take.
When you breathe in and out that is one breath.
So go ahead and exhale all your air out right now.
Take a big deep breath in.
Let it go fully out.
Empty,
Empty,
Empty,
Empty,
Empty.
And then begin to count your breaths starting now.
And stop.
Okay so how many breaths did you count?
Did you notice that when you started counting your breaths anything shifted from the way you were breathing before you started counting your breaths?
Were you expanding more fully on the inhales and contracting more on the exhales?
How do you feel in your body now?
How are you feeling?
Take a moment to check in with yourself.
We carry our breath from the moment we are born onto this magnificent earth.
We take 20,
000 breaths a day and when we take a conscious breath it puts us in the present moment where we can observe our inner lives.
Now the breath as you know is a biological habit that keeps us alive.
When we stop breathing we die.
We're no longer alive in the same way that we are when we're breathing and the breath is an autonomic pattern that largely functions without conscious input.
We just breathe and the breath largely governs the regulations of countless functional processes and connects us to the planet through atmospheric gas exchange.
So throughout our life we accrue habitual patterns that drive these certain perpetuations within our nervous system and physiology and the breath pattern can either serve us in our ability to be resilient or our breath can actually work against us to perpetuate stress.
And now this really isn't just all about you and your breathing either.
There are societal breathing patterns that we have.
Cultural breath patterns.
When we're babies we start breathing into our low bellies.
That's the natural place where we breathe in.
So our bellies expand like a balloon and then they contract when we're young.
And in the West as we get older our breath starts to come up more and more into the chest and it actually the body thinks that we're stressed when our breathing is in our chest.
So this is a cultural pattern that many of us have adopted.
So the breath patterns that perpetuate this overactive stress response and the breath patterns that keep us in our wounds that get lodged in our bodies actually have a lot to do with our overall health and wellness.
So some training and conscious engagement through these Buddhist teachings of mindfulness meditation we actually have the power to shift these patterns through the breath.
We can largely shift out of this stress-driven state and into a life that is freely abundant and in flow with nature.
Your breath is a powerful force and when it's engaged in a particular way it elicits this nervous system response that have the power to heal and unblock stored stress and move us into a greater state of embodied presence to meet life with grace and peace.
How cool does that sound?
Now the breath is not always a great anchor for everybody.
I'd say about 10 to 20 percent of people don't find that the breath is very helpful to have as an anchor to have as the place to direct ourselves back.
So I invite you to find an anchor that works for you.
Some people find that keeping their attention on their hands or even on their bodies connected to the earth is really supportive and grounding for their anchor.
And breath is one way to root us back and that's what we're talking about today so that's what we're going to focus on.
Buddha said,
How does one practice mindfulness?
Sit in meditation.
Be aware only of the breath.
Let's drop in.
I'll mind the time and call you out when it's time.
Noticing first how you drop in.
Notice what your natural anchor is.
If you can notice in your body where it feels most easeful to access your breath.
Do you feel the breath in your nostrils?
In your throat?
In your chest?
In your belly?
In your root?
And noticing how you inhale and exhale.
And that's all we're doing today.
We're just following the inhale and following the exhale.
One breath pattern that helps me if I'm noticing that my mind is particularly chatty,
I call it box breathing.
Where you breathe in for four,
Hold for four,
Exhale for four,
Hold for four.
Letting your breath work in this rhythm.
Noticing how that feels for you.
And perhaps if the breath feels hard,
Allowing yourself just to feel held up by the earth.
It's a really great way to continue to stay present.
And maybe you just want to try on playing with the breath.
But knowing what works for you and being gentle and kind to yourself to allow for this practice to work for you.
Noticing what's arising on your inhales and letting it all go on your exhales.
Bringing that nurturing kindness towards yourself as you feel what's arising today during this waxing crescent phase.
Noticing what's happening in your body,
Where your mind is wandering and calling yourself simply back to your breath.
This constant that keeps us alive,
Keeps us able to live this human life.
One thing I like to do to support myself is to place a hand on my belly or a hand on my chest just to feel the rhythm of my own breath.
To feel the rhythm of my heartbeat and let myself rest with that rhythm,
That natural music inside.
Simply following the rise and the fall within your body as you breathe.
How much can you notice about your breath?
And if it feels comfortable for you,
I invite you to seal your lips and focus on what it's like to just breathe in and out of the nose today.
Stay present just with your nose and see how that feels.
Now maybe you'd like to shift your attention to breathing in your nose and out your mouth.
Maybe you want to try that on for a while.
Simply noticing your breath.
Right here,
This breath.
The only breath that there is right now.
Take three more slow breaths,
Breaths that feel really nourishing to you.
Thank you for noticing your breath today,
For finding an anchor that works for you.
We will be talking about more anchors,
More options in the days to come.
And I'm eager to know how the breath feels for you.
And I encourage you to notice your breath every moment that you can.
Every moment you can remember to bring yourself back to the breath.
Give it a try and see how it goes.
All right sweet ones,
See you tomorrow!
