Well,
If we haven't met before,
My name is Amber.
I use she,
Her pronouns.
I'm a meditation teacher and I help people learn how to manage their stress and anxiety with mindfulness and meditation.
And this weekly class is just for us to all come together and gather right at the beginning of the week every week just to check in with each other and ourselves and get ourselves mentally ready for the week.
We usually spend a few minutes sort of checking in with each other and then we'll meditate for about 20 minutes.
And this week I've been thinking a lot about how I can better guard my focus and attention.
I've been consuming a lot of stuff on social media and the internet recently more than usual.
And lately I've been feeling like my brain is overloaded with all of this information and my attention is being pulled in all these different directions.
And so I've been consuming all of this content.
And on the flip side,
I haven't really been giving my brain enough time to process,
Decompress,
And be still.
And that quiet time is really important to me because if I don't have it,
Right,
I start to feel stressed,
Like there's not enough time in the day or there's not enough of me to go around.
So for that reason,
I'm especially excited to practice with you all today and have a little bit of mental space here.
If we're all ready for practice now,
Let's go ahead and find a position that's comfortable for you today.
Staying seated with your feet flat on the ground or maybe you want to be cross-legged.
You're also always welcome to make any modifications,
Right?
So you can stand up for practice or lie down,
Right,
Whatever you need today.
And maybe before we close our eyes,
It would be nice to just take a moment to look around at our surroundings,
Wherever you happen to be right now.
If maybe,
Like me,
You've been spending a lot of time looking at screens,
It might feel nice to stretch the eyes or just kind of look around.
It might feel nice to stretch the eyes,
Maybe look across the room or out a window if there's one in your eyeline.
Just taking a moment to look from left to right,
Right to left.
And this helps to signal to our nervous systems that we're safe.
This is a safe place to close the eyes,
Right?
There's no tiger in the room with us.
And also it serves the function of just helping us notice where we are and what it's like.
And whenever you've gotten a good sense of where you are and you're ready to start settling in,
Go ahead and gently close the eyes and start to feel yourself moving to an inward focus.
And you might notice that as you do so,
Your vision doesn't completely go away.
When you close the eyes,
Oftentimes it's not completely dark with our eyes closed.
We can still see shades of light from behind our eyelids.
And just take a moment to notice maybe where your attention is right now.
Oftentimes without realizing it,
We're thinking about what's going on in the other parts of our lives,
Our plans,
Things that we're working on.
Sometimes it can feel like that's our default setting.
And if that's the case,
We'll just gather up our attention,
Getting ready to set everything else aside and focusing on the present moment.
Right here in your body right now.
See if there are any strong sensations that are immediately jumping out at you.
Feelings of lightness or heaviness.
Tightness or looseness.
Any feelings of pressure in the body.
Or perhaps no sensation at all.
And oftentimes we actually don't have to make any special effort to actively seek out these sensations.
But rather if we can adopt a gentle,
Kind,
Open attitude,
After some practice,
You'll find that gradually these sensations or feelings will actually come to you.
Feeling into the place where the body comes into contact with the seat or the surface of the body.
The surface beneath you.
Feeling that subtle pressure and feeling of support right there.
And noticing any sensations that can be felt on the surface of the skin.
Maybe the texture of clothing on your back,
Arms or legs.
Perhaps there's the softness of socks on your feet or a rug under them.
You might also notice any feelings of temperature in the body.
The temperature at the tip of your nose.
The back of the neck.
The feeling of the hair on the backs of your arms.
Your hands.
Fingers and toes.
Being open and receptive.
As you bring your attention to what it's like to be in your body today.
Not judging what you find,
But just noticing.
And whenever you notice the mind wandering away from being here in your body,
As minds often do,
See if you can simply welcome it back.
Allowing your mind to be right here,
Right where your body is,
Right where your feet are.
And when you're able to bring the mind back to this place maybe you can give yourself just a little internal smile.
Because as soon as you notice what the mind is doing,
Right?
Even if it has wandered far away,
As soon as you notice it,
That's mindfulness.
Presence.
Feeling the breath entering in and out of the nose.
The chest rising and falling.
Opening to this feeling right here.
Being willing to feel it,
Whatever is here.
Sensations that are pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
See if you can just let it in.
And before we come to the end of today's practice,
Just take a few moments to notice how you feel.
Is there a greater feeling of awareness?
Perhaps a greater feeling of presence than there was before?
However today's practice went for you,
I hope you're really proud that you showed up for everyone else here and for yourself today.
And when you're ready,
I might gradually start to make your way back.
When you're ready,
I might gradually start to make your way back.
Perhaps taking a few deep breaths to seal in your practice.
Take all the time you need to acclimate back into the room where you are.
Maybe a stretch will feel good or a sip of water.
My friends,
That's it from me.
I hope you're all feeling good and have a great day.
Feeling good and have a great rest of your evening and a nice start to your week.
Bye everyone.
Take care.
