Checking in with feet flat upon the floor.
Feeling that.
Danny Arguetty.
Danny Arguetty.
And similarly,
Feeling how the chair beneath you offers a support to thighs and bottom.
And feeling that sense of truly being supported.
You know,
There's a metaphor as well as a literal experience here.
And so letting that physical sensation of support be something to really tune into.
You're finding sometimes you feel kind of chaotic and groundless.
It's amazing how that.
That felt,
Sense,
Can be.
Really offer.
A reminder of groundedness.
So feeling the floor and the chair supporting you.
Danny Arguetty.
Up through skull,
Pointing up towards sky.
Playing that lifting.
And how that promotes an opening as well.
Really love one of the ways of portraