Guide To Happiness Talk & Meditation

A talk and guided meditation given on the online yoga and meditation course 'paths to practice' online course. A short talk and guided meditation reframing our ideas of what it means to embody happiness within ourselves every day without suppressing or invalidating the times we feel bad.

Transcript

So find a comfortable seat.

Find a comfortable position to do our meditation practice today.

We're not really going to do,

Well,

We're not going to do any pranayama practice this morning.

If that was what you were looking for,

You can check last week's okay because we did loads.

So today we're going to do a guided practice,

Meditation practice.

I'll guide you all the way through it.

Mainly just how to nurture inner happiness within us.

I'm not saying this is the way.

This is just one little approach.

I'm not going to say that it fixes everything or makes you feel better instantly.

It may not.

It's just a way of just slightly approaching things in a different way.

So take a comfortable position if you haven't already.

And find your posture.

The meditation posture doesn't need to be rigid.

It doesn't need to be stiff.

Mainly it doesn't need to be rigid.

But then,

Yes,

It can't be too floppy and too soft.

You need to have a sort of sense of aliveness in what you're doing.

If you're very tired and if you are sitting in a chair,

Just kind of move a little bit out from the back of the chair so you don't just crouch back.

And then if you're on the cushion,

You can work with the ice clothes.

Maybe for this practice,

Ice clothes.

But if you're very sleepy,

You can open your eyes and just gaze a little bit down on the floor.

And then you can just look at your neck,

Your neck is one foot or three feet ahead.

So once your neck is in a nice relaxed position.

But let's all close our eyes here anyway just to start with and set an intention for our day.

Reminding ourselves why we practice and why we come back to coming onto our cushion.

Why do we get on our mat?

Why do we do any of this?

And just reminding ourselves the value and how nurturing practice can be for us,

Even though sometimes and most of the time we forget so we have to keep being reminded.

And it's important to remember your value in terms of your practice and I suppose your spirituality in one sense.

But not just spirituality but your means of connecting with yourself.

So that's you understanding the value of connecting with yourself and you understanding what that means for you,

How it makes you feel and how it affects others too.

And then see your day kind of starting off and it may not work this way but just imagine your day just embracing all those qualities of your practice.

So calm,

Balance,

Sense of ease also and openness also to yourself maybe.

Maybe openness towards your problems maybe or your challenges.

Openness towards just openness to what the day might bring.

So a kind of possibility also there because none of us are,

Well we might be a bit psychic but none of us can actually really predict the future.

So we don't know what way today is going to turn out really.

And of course,

Our mind is wired and programmed for negative bias,

Okay,

But always on the lookout for something bad to happen or some threat or something to kind of just watch out for.

That's just that little protective quality of one part of the mind.

And fortunately,

When we're a little bit into sort of more feeling unhappy or maybe even depressed,

We tend to kind of,

That part of the mind really gets very active,

Always looking for what's wrong.

So let's today look,

Let's just kind of pay attention to and bring our attention to and rewire our brain to just see the good things,

Balance it out a little bit.

Not that everything is always good,

So it's not valid,

Not kind of invalidating how you feel if you are feeling really miserable today,

But just a sense of seeing the balance between everything.

So your intention for the day.

Just find an ease in your posture now,

Eyes closed and just bring your attention down into your sit bones.

Balancing between left sit bones and right sit bones,

Just kind of slightly adjusting in the pelvis,

Finding a place where I feel kind of steady and feel that left sit bone and right sit bone.

Just feeling the base of your pelvis and your legs and your feet,

Kind of creating this rock solid foundation like a mountain.

And whether you're in the chair then maybe use your legs and your feet but touch the ground that feels that sense of groundedness.

And find ease in your posture.

Find a sense of ease and then start to kind of lift and lengthen from your inner groin all the way up towards your throat.

Just a little lift there,

Feeling a sense of vitality maybe.

You may not feel full of vitality,

Maybe you're very tired today,

But just kind of exaggerate a little bit.

Just all you need to do is feel the quality of vitality.

Just a little lift in the lower back,

Maybe broadening across the chest a little bit.

And start to settle in with your breath.

Just start to settle in and take a few slow deep breaths in and out.

Starting in with the breath,

Starting to receive your in breath.

I hope you're still connected to me because I think I'm having an internet issue maybe.

Hopefully.

It looks like I sit down.

So,

Letting go into your breath and receiving your in breath.

And then start to receive your out breath.

So,

Just bring your attention to the stream of your breathing.

Just receiving the in breath,

Welcoming it in.

And just allowing a sense of welcoming in your out breath too.

Just receiving your in breath as it enters your body and moves through your body,

Through your body.

When you exhale,

Just letting go also,

Just letting go of what needs to be let go of in your body.

And just saucing into the in breath.

Softening kind of out into your exhale.

Relaxing into that.

And just let your eyes relax in the back of the eye socket,

Softening behind the eyes.

As you do that,

Your eyes are still closed.

Just imagine that the eyes are smiling today.

Kind of a slice,

Even with the eyes closed,

A little twinkle.

Almost the expression of a smile that come into your eyes.

Just bring your attention down into your lips and the corners of your lips.

Just the slice,

Just ever so slightly,

Slight turning up of the corners of your lips.

The slight smile.

It's not a big,

Wide smile,

It's a kind of sense of just slight contentment.

Then bringing your attention down into the chest area and the heart area.

And all it is,

Is just imagining the expression of a smile entering into this area.

