Hi I'm Nami and welcome to this practice.
So this practice is for understanding,
Interrogating experiences that we find difficult or triggering.
These might be things that happen in daily life,
In our relationships,
At work,
In social contexts where we find ourselves reacting in a certain way,
Thinking and feeling certain thoughts and we'd like to understand,
Understand that a bit more and through understanding and naming how we think and feel we can create some space between ourselves and our habitual reactions.
So when the situation arises again we can think to ourselves,
Ah okay here's that situation,
This is how it usually makes me think,
Feel,
React and in that space where we're telling ourselves what's happening,
Where we're naming it,
We can choose what we do.
So we can react in a habitual way,
We can do something else which acknowledges how we're feeling and perhaps is kinder.
So it's just about creating space really between difficult experiences and how they make us think,
Feel and react and in that space we kind of take back some of the power from those situations.
So what we're going to do is we'll start by settling in,
We're settling into our bodies,
We're settling with the breath and then I'm going to ask you to bring to mind a situation that you find triggering,
That you find difficult,
You find yourself reacting to and I ask you to bring to mind something that's like a 4 to 5 out of 10 on the scale,
So not something that's really difficult that's going to overwhelm you and as I said the aim over time is that by acknowledging and naming and recognizing what's going on for us we can create a distance and then we have a choice as to how we react.
So it can be useful in breaking cycles and patterns of behavior that are ultimately not good for us and don't lead to good outcomes for our relationships or our workplace or whatever the scenario is.
Let's start by finding a comfortable position,
There are no rights or wrongs just as long as you're somewhere that you won't be disturbed and you're comfortable and ideally you want to be a relaxed but alert,
Just allow yourself to settle where you are,
Noticing points of contact between your body and the surface that you're resting on,
Just noticing how does your body feel right now,
Not trying to change anything,
Just recognizing how you feel right now,
Resting.
Take your attention,
Take your awareness to your feet,
How do your feet feel right now?
Do they feel the same or does one feel different from the other?
What about your hands?
Take your attention,
Your awareness into your hands,
What position are they in?
How do they feel?
Do they feel the same?
Taking your awareness now to your tongue resting in your mouth behind your teeth,
How does your tongue feel?
Just noticing,
Very slowly taking your awareness to the breath as it moves in and out of the body,
Where do you notice the breath most?
Might be in the nostrils,
Cool air coming in,
Warm air leaving,
Might be at the chest,
An expansion and a contraction,
Might be at the belly,
Gentle rise and fall,
Noticing the breath as it enters the body and noticing the breath as it leaves the body,
Not trying to change the breath,
The body knows how to breathe,
Just noticing,
Breath moves in,
Breath moves out,
Breath moves in,
Breath moves out,
In,
Out,
Just stay with the breath for a moment and if your mind wanders just gently bring it back to the breath,
Noticing the breath as it moves in the body and as it leaves the body,
Aware,
Present,
Here,
Now,
Mindful,
Noticing,
If you feel comfortable doing so just call to mind a challenging situation,
Scenario that makes you feel triggered,
It provokes a habitual reaction,
It might be something to do with a relationship,
Might be something to do with a work scenario,
Might be something to do with social media,
Whatever it is just call the situation to mind and take a few moments putting yourself in the scenario,
Put yourself in the situation when you hear or see something that makes you think,
Feel and respond a certain way,
Who are the people involved,
Where are you,
How does it make you feel,
Can be really helpful to name the emotions to yourself,
Do you feel sad,
Hurt,
Angry,
Small,
Rejected,
Unlovable,
Ashamed,
Jealous,
You might feel one more of those feelings,
You might feel something entirely different,
Just naming what comes up for you,
How does this scenario make you feel,
What emotions does it bring up and then what does it do to your body physically,
Really put yourself in that situation and how does your body feel,
Does it feel tight,
Tense,
Tired,
Is there pain,
Is there a feeling in the pit of your stomach,
Does your breathing change,
How does your body feel when you think about this situation,
Again there's no one else here just be honest with yourself,
Name it,
Tell yourself exactly how it is when this situation arises for you,
If you feel overwhelmed or particularly sad,
That's not the intention of this practice,
So let's just acknowledge that and you can take your attention back to the breath just to create some distance between you and the experience,
But if you're able to just stay with the experience until you've had a chance to name for yourself how it makes you feel physically and emotionally and then very gently bringing your attention back to the breath as it enters and leaves the body,
Noticing the in-breath and the out-breath,
You might still feel a bit funny,
In which case just noticing the in-breath and the out-breath and any residual feelings,
It might be helpful to lengthen the in-breath and lengthen the out-breath,
So perhaps breathing in to the count of three and out to the count of three,
Breathing in to the count of three and out to the count of three,
With each out-breath letting go,
Letting go,
Now just if it feels right to you,
Place a hand over your heart space and just move your hand a little bit because that can be quite soothing and well done,
Well done for engaging in this work,
Hopefully by noting how situations and scenarios that difficult make you think and feel,
You can,
When you're back in the real world,
When you're back in real life experiences,
You can tell yourself ah,
This situation's just arisen,
This is how it's making me think and this is how it's making me feel and you just give yourself a choice as to how you react or what you do to support yourself,
But just engaging in this work is an act of love and it's an act of recognition,
That things can be different,
They can and we've all got these habitual responses and reactions,
We all get triggered,
But things can be different and then slowly but surely life gets a little easier,
It really does,
Because we're able to create that distance between situations and how we respond to them and we're able to be just a little kinder to ourselves,
So as we prepare to end the practice,
A massive well done to you and lots of love,
Start to become aware of your body against the surface that you're resting on and start to become aware of the space around you,
The temperature,
Any sounds,
Any smells,
Very slowly give your fingers and toes a little wiggle and come back into your space and go gently
