Hello and welcome.
My name is Lou and I am really grateful and excited to share today's practice because it was inspired by one of the times where I've been in a deep amount of struggle.
And I have a few practices where it's kind of reflected on my struggle and this is certainly one of them.
So I'm grateful to be through that struggle and be able to share my experience.
And what happened for me is that I just recently had a week that was my busiest,
Most successful week as far as the work that I've been doing in mindfulness and yoga in schools.
But prior to that it caused the most amount of stress and anxiety that I think I've had in a pretty long time.
And the reason why is I was in a training for two days straight where I couldn't prepare,
I couldn't work on it.
And I had to go right into these things on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and I had no time to prepare and I just felt so,
So anxious sitting in this training.
And I haven't been that in it in so long where it was really difficult to me to sit in this 20 hour training and I had to actually leave during lunch and take a walk and calm myself and really try and center myself to be able to just get through what I needed to get through.
So eventually I could get to the week and work on what I needed to work on.
And as I was on this walk I had this moment towards the end of it where I had just these three words come to me.
And to preface this,
All of this stuff that was happening this week had been what I've been asking for.
I've been asking for more work and just more success in what I've been growing and it was coming,
Which was great.
But with that had this deep amount of stress and anxiety.
And so these three words that came are,
This is your training.
And although I was in a training,
Although the work that I was doing was growing me,
The growth also happens in how we are able to handle it.
And now we are able to be with this new growth because that's only going to get bigger no matter whatever your work is,
Whatever you're building,
Whatever you're pursuing in your life.
It's not that we get anywhere and we arrive at some end goal where we're peaceful and that's just it and then we don't feel this growth process.
That's the training is the anxiety is the stress because it's there to help us move up against our comfort zone.
And as we move up against it,
We notice,
Okay,
I can be with this.
And even though it seems scary,
I got through that past week and it was like a paradigm shifted.
Okay,
I can handle something like that.
I've never done that before,
But now I can.
And that's really what I want to share with you and encourage you that the stress the anxiety.
What if we saw it as the teacher?
What if we saw it as part of our training that we do here in our own spiritual,
Mental,
Emotional,
Professional lives.
So this practice is inspired by that.
And so let's go ahead and start to get into it.
And sometimes I get excited and I start talking faster and then we got to shift gears into a meditation.
So let's just take a moment and if you need to move any parts of our body to get us settled in.
And begin to shut down the eyes if they're still open.
And doing what you know how to do to settle.
If you're newer to the practice,
Maybe that's just coming into your breath.
Maybe that's noticing where your body is sitting.
Noticing the connecting points of your body to your chair,
To your cushion,
To the ground.
And then maybe we begin by probably acknowledging the silence for the first time today.
And just notice what is that like to just acknowledge silence.
Is it difficult?
Does it bring anything up?
Is it a connecting point?
So often we're just running.
We don't give ourselves that time.
We don't acknowledge the silence when it's there.
In a way this quiet sitting practice is kind of our training center.
I don't know where you're practicing from but there's a good chance it's somewhere you practice regularly.
Maybe you have a little altar or a nook in your home or a corner of the house that you go in.
Or a kitchen,
A chair,
In the kitchen.
It could be anywhere.
And once you close your eyes and once you tune in and acknowledge the silence,
It's like you've stepped into the gym.
You've stepped into your training center.
And this is just basic awareness of our breathing.
And the updates that we are moving.
And every time that we notice that we've been distracted,
Our mind chatters,
We get lost in a story or a thought,
Planning.
Especially planning if you're listening to this in the morning.
And every time we notice that and come back to our breath,
It's like we just lifted up the dumbbells to strengthen our muscles.
So in a way each breath,
Intention-wise,
Each awareness,
Is our training.
And just take a few moments here building our attention muscle,
Building that concentration.
We're going to move right into a gratitude practice.
Because gratitude is what we do to retrain our minds away from this negativity bias and this sense of lacking.
That's really why this practice can be so powerful is we're retraining ourselves to see the positive,
To give,
To be generous.
And let's begin by just finding the gratitude to be able to practice this morning,
This afternoon,
This night,
Whenever you're practicing right now.
Just the gratitude to even be here.
Maybe you think about when you started or how you heard about meditation,
Even how you heard about Insight Timer or wherever else you might be listening to this on.
Because this ability to practice is not something everyone does.
I believe it was the Buddha that said,
It is rare to be born a human.
It is rarer to have heard of enlightenment.
And it is rarest to pursue it with all one's might.
Now you may not be pursuing enlightenment with all your might.
But by practicing,
By meditating,
You are enlightening,
You are lightening yourself up to come more into your light,
To come more into your truth.
And that is a very,
Very rare thing in this world.
So just another few moments to find gratitude for your own practice and your ability to practice.
And for the teachers or mentors that have guided you.
And then moving to just the basic gratitude of this breath.
Gratitude for this ability to breathe in the energy that sustains us.
Maybe feeling the expansiveness of each inhale.
And thanking the ability to then release the toxins and all the stuff that we have inside.
And then lastly,
Let's find gratitude for something that is just more personal to you.
Something in your life that you would like to thank your family.
Maybe you find gratitude for the money you have and not the money that you want,
Or the job that you have and not the job that you want.
And bringing the focus really to what we have.
Whatever that is,
Bringing it into your heart and sending any thanks that feel true to you.
And let's all together take a breath in.
And let that go.
What we appreciate appreciates.
So as we bring more focus to that which we have,
We are creating more of that which we have.
