I'd like to offer you an opportunity to allow your mind to settle and your heart to open,
To feel care and cared for.
Get yourself situated in a posture that allows for relaxed alertness.
You could be sitting,
Lying down,
Standing,
Or even walking if you'd like.
You can close your eyes if that is what is comfortable for you,
Or you can keep your eyes open with a soft gaze,
Not too sharply focused on any one thing.
Tune in with your breath,
Just noticing.
No need to change anything about it.
Notice where you most easily detect your breath entering and leaving your body,
Through your nostrils,
Maybe through your throat,
Or maybe in the rise and fall of your chest or abdomen.
Simply connecting with your breath.
Give any tension you may be holding in your body permission to dissipate if you don't need it right now.
Any holding in your jaw,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Stomach,
Letting go.
Now I'm going to ask you to count your thoughts for 30 seconds.
So I'll start now and I'll time you for 30 seconds,
Just counting your thoughts.
This isn't a competition,
Just a little exercise.
If it's helpful,
You can use your fingers to keep track.
Okay.
And those thoughts may have come in words or images.
So just to note that was 30 seconds and you had a certain number of thoughts,
Nothing positive or negative about any number that you came up with.
The next thought activity that we'll do is that I want to ask you to name your thoughts as they arrive.
This is a technique called noting.
So if a thought comes up,
Just gently name it,
Planning,
Planning,
Or judging,
Judging.
Or if you'd like,
You can just say thinking,
Thinking.
But the point is to,
To notice the thought non-judgmentally with a sense of kindness or friendliness.
So you'll have 30 seconds to just practice this noting technique.
Okay.
So you may wonder what was the purpose of that,
Of those two activities,
Counting and noting.
And I'll tell you,
This is a way of recognizing that you are not your thoughts,
That there's a part of you that is beyond your thoughts and capable of counting them and naming them.
So when thoughts arise,
Rather than identifying with them during our practice,
You can just let them be,
Perhaps name them,
But then come back to the present moment.
So again,
During our practice today,
There's not going to,
No,
No need to make a big effort to get rid of your thoughts.
Just know you can come back to them later,
But when you notice them,
Name them kindly,
And then come back to your breath or sounds in your environment or sensation in your body.
Something in this moment where life is happening,
Just letting go for this brief time of the past,
Letting go of planning or anticipating the future,
Coming into this moment,
Just as it is,
Training your mind in presence.
Now begin to notice your experience of whatever part of you is making contact with the chair,
The chair,
The chair,
The chair,
The chair,
The chair,
The chair,
The floor,
The cushion,
Whatever it is that you are being supported by.
And really sense this feeling of being supported.
You can connect with the calmness,
The stability,
The support that you feel by whatever is holding your body.
Connect with your whole being grounding itself,
Connecting with the gentle hug of gravity,
Sensing your belonging to this earth,
To this planet,
Feeling from the inside out,
The aliveness that's right here,
The aliveness within you,
This changing dance of sensation.
You can notice the state of your heart as well.
Is there interest or gratitude or sadness and grief or excitement or tenderness?
Does your heart feel open or closed without any judgment,
Just noticing,
Letting go of any need to control or change,
Just this as it is,
Nowhere to be,
But here,
Nothing to do,
But notice,
Noticing sounds appearing and disappearing near and far and the space between sounds,
Holding anything that arises loosely with kindness,
Curiosity,
And care,
Just this as it is.
And when your attention wanders,
As it will,
That moment you become aware your mind has wandered is a moment of awakening,
A moment to celebrate,
And then come back to your breath,
To the sounds happening around you,
To the sensations that are moving through your body,
Moment to moment,
Awake and receptive to the life that is right here.
What is it to experience this moment just as it is,
This breath,
Now this one.
And as we train our minds in presence,
Coming again and again back into this moment,
We're training to be available to life in the moment throughout our day,
Cultivating the ability to offer a deep quality of presence to all that we encounter.
