All right,
Hello everybody and welcome back to Nalu Mind the Flow.
Today we are on day 17 of our journey together with Nalu as we explore mindfulness and meditation practices that hopefully can help us understand the flows and the waves and the changes in our lives as we as we experience them in real time and in the present moment.
So I really appreciate you joining.
If you are returning,
Welcome back.
Yesterday we followed Nalu in a complete body scan from top to bottom and bottom to top in in just under 10 minutes and it might have been a little fast for some folks.
So today we're going to return to the very basics.
We're going to be observing the breath again as it comes into the body and as it goes out from the body and that will be the only observation we'll be making today.
If you begin to feel some sensations around the breath you're welcome to zoom in on those and experience those.
If your mind might begin to wander or tell stories just gently bring it back to attention on the breathing and observing the breath and just watching the breath go in and watching the breath go out and perhaps noticing how that touches the body as this natural breathing sort of breathes you and moves itself into you and then moves itself out of you.
So just sitting back and relaxing for now we'll just be observing the breath moving in and observing the breath watching the breath as it moves out.
And you may notice as you are watching these breaths happen as you're watching this sort of inhalation and then turns around and exhalation and then that turns back around and it's an inhalation.
You may observe,
You may notice,
You may feel that they're slightly different between the breathings.
This is to be expected especially as we send our attention on to something it might change slightly.
This may cause you to let out a sigh or you might take a random deep breath and that's really cool when that happens that's your your body reacting naturally to settling in to a sense of relaxation.
And as we've followed Nalu throughout this journey we've noticed that these sensations and feelings oftentimes imitate or reflect some of the waveforms or flow patterns that we see in the world around us.
And so by checking in we're also checking out and paying attention to the breath and observing the breath is an instantaneous and trustworthy way to check in to the present moment.
So we'll just continue to be observing the breath as it moves in and out seemingly of its own volition.
And it may happen as it's also happened for Nalu from time to time when we're noticing the breathing and we're zoomed in and we're in a relaxed condition that sensations or feelings or emotions can rise to the surface and even if they're surprising to us or if they're comfortable to us or if they're uncomfortable to us the objective is to notice them happen and then let them pass away the same way that the breath happens and then the breath passes away on the exhale.
So even as feelings or thoughts or stories arise just notice them observe them and then watch them pass away as the attention comes back to the breathing.
And as you notice the breath going in and out may have brought up a story or something in your mind and that's great that's totally awesome.
If that happens no worry just bring attention back to the breathing noticing how the breath is coming in where it's coming into the body and noticing how it's going out.
And as we return to observing the breath we can also be reminded that we can use this observation,
This strategy,
This technique anytime during our lives.
The breath is always there with us inflating us and then deflating us and inflating us again.
Because of that because of its consistency and repetition returning our attention to it is a great way to check in with what's really going on.
And so for the last couple minutes that we have here together just observing the current breathing noticing the current breathing with an understanding that we're contributing to a practice that we can then use just as if we were to exercise to build muscle or practice the piano to build our musical skill.
This practice of observing the breath actually becomes a tool that we can use during the regular our regular time in the world.
And as we continue to notice the breath and we begin to come to the end of our 17th day here together I just want to pause to be grateful for everyone who has supported each other on this journey so far and whether you're joining just for the day for several days or for all 28 we're so grateful to be here together and to have you here whether you're joining in real time or on the recording.
Just taking a few minutes out each day to work on the breath and understand the breath and understand our situation can help help us in so many ways.
So thank you for showing up.
So appreciate having you here and hope that you're returning to the room with some renewed vitality and energy and ready for the rest of the day.
Thank you again and hope you enjoyed.