In our minds we're retraining ourselves.
And these things tend to grow.
This life is also our training ground.
Each day we are in training and we don't know exactly what the training of the day is going to present.
And the way that we build our physical muscles is by stressing it.
By going to the gym.
And that is also the way that we build our emotional muscles.
We have to feel a little bit of stress.
We have to grow out of our comfort zone.
So I'd like you to imagine something that is stressing you and giving you some anxiety.
Maybe it's a specific event or a work project that you have coming up.
Maybe it's just as simple as this kind of baseline anxiety that we can sometimes feel just for the future.
Without even putting a thing to explain it.
Constantly anticipating.
And first just notice when you're bringing any of this stress up,
Where is it happening?
Where is it manifesting in your body?
Where does worry,
Anxiety,
Or planning show up?
In the chest,
The neck,
The head,
The belly.
It's okay if you can't find it,
But just we're scanning and we're just noticing.
And being with whatever that sensation,
Whatever we're feeling right now.
Allowing our breath to be the cadence and just noticing.
What we're doing is training your body to just be okay with this.
And now see if you can not only be okay with the physical part,
But with the emotion itself,
With the stress or with the anxiety.
And just beginning to breathe and accept that yes,
This is part of how you feel.
Being with that right now,
Each breath releasing the judgment that it needs to change or needs to move.
Maybe asking yourself the question,
Can I see this as my training?
And just notice if that moves that energy or shifts the perception of it at all.
Then it might not.
Can you see this as your training?
The loftier our goals,
The bigger our dreams,
The higher our vision,
The harder our training.
And many like you and me who are on this path together,
We have those big dreams,
We feel we know that there's something so much bigger for us.
And as we start to move through it,
It starts to bring up that stuff that we have to work through.
And sometimes we think,
Oh no,
It's not supposed to feel like this.
I feel like I'm moving backwards.
But you're not.
It is the path.
And we have to bring up these things within us that are blocking us,
Not blocking us actually,
They are guiding us to show us really what we're capable of.
And I know so deeply that you are,
Because I know your journey,
Because it's the same as my own.
So giving ourselves the word,
The words that we need,
Opening up to a few affirmations,
You can say it out loud,
Or you can say it to yourself,
You can listen to just me say the words.
I am so strong.
I can do this.
I was made for this.
I am so strong.
I can do this.
I was made for this.
Maybe picking one of those words or another affirmation that seems true to you right now.
Let's just take a few moments here to repeat it towards ourselves.
And take a breath in.
And let that go.
So really,
We've learned that stress is here to help us.
It's there because it really just wants to keep us safe.
It's like,
Oh,
This is uncomfortable to watch out.
We're programmed for this.
And what if we didn't resist anymore?
Not only seeing it as our training,
Seeing this stress as a friend,
Seeing this anxiety as a friend,
Looking out for us,
Saying,
Hey,
I just want you to do a good job.
I want you to be safe.
I want you to be comfortable.
And when you see anxiety and stress for that intention,
You say,
Oh,
Wow,
Look at this.
Look at this thing that I have within me that just wants me to be safe.
How cool is that?
Maybe they don't know how to show it always,
But how incredible is this that my body,
My mind is wanting to look out for me.
It just has some old programming in it.
So I'd like you to maybe even see yourself at a kitchen table sitting with your anxiety or your stress.
And then with each breath,
See if you can breathe out any of this,
This worry or fear,
Whatever is this negative,
That feeling that we came to our bodies,
See if you can breathe and let it out.
Let all of that energy with each exhale move out of your body.
And when you start to see the accumulation of this energy,
Whether it's just in front of you,
Whether you did imagine a chair or kitchen table,
Can we come back to that gratitude?
And begin to just thank this worry and the stress,
This fear for what it wants for you.
And thank it for caring for you.
Thank it for helping you grow.
Thank it for wanting you to be safe.
And thank it for the training in your development that it is helping you to achieve.
And with each breath,
After you've found that gratitude,
Seeing if you can just allow that cloud or whatever it is that you imagined or visualized,
Just start to dissipate.
And letting that stress and worry go wherever it goes and knowing that,
Yes,
It will come back and that's okay.
But that on this day,
Right here,
Right now,
That you've trained yourself to be okay with it.
And that's pretty awesome.
Just take another few moments breathing,
Letting go of that energy.
It's not needed right now.
And slowly just coming back to your body and to your breath,
Right where we started.
Let's again acknowledge the silence.
Okay.
And slowly let's begin to just come back into your room,
Back into this day.
Be affirming yourself with the training session that we just had,
Whether you think it was poor,
Whether you think it was great,
Affirming that you sat through these past 30 or so minutes.
And that even if you don't think so,
That this is training you and this is growing you.
And whenever you're ready,
You can slowly open your eyes and come back.
And I really thank you for again choosing to practice with me,
Especially for those of you who have for a while now.
And I am just beyond grateful for you and always appreciate hearing from you through comments,
Through messages.
Some people have their messages turned off or I can't send them back.
So just note,
If you ever message me personally,
See if you're allowed to receive messages because sometimes I can't reply to these really nice things that you say.
And I've started to,
Because I can't post on Insight Timer like I used to,
I started to send meditations out before they are posted on Insight Timer.
So if you'd like to receive them before they get posted here,
As well as other inspiration for the practice,
You're welcome to go to my website and sign up for my newsletter.
I really enjoy sharing in that way as well.
So,
So much love for all of you and I look forward to our next time together.
Namaste.
