Speak a little bit more just from from my own practice spaces.
Sometimes I read my notes.
And I don't feel called to do that in this moment,
So I'm not.
That's how it goes sometimes.
So.
.
.
I was reminded of just the most basic simple concept and this is something that we hear like all the time in these spaces of meditation.
Um.
.
.
Which we could say a part of mindfulness,
Meditation.
Practice is about,
It's like this training in getting more present,
Right?
It's like really simple.
And.
Oh,
Um.
Yeah,
Practice of presence.
And I just love this sort of How do I describe this?
There's something I find really humorous about how simple the concept is,
Like these really simple concepts,
Like,
Yeah,
Just be here,
Just be present.
Right?
Like,
Sure.
And how incredibly challenged we are by that very simple concept.
Myself 1000% included and so.
In my practice today,
And this is what I'm gonna invite us into,
Is just going into this sort of process that I was like,
Reminded of.
Swinging between,
I'm going to just name two poles,
But maybe sometimes we feel like we're swinging between like 20 different poles,
But let's just see if we can distill down.
Um a swing of let's say if you have Two,
Yeah,
Two poles.
Two maybe paradoxical sort of thought waves like,
I feel good,
I feel bad.
You know,
I'm tired,
I'm not tired.
For me,
Currently,
It's this swing between control and freedom.
It's like really heightened right now.
Control and freedom.
These parts that are just,
They just want to grip and they love to control.
And there's parts of the human experience where it's like,
Yeah,
We need some structure,
Some directionality.
You know,
We could say some control is needed and necessary in this human making.
And Freedom.
I personally love the experience of feeling more free and flowy and not so grippy and not so structured.
And the meeting place in between.
To me today was like,
And then there's just,
There's presence.
There's just like right here,
Right now is I can let the control part sort of be playing in the background.
And then I want to swing over to this experience of more freedom.
And these are still these sort of two poles and they're not bad.
I mean,
Not to judge them or criticize any of your even two parts,
Just like what would happen if the,
All of that could be playing in the background and we are just right here,
Right now.
So we always start right here in these meditation spaces with this welcoming attitude.
So what I'm going to invite us to conjure up before we get into it,
Is sort of two inner characters.
So if you had.
.
.
Um.
.
.
A reoccurring thought that you could put into character form,
Let's say for some of you today,
Right?
It's like the overwhelmed,
The stressful one.
Maybe it's the manager,
Like the really stressed out manager.
And then if you could put like,
What's the opposite of that?
The opposite character,
The one that just like is super chill,
Maybe.
The one that loves to like lounge on the beach.
And they're consistently going back and forth,
Like having this conversation.
One wants to manage,
One wants to show,
One wants to manage,
One wants to chill.
And Today,
We're gonna go in with this welcoming attitude.
So to say,
Okay,
All of that might continue to happen in the background.
And we're gonna let it happen in the background and we're gonna use our ability to.
.
.
Presence,
More in the right here,
Right now moment through our senses and a variety of different micro skills.
So we're not saying that any of those parts or those layers have to go away,
But they might consistently be happening,
But it fades into the background and we can pull into the foreground.
More of what's right here,
Right now.
So.
Let's try this out together.
Let's see what happens today in this meditation experiment.
So we'll use this first song to continue making a transition.
Maybe you were already doing that as I was naming what I just did.
So I'm gonna present that one more time and maybe we actually embody this in a way together.
So let's put our.
.
.
Let's put our right hand and our left hand out.
And In one hand,
You're gonna place,
Like in my example,
I'm gonna place the control.
The archetype of control,
The character that likes to control.
But in the other hand,
I'm going to place.
The freedom,
The one that likes to be,
That enjoys and savors and desires to be free and not be controlled by anything or anyone.
And we're gonna bring our hands together.
And we're.
.
.
I'm gonna invite you to.
.
.
To weave your fingers in a way where we're asking those parts to sort of dance together.
And it's going to be a dance that's filled with some friction.
Because one character wants to pull us way over to one direction,
The other archetype wants to pull us way over to the other side.
And I'm gonna encourage you to let your hands move side to side or even let your body sway a little side to side.
In this gesture of not resisting,
But just welcoming this sort of turbulence that is often happening within us.
We want to go right.
We want to go left.
We want to go forward.
We want to go back.
I want this.
I want that.
I don't want this.
I don't want that.
I want this,
I don't want that.
Right,
The swirl.
Tends to be forever happening within us.
We say yes to it.
Okay.
Parts of me wants to control,
Parts of me want to have way more freedom.
I feel irritated,
I feel content.
And take a couple bigger,
Fuller breaths.
We're transitioning and entering the space.
And then we're just gonna invite these parts not to need to go away.
We're gonna invite them into the background,
Or you can imagine those parts sort of lifting up and out of your sphere of attention.
They're just moving a little farther away.
