Hello,
Hello,
Hello,
And welcome back to Nalu Mind the Flow.
Today is day 11.
So appreciate you being here.
If you're joining for the first time,
Welcome.
If you are returning after one or more days,
Then welcome back.
It's so great to have this story to follow as we follow Nalu,
Our imaginary character who lives on an island and is exploring mindfulness and meditative practices from their friends that they learned from from a neighbor island.
We've been exploring the breath and we've been taking a little bit of control over the breath for the past few days,
And today we're going to transition a little bit from the breathing into the sensations of the body.
So in order to do that,
We're going to continue to use that place where the breath is entering and leaving the body,
But we're going to be noticing much more about the touch of the breath and noticing where it is that the breath is creating any kind of sensation on the body.
So Nalu learned about this from very old teaching,
And there's a long lineage of people who have been studying this kind of sensation,
And there are lots of references on that that we can dig back into perhaps some other time.
So for today,
Find yourself in a comfortable spot.
If you're seated,
Then maybe just make sure you're seated comfortably with some place where you feel grounded,
And if you are out walking,
Make sure that you're in a safe spot and you won't be interrupted.
You might like to have your eyes opened or your eyes closed for this.
You're welcome to do either or a combination of both.
So as Nalu has explored the breathing and now moves to explore the body,
They return to that place where the air is entering and leaving the body.
So that might be through the nostrils,
Or that might be through the mouth,
Or that might be through a combination of both nostrils and mouth.
So just check in for a moment where this is happening on your body,
And just notice the sensation of that happening.
So it might be the sound of the breathing as the breathing comes in.
It might be the rise and fall of the chest or the abdomen.
Just take a few minutes to observe and notice and get into the flow a little bit with your natural breath.
Just observe the breath as it happens.
And now as we continue to observe the breathing,
Watching the breath happen,
Watching the breath come in naturally,
And the breath go out of the body naturally,
We might want to bring our attention more closely to this little area here just above the upper lip,
Just below the nose.
There's an area here where the breath is coming into the body and the breath is going out of the body.
And you may be able to notice a variety of sensation at that entry point.
It might be that the breath is coming in cool and leaving warm,
Or it might be that the breathing is coming in a little bit dry and leaving moist,
Or you may not experience some any direct sensation at all.
And that's okay too in that situation.
You just continue to observe the breath happen as it comes in and as it goes out naturally and by itself.
And just keep noticing and remaining curious about what might be going on there where the breath is coming in and that point where the breath is going out.
And as you continue to remain curious about that portion of the body where the breath is coming in and the breath is going out,
You might notice that the mind is a telling a story or creating some kind of fiction.
And that's fantastic.
The mind is actually designed to do that.
It's a quite an excellent instrument at doing that.
And one way to to work with that is to notice that the mind is doing that and observe and say,
Wow,
It's a really amazing story that you're telling there.
And then use the curiosity that the mind has about that storytelling and then bring that curiosity back to that little location that's just below the nostrils there.
And so hence bringing your attention back to a natural process that's occurring right here,
Right now in the current moment.
And just watching that happen as it happens naturally.
And as the breath continues to move out from the body and continues to move back into the body and it seems to be happening almost all by itself,
Just continue to let that happen.
You don't have to take any control of it.
And then just continue to remain curious and really notice,
Is there any sensation at all that's happening at that point where the breath is coming into and going out from the body?
Are you noticing maybe a softness or maybe a firmness?
Or might you be noticing dryness or moistness?
Any sensation at all is okay to notice.
And if there's no sensation,
That's okay too.
Just continue to remain curious and observe.
And as we continue to observe the body,
Noticing the sensation,
We just begin to return to the sounds of the room and the background and our seat in the chair perhaps.
Or maybe it's our legs walking on the ground and becoming a little bit more alert and aware of our surroundings and rejoining the usual experience of our daily lives.
So welcome back to the room everybody on this 11th day of Nalu Mind the Flow.
So grateful that you could join us and I hope that you can come back again for another day.
Thank you and see you soon.
