Welcome to this mindfulness practice.
This particular practice is called grain and it's a way of being with difficulties.
So choosing a place to sit or maybe even lie down.
Making sure that your your body is supported in whatever posture you choose.
Particularly when we're dealing with difficulty and choosing to do this grain practice,
Maybe giving some extra support to yourself.
A blanket,
Some warmer socks,
Maybe an extra cushion beneath your your bum to lift your pelvis or your hips above your knees.
And if you're lying down maybe a bolster underneath the crease of the knees.
Allowing the feet maybe to flop to either side.
Maybe just giving some extra care if that if that feels okay.
So a big part of the human condition is is difficulty and suffering,
Physical or emotional hurt.
And in this society it's something that we seem averse to.
We don't want to know about it,
We don't want to think about it,
We don't want to feel.
And we can also spend a lot of time just kind of in our heads,
Not sensing into how the body is processing this difficult experience.
And in other mindfulness practices we might have an anchor.
And so when the mind drifts and wanders and gets busy,
Or there's a particular sensation in the body that's uncomfortable,
We're not trying to ignore it or move away from it.
But we're also particularly with our thoughts not trying to go down this yellow brick road and follow this story that the mind has conjured up.
And so we practice returning to our anchor,
Nudging our attention back to an intentional place in the present moment.
And with grain we are still practicing redirecting attention,
But kind of from a moment to moment,
A guided way of moving through a process of being with difficulty.
And it's an acronym called grain.
I like to think of a grain of sand,
That maybe one grain seems so small and insignificant,
Like it wouldn't do much or support much.
But in accumulating many grains of sand we form a soft cushion to land on.
Something to sink our toes into.
Something to rest our weary body on and feel the warmth and feel the comfort and the softness.
And so I'm inviting you to come to this grain practice as often as feels right for you to build up those grains of sand.
So you may have a difficult situation or experience in your life right now and it may be playing on your mind or it may drift in and out of your mind.
So choosing first to ground yourself,
Whether lying or sitting,
Grounding into this sense of being here,
The sense of your body being supported by gravity and the floor beneath you or the seat,
The chair,
The couch,
The grass.
This sense of gravity holding us up and steadying us at the same time.
This feeling in the body of,
You know,
Being planted or rooted.
Feeling into the contact with whatever supportive surface is beneath you right now.
Maybe steadying yourself with even a supportive anchor such as the breath or the hands or the feet.
And maybe moving into the next stage which is recognizing.
Recognizing that a difficulty is here.
Maybe even naming that difficulty.
May come up as a thought or bodily sensation or an emotion.
Naming it.
Maybe anger,
Frustration,
Hurt,
Worry,
Anxiety,
Pain.
Whatever it is,
Recognizing and naming.
Maybe even saying,
I see you.
Pain,
I see you.
Anxiety,
I see you.
Moving into allowing.
If even for a moment,
Maybe,
Maybe allowing feels difficult right now.
So inviting you to imagine a really long park bench.
Maybe it's wooden or metal.
Maybe it's along a path or under a tree.
And imagine sitting on that bench at one end.
And then allowing for the difficulty to be there.
By imagining,
Inviting the difficulty to sit somewhere along the bench.
So maybe you're willing to let the difficulty sit at the very end.
Maybe that's enough to start with.
And then maybe seeing what it's like for the difficulty to move a little closer towards you.
And this may feel surprisingly okay.
Or you may have,
You know,
A very strong impulse to say no.
Go back.
And just seeing what it's like to kind of allow yourself to be in some sort of proximity with the difficulty.
And you are choosing how close that difficulty is.
And then maybe investigating,
Mainly in the body,
While the feeling.
What am I feeling in my body?
And then moving to the final part of grain,
Which is non identification.
Being with yourself and in the present moment with this,
With this difficulty.
This difficulty that we that we recognize that we named anxiety or fear or hurt.
And maybe saying,
You know,
There's fear,
Fear is here.
There's anxiety.
And maybe resisting the temptation to say,
You know,
Kind of in a contracted way.
Oh,
No,
Here's anxiety again.
Bringing yourself back to the present moment.
Simply saying,
There's anxiety now.
Giving yourself the grace of non identification.
This difficulty,
Feeling,
Emotion,
Thought.
They are not me.
They are not my whole story.
They are not my whole narrative.
This is happening in the present.
This experience is in the present.
And like clouds,
They will pass.
And we might still resist.
We might still get immersed in obsessive thinking or want to have a sense of control.
And green gives us the opportunity to pause and connect with the present moment even in difficulty and connect with ourselves in this time of difficulty.
And that in itself allows us to move beyond these habitual patterns of behavior.
These unconscious patterns that cause us our suffering that we look to undo.
Sensing into your,
Your grounding once more,
Maybe your anchor.
Sensing into the whole body.
Leaving the park bench.
Choosing to walk in a new direction.
If only for a moment.
Knowing that you approach difficulty in a new and supportive way.
And when you're ready,
Opening your eyes.