They might still be doing their little tug of war,
Gentle dance,
Or strong dance in the background,
And we can say,
You are welcome in the field and wow.
Right here,
Right now,
Just right here,
Right now.
I'm gonna notice the temperature of the air surrounding my body for a few seconds.
Let's notice that together.
So we invite into the foreground.
Present moment,
Here and now.
A feeling of touch if you're open to placing your hands somewhere on your body.
Or on a surface that's near you.
And for a few seconds right here,
Right now,
Let's go down and feel the feet.
The surface that the feet are touching.
Right here right now that part of our awareness that encompasses both those characters the the movement of that dance,
That swirl that we asked to fade into the background.
That we are the observer of that and that observational part of us can bring more attention into the sensory experience of the right here,
Right now.
Let's take some bigger breaths.
But call our attention so we feel some pressure build up as we inhale.
We hold that breath.
And then exhale,
Feel that release.
Pressure releasing.
Do a few more breaths like this.
My bad.
Breath,
The sound,
The sensations of an inhale and exhale really call your attention.
Thank you.
No.
We can spend a few seconds.
Okay,
Let me purposely go back into that,
That swirl,
That dance.
You may interlace your fingers again.
Remember.
That little inner tug of war of those parts that.
Maybe we're happening quite a bit today or the last few days,
Last few months,
Years of our lives.
Right,
It makes sense that we're going to have all these different inner characters and emotions tied to those characters.
You can swing side to side.
Much.
Open.
Our perception of,
Ah,
I'm observing.
I can actually have some separation.
I'm observing that dance.
There is this eye that is beyond those two characters.
I'm observing.
The control and the freedom response.
There is this I.
I am.
I am right here,
Right now.
Inhabiting this body,
Hearing this music.
Be with the I am.
And you might place your hand somewhere on your body.
I am.
You might play with repeating the I am.
I'm right here,
Right now,
Or a combination.
I am right here,
Right now.
In that spaciousness,
Create some space.
Not choice,
Right here,
Right now.
You What about right here,
Right now?
Whether within your body,
Or maybe it's external in the environment,
Something in the right here,
Right now,
You find beautiful,
Maybe there's an interesting sensation.
In the environment,
You could open your eyes and just take in that particular color.
Texture,
Type of movement.
If it's within,
You're following perhaps a certain sensation.
Or inner movement.
This following,
This lingering.
A loving observation.
I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
Such a beautiful story.
Thank you.
Where are you?
For you.
I am made.
Real,
Real,
Real.
Prayer,
Prayer,
Prayer.
I love me.
I love you.
Let's take a breath together.
Let's remember this welcoming.
Kind of embrace of that right and left hand.
Those parts that were placed there.
Reminder,
Not a dismissal or refusal of any of our emotions or parts.
All invited to this meditation party.
How they can fade into.
A background,
Other awarenesses can come into the foreground in this ongoing.
Play.
Where we place our attention.
From that kind,
Welcoming place.
All of it can be here and in this moment right here,
Right now,
I choose.
Let's decide,
What do we choose?
What do we choose to think about?
To remember before entering the rest of the day,
What would be supportive to.
To become infused with.
Before entering whatever is coming next.
Maybe a little more peace,
A little more love.
Maybe we need some strength or some power.
Bye bye.
The image that keeps coming to mind is that shift,
Right?
Like way to the left,
Way to the right,
And then that sort of the center.
Way to the left,
Way to the right.
This is the ongoing.
Infinity shape right dance and that that point in the middle.
We'll continue to dance.
We favor one side,
We favor the other side,
And when we can,
We can also remember a right.
A chance can continue to happen and I can choose right here,
Right now.
And when would that be really helpful?
Again,
To also let go of that fight.
That was the piece that really was potent for me personally.
It was like,
Oh yeah.
You can keep doing whatever you need to do,
This tug of war,
And I can just be less involved.
I can step back and just let you do that,
Kind of figure that out.
Maybe there's something to figure out.
They're just going to keep doing that.
And I have this ability to not get so involved in it.
And this,
To me,
Is the work of that kindness and that welcoming,
That love to everyone's welcome here.
I just,
I'm gonna choose not to only live from that place of freedom or only live from that place of control.
There is,
Again,
This I that is beyond.
Just those two parts.
And I meditate,
We practice in order to get in touch with that.
I,
That in IFS therapy,
Capital X,
Self,
I call it,
Coming home.
Um,
Presence.
All right.
Thank you so much,
Everyone,
For showing up today.
Yeah.
So,
Like,
Present,
Present.
You're so welcome.
Yeah,
We'll be back on Wednesday,
Similar sort of theme in some way.
There's a couple sutras in the radiant sutras that I didn't read today.
Maybe we'll explore a sutra with us.
We'll see what we get up to on Wednesday,
But.
Yes.
Lovely to be with some new faces and familiar faces and I look forward to seeing you then.
So welcome.
Wishing you a wonderful evening.