Kind of a widening and opening up,

The spreading of the collar bones.

Sense of spaciousness.

Maybe even widening across the shoulders and relaxing and softening the shoulders on each out breath.

And just when you take that out breath,

Just feel the gift of just setting goals.

Just bring your attention down into your hands and your fingers.

Just softening into the hands and the wrists.

Bring your attention to your abdomen now.

Your belly.

And let your abdomen receive your breath.

Dropping down into the cavity of your pelvic region,

Releasing down into your pelvic too.

And then a softening very behind the navel,

Way back behind your abdomen.

There's a sense of receiving your breath into the back of the abdomen.

And just imagine the weight and the volume of your legs and your feet.

And just imagine this kind of vast energy of the ground,

The earth I suppose.

Of the earth kind of flowing up through you,

Supporting you.

And that sense of solidness that's supporting you here now.

Just inside you,

Inside the inner torso and just kind of deep within you,

Just a small inner smile.

A widening and an opening.

Just relax and open.

Let's just reflect now.

Just reflect on any moment,

Maybe recently or in the past.

Maybe from a very long time ago too,

But just reflect on a time when you felt kindness.

When you felt the expression of kindness in your life,

Maybe something you did,

Something that happened to you,

Or maybe someone was kind to you.

Or perhaps even just putting it out there,

Maybe you felt inspired also.

Or you've gone to a beautiful place and you saw the sun setting and it just felt so inspiring to be in nature.

Just when you reflect on that kindness,

That moment of goodness,

Maybe it was a cup of coffee you were drinking or some really good meals.

Or maybe you were connecting with someone maybe on a heart connection,

Maybe someone really got you on the day,

They could actually really hear what you were saying.

Just kind of recognise that and feel that goodness and that kindness in your body right now.

Notice the feeling.

Just allow a little bit of space just to kind of come into that,

Just kind of rest in that kind of goodness.

And then invite those feelings into your physical presence now.

So into your posture.

Maybe into your eyes and into your mouth.

Just notice when you have a sense of feeling that inner goodness or kindness,

Notice how the body responds to it and how it makes you feel alive.

And it brings a sense of vitality back into you.

There's also a softening.

Let's reflect a little bit more now and let's invite these words into your mind.

So I am grateful for and you fill in the blanks.

Just remember it doesn't need to be anything big or special.

It's something really small.

Just like I'm grateful that I have a place where I can practice now and I have a roof over my head.

Or I'm grateful to have these practices that can bring me back to my heart.

And just kind of obviously something personal for you,

Whatever comes to mind.

What are you grateful for today.

Just pick one of those things that really,

Really resonates with you.

And I want you to kind of fill up with this gratitude.

Just kind of feel and feel how much that means to you.

And see the value of why you picked this.

As you reflect and kind of just feel the sense of why it resonated with you.

Could be just something really small,

You know.

Just the fact that you kind of are picking something just even something small and basic.

Now just whisper to yourself,

Thank you.

Thank you.

Just a real sense of just feeling grateful.

And this isn't about kind of bowing down and forcing ourselves to feel good in the moment.

It's more,

Notice the quality of gratitude in your body.

Notice the quality of when you're in the state of gratitude.

What's happening within you.

So there's a sense of presence.

There's a sense of stillness and calmness.

And also there's a sense of openness.

And there's a little bit of giving up also on kind of seeing what's wrong all the time,

And just opening up to maybe good things also.

Let's all now just come back to our breath.

And just settle back into your breathing just in case you might have maybe ran off with some distraction in your mind.

And just settle yourself just by bringing the attention to the breath,

But mainly just feeling the expression of your breathing in your body.

Just feeling the rib cage and the torso,

Breathe.

Or maybe it's around your neck or your nostrils that you feel the body breathing.

Perhaps on a whole global kind of sense,

You can sense the whole body just taking in and receiving the insight.

And letting go of the outside.

And even just the quality of gratitude somewhere in there too.

You're not disturbed.

No one is disturbing you now.

You're sitting here.

You're able to be right now.

Sense of gratitude just sitting with your breath.

You're able to breathe.

And as you breathe in,

You breathe into the body,

Breathing into the cells.

And as you breathe out,

You know you're releasing and letting go.

And letting go of what's not needed anymore.

Maybe on a physical level.

And so mentally and emotionally just letting go of what needs to just drop right now.

Breathing in and out.

And just feeling the sense of kindness.

And even the expression of your posture.

Pay attention to your breathing.

And just feel the moment when you wander away or you get distracted by even the thought of distraction.

And just feel the moment when you wander away or you get distracted by even the thought of distraction.

And just feel the moment when you wander away or you get distracted by even the thought of distraction.

And just feel the moment when you wander away or you get distracted by even the thought of distraction.

And just feel the moment when you wander away or you get distracted by even the thought of distraction.

And just feel the moment when you wander away or you get distracted by even the thought of distraction.

And just feel the moment when you wander away or you get distracted by even the thought of distraction.

And then just allow that to dissolve and just spread that out open into your friends and your family,

Wishing them whispering,

May they be well and happy.

To the others who you don't know that well,

Maybe the ones you connect with,

Maybe on a more neutral level,

People you see in the street.

Kind of wishing in a small gentle whisper,

Wishing kind of the whole world a good day today.

It might seem counterintuitive between this sense of kindness towards yourself and others.

Thank you for practicing with me today.

May you have a good day today.

And see you next week.

Thank you so much.