Today's practice is a practice of investigation.
Investigating our physical body,
And especially investigating the mind,
Which for this practice we'll call the puppy mind.
But first let's explore into the body as you find a comfortable position to sit for the next few moments.
To center into yourself,
Soften your sitting bones,
The muscles of the buttocks into the earth.
Relax the feet or the legs into the earth.
Allow the top of your head to lift slightly,
The chin to drop,
The back of the neck long.
Sitting back on your sitting bones,
With the spine long,
The shoulders soft.
For the practice of mindfulness or meditation,
There are no right answers.
You don't have to look like a yogi sitting in the Himalayas.
You don't have to sit any particular way.
There are certainly recommendations,
Mudras,
Breathing practices,
That can guide the energy,
That can help the mind to move toward one-pointed concentration.
But the practice is really for you where you are in this moment.
So we always begin by being aware of where you are in this moment.
By asking the body,
Is this a comfortable way to sit?
It's okay to challenge yourself to maybe adjust your posture,
Set up a little taller than you normally do,
Try to sit cross-legged for another minute or two longer than you normally do.
But we never want to push to the place of pain.
And you are allowed to adjust your position.
But the catch is to do it mindfully.
So when your foot starts to fall asleep,
When your leg itches,
When your shoulder gets stiff,
You mindfully breathe into that space,
Observe that sensation,
Observe the way that your mind is reacting to that,
And then check in with that reaction.
Is that real?
Exaggerated?
Is that the mind trying to get attention and get you off of your mat or your chair?
And if you decide that shifting your sitting position is a good idea,
Then do so mindfully,
Without letting it distract your mind.
Mindfully meaning bringing your full presence into what your body is doing.
Staying present with the breath,
Acknowledging sensation and feelings,
And then sinking back into presence as you let go of all of those things.
As you notice the story that your mind is weaving around the sensation in your shoulder,
Around whatever caused that to happen in the first place,
The frustration that it's happening,
The judgment,
And a whole mix of other emotions that are probably stacked on top of that.
We can step back and just be aware of the shoulder or the knee or whatever sensation is pulling the attention in your body.
Just let that exist without all of the stories.
And let's take a few deep breaths in and deep breaths out.
Begin to shift your attention now to the mind itself,
Which you'll remember we're referring to as the puppy mind.
And imagine that you have brought home a puppy who's so excited and who has no idea what your expectations are.
No idea that it's supposed to go outside,
That it's not supposed to bark or jump on you.
And as you start to train this puppy in the weeks to come,
You could get very frustrated with the puppy that it doesn't know what you expect.
Or you could train the puppy and recognize that it's just a baby,
That it's learning.
And if we treat our mind and this reconditioning of the mind in the same way,
Then we can slowly create new habits,
New neurotransmitters,
New thought patterns,
New ways of experiencing life.
Training the practice,
Whatever your practice is,
When you notice that the mind wants to run off and think about dinner or work or relationship or family,
Smile at the puppy mind and recognize that for as long as you've been alive,
You've been training it to be able to run off at a moment's notice.
It has been allowed to be distracted by whatever comes in front of it.
And now that you're setting an intention to concentrate the mind,
To be more present in your everyday experiences,
That takes a lot of training.
To create new thought patterns and new habits takes a continued reconditioning.
And so during these last few moments as your mind has wandered off,
Which it has,
Smile at the puppy mind and tell it that it's okay,
That we're learning slowly and just convince it to come back,
To be present again.
And this is the process.
This is the practice.
Whatever your object of concentration is in a meditation,
A mindfulness practice,
Let that be your guide.
And when you notice that the story has unfolded and you haven't been paying attention for a few seconds,
A few minutes,
Smile at the puppy and come back,
Allowing yourself graciousness,
Compassion,
Kindness,
Just as you would a puppy that you were training.
Recognizing that the more you set the expectations,
The more you do the practice,
The more quickly you will see the results of being present.
Take a deep breath in,
A deep breath out.
And we join the fingertips together in front of the heart,
Offering gratitude now to your mind,
To the puppy,
To your brain,
To your body,
To these vessels of consciousness that we have as human beings.
And we offer gratitude for the gift of these vessels,
For our ability to be human,
To experience ourselves and our relationship with one another.
And as you take this practice off of your mat and into your day,
Continue to move mindfully,
To smile at the puppy and to find joy in this experience of being human.
Namaste.
