Resilience Lesson & Meditation #4 During Coronavirus: Coming Home

In this brief resilience lesson and guided meditation, we practice Coming Home into the moment. By practicing tuning into this breath – this body sensation, these sounds – we learn to deepen our resilience and reduce our anxiety. This practice of bringing mind home into the body also helps to strengthen our immune system.

Transcript

Welcome to another resilience meditation in the time of coronavirus.

Thank you so much for listening from wherever you are.

I've received really wonderful feedback and I'm going to incorporate some of that feedback in today's session by having a little more quiet time in the meditation and maybe a little less,

This is coming from me too,

A little less talking at the beginning.

I want to set the scene for you all and then I really want to go into the heart of the meditation because I think that may be what is most valuable for you to take from this practice.

So wherever you are,

You may be at home.

We are often at our homes much more so than we are used to being.

And so if you're at home,

Wherever your home is in this moment,

Even if you happen to be listening to this and you're on your way into work or on your way somewhere,

That's also okay.

We're also just practicing coming home into the moment.

I think it's a useful metaphor for us to just kind of ground ourselves in in this practice that it can be really hard to come home into the moment.

It is very hard especially when our minds are busy and stressed,

Especially when we are anxious.

We get,

We've talked about this in other sessions,

But we get kind of this spinning mind and the mind is conditioned to just be constantly going,

Making meaning,

Making plans,

Thinking over stuff that's happened.

And it doesn't mean of course that the thoughts are bad or that the mind,

The work of the mind is a bad thing.

Obviously the mind helps us in many ways as human beings to solve problems,

To work together.

So we're not saying the mind,

The activity of the mind is bad and we don't judge it.

However,

It can be also really empowering to learn to come home a little bit more out of the busy mind and bring the mind into the home of the body and into the home of this moment,

Really being more present in a sensory way.

Because oftentimes when the mind gets spinning,

It's like a time travel machine.

It takes us into the future,

It worries about things that might happen and of course there are a lot of worries now,

Worries about health.

And again,

Some of this is fine and good and it helps us to do the things we need to do.

But if we get stuck there,

It can be a tough place to be stuck.

So coming home into the moment is just learning how to bring our mind into the home of this present moment,

Where you might be at home and you are going to use your senses to help you do that.

So our meditation today is going to focus on coming home into the moment.

It's very healthy for us to learn to do this.

There's a lot of research that when you bring your mind into your body,

It is very good for your physical health,

Your mental health,

Your emotional health,

To have this more integrated experience of life.

And so you may even think of this as certainly self-care time,

What we're practicing now to build our resilience.

But it's also quite good for your immune system to leave the busy,

Spinning,

Worried thoughts that are kind of out here somewhere and bring your awareness into your body and into your breath.

And we're going to practice doing that together.

So why don't we go ahead and get into our meditative posture.

So however you would like to meditate today,

It can be sitting down,

It can be lying down,

You could be walking.

Walking is a wonderful way to meditate because there are so many sensory inputs to take in that can really help to ground you in the present moment.

So wherever you are,

Finding a comfortable position,

Kind of like taking a moment just to get the wiggles out a little bit.

And just kind of relaxing so that you can feel supported.

You might allow your eyes to close gently.

It's just very helpful to tune out all the visual.

The visual field can be full of a lot of distractions.

And when we close our eyes,

It helps us to kind of tune in a little bit more to our inner world.

But also be alert to other senses that we might not normally pay attention to as much.

So if it feels comfortable for you,

You can close your eyes.

And then just taking a few breaths.

You might invite a few deeper breaths,

Just allowing you to arrive right here more fully in this moment,

In this breath.

And as you're breathing,

As you're aware of your breathing,

You might notice how the breath feels in this moment.

And sometimes when we are in more anxious mind states,

Our breath is more shallow as well.

Again,

Illustrating the connection,

The integratedness of mind and body.

When our mind is more restless,

Our breath is more restless.

And then we are constantly in that fight-flight stress mode.

So it can be really helpful just to deepen the breath.

We can learn to work at the level of breath in our bodies.

Deepen the breath.

Take a few deeper breaths.

And simply by doing that,

We help to calm our nervous system and to make it easier for the mind to come to rest in the body.

Rather than skittering away into thought.

Maybe just practicing hearing the sound of your breath.

And then we're going to expand outward now to as far as the ear can hear,

Just being alert to sounds without the need to make meaning of them or to react.

And then we're going to listen to the flow of sounds that's continually changing moment by moment.

Notice where your mind is in this moment.

And just if the mind has skittered off of the breath or off of sounds,

It's no problem.

Not a problem at all.

It's simply the activity of the mind.

In fact,

We can kind of,

In almost inner,

Inner,

Inner mostly,

Innerly,

That doesn't sound right.

We can kind of just chuckle at the activity of the mind.

We don't judge it.

We don't say,

Oh,

I'm a bad meditator.

No.

Just like a little wayward puppy that keeps running off.

And when we notice that the mind has run off again,

We just sort of gently tug.

We're like gently tugging the leash to just kind of anchor us back into this moment.

Just bring that wayward puppy in this case.

Just kind of gently tugging and then bringing mind,

Just dropping it back down into this new breath.

Or into this sound.

We might see if we can just let go a little bit.

You're letting go of thoughts.

You're practicing over and over again letting go of thoughts.

A thousand times in a meditation even.

That's how busy our minds can be.

Remembering that every time you pull your mind back,

Gently tugging,

Good naturedly.

You're also strengthening the mindful muscle that will allow you to come more easily into this moment to remember how to do this.

So we're letting go,

We're practicing letting go of thoughts.

But we can also practice letting go of tension in our body.

Oftentimes it can be really hard to come into the moment because things just feel uncomfortable.

Either we're wrestling with uncomfortable emotions that are showing up as body sensations.

Because emotions are energy.

So when we feel angry,

We feel a certain energy maybe in our chest.

An intense energy at times.

Or when we feel fearful,

We might feel it in our hearts or our bellies.

When we feel sad,

Maybe our heart is really hurting.

So all of these deep emotions show up as body sensations.

And then when we get anxious,

We get kind of really tense in our bodies and in our minds.

So the breath can be a really helpful tool to just relax,

Let go in the body.

So see what wants to be let go of.

See if there's anything in the body that would want to let go.

Just a little more tension or tightness.

Breathing out a sense of softening,

Letting go.

Maybe letting go of tension in the face.

We can carry a lot of tension in our foreheads.

Our temples,

The space around our eyes,

Our cheeks.

Allowing the jaw to hang open just a little bit.

Exhaling a sense of softening in the neck.

Maybe try a few gentle neck rolls.

Just gives you something else to come home to.

Just coming home into the sensations of movement.

Really being aware.

Bringing your awareness into your shoulders now.

Almost as you're feeling your shoulders from the inside out.

And relaxing the shoulders a little bit more away from the ears.

Relaxing the tension.

Maybe even doing a few gentle shoulder rolls back and away.

Especially if you've been spending a lot of time on your device or screen.

It can be really good just to bring some more space into the shoulders.

And then finally bringing your awareness now into your chest.

So that you can just feel the breath that's moving in and out from the chest now.

You might be aware,

See if you can be aware of the ribs expanding on the inhale.

Deflating on the exhale.

Seeing if there's any tightness and tension in this area.

Just kind of letting the breath move through.

The breath is wonderful at just releasing tension on the exhale.

Softening just a little bit.

Just letting go.

Maybe even bringing your awareness into your heart itself.

This beating heart.

It's our most intimate body centered connection to life itself.

We feel life in the heartbeat of this moment.

Maybe if anything in your heart space can relax or soften just a little bit.

Even any emotions that are showing up there.

Just allowing them to be there.

Whatever's showing up.

Just letting whatever mood or tone or body sensation.

Just welcoming it home into awareness and just breathing.

Now allowing your awareness to expand outward from the heart to include your entire body coming home into this experience of the body in this moment.

Notice how you're being held by the chair or the couch or bed where you're sitting or lying down.

Just how this moment is holding you.

And feeling your body as just a field of live energy sensations.

And then expanding awareness out again to include sounds as far as the ear can hear your place in this life that's happening inside and all around you.

And then feeling one more heart centered,

Sound centered,

Body centered breath in.

Exhaling letting go.

And then when you feel ready,

If your eyes have been closed gently fluttering them open.

And then you have a moment to ground yourself in something you see,

Shape,

Color.

So thank you again for joining our weekly meditations to build resilience in the time of coronavirus.

We wish you a good week,

Lots of coming home to the moment through the breath or through sounds.

And I look forward to seeing you again or connecting again through sound,

Through voice next week.

Bye.

Reviews

Another lovely gentle practice , thank you so much