Hello.
Thanks for being here today.
So I wanted to do something a little different today.
I wanted to try a little thought experiment,
If you will.
So a lot of times in our lives,
Our minds,
Our brains can be very deceptive.
Our brains can lie to us.
Sometimes can tell us that we're not good enough or that nobody likes us or that we don't have anything,
That there's something wrong with us.
Sometimes our minds can convince us.
They can convince us of things that aren't true.
That then will develop belief systems about ourselves,
About other people,
About the world around us,
And eventually will dictate our lives.
Sometimes our brains can convince us that we can't do things.
So I wanted to challenge our brain a little bit today and see if we can convince it otherwise.
See if we can create concrete evidence that we can do more than we originally think.
So go ahead and make sure you're in a comfortable seated position.
Remember to balance on the base of your spine.
No need to use the muscles,
No need to force things.
Imagine the base of your spine like a pot and your spine is the stem of a really long flower.
Maybe a lily.
The pot is the base.
Balance in the pot.
Don't force yourself to sit up straight.
Don't force yourself to slouch.
It's that balance right there in that pot.
Go ahead and slowly close your eyes and let's just take a deep breath together.
Really let things settle.
Go ahead and inhale.
And exhale.
Alright,
So just breathe normally.
Recognize that on the outbreath everything kind of just melts a little bit.
Let everything just settle.
Try to kind of wash away all the things you have later or earlier today.
I want you to just kind of focus on the breath.
Imagine yourself putting a blanket of awareness over your breath.
Try to follow the entire breath from the very very beginning of the inhale to the maybe pause in the middle right before the exhale.
Try to stick with the entire slow exhale.
And then notice the little pause right before the next inhale.
Really sink into the breath here.
See how long you can follow from the very beginning to the very end.
When your mind wanders off,
Starts to drift away from the breath,
You notice you get lost in thought.
You may start to judge yourself.
Oh,
My mind is racing today.
I'm just not good at this meditation thing.
You tell yourself,
Oh,
It's really hard today to focus on my breath.
It's an opportunity to convince your brain otherwise.
Just gently guide it back to the breath.
Put that blanket of awareness right back on your breath now.
Just see how long you can focus on it from the very very beginning.
See if you can almost predict the beginning of the inhale.
Follow it all the way through the end,
All the way through the exhale to the very very end.
Notice that gap before the next thing you do.
Just keep focusing.
Keep you drift off.
When you notice,
Gently guide yourself back right to that breath.
Good.
Notice how you feel right now.
Not how you physically feel.
How do you feel in there?
Inside?
Maybe you feel sleepy.
Whatever you feel,
I want you to really try to think about how it actually feels.
So if you feel sleepy,
How does it actually feel to feel sleepy?
Do you feel the muscles on your face?
How do you feel the muscles on your body feel?
What does the emotion of sleepiness feel like?
Is it in your head?
Is it in your body?
Maybe you don't feel sleepy.
Maybe you feel unsettled or antsy,
Restless.
If that's how you feel,
How does that feel?
How does the feeling of restlessness feel in your body?
Do you feel it in your legs?
Do you feel it in your mind?
Do you feel sensations around your body?
Are you tense?
Do you feel really relaxed?
How does that feel?
How does it really feel to feel relaxed?
If you had to describe it to someone,
How would you describe the internal feeling of relaxation?
Really take this opportunity here and show your brain you can feel deeper than you first were able to.
How do you feel really,
Truly inside?
How do you feel?
How do you feel?
So as you can see,
When you really think about things,
Maybe your mind convinced you that you feel a certain way.
But when you really try to dig into your awareness,
Into your consciousness,
Maybe you feel a little bit more.
Maybe you feel a little bit deeper.
Maybe you can feel the sensations and truly be able to describe them.
But at first,
Maybe you just said,
I feel sleepy.
With this way of thinking,
You can prove to yourself that presence can be deeper than once imagined.
So when you catch yourself being lost in an emotion or repetitively thinking a negative thought,
Describe what you feel,
What you really,
Really feel.
Maybe that means you sit down and close your eyes and really feel it.
Really think about how does this anxiety feel?
How does this overwhelm feel in my body?
Is it in my neck?
Is it on my chest?
Is it on my legs?
Is it just in my head?
The more you can describe it to yourself,
The more you can feel those feelings come up and be able to counteract them with positivity.
And the more you can replicate and cultivate the positive emotions.
Once you're able to really,
Truly feel them and describe them.
So know that you can challenge your brain.
Feel free to practice this skill of challenging the lies and the deception and the convincing that our brain does of things that aren't necessarily true.
Thanks for being here with me today.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day.
Feel free to sit here longer.
If you have stuff to do,
Go ahead and open your eyes.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
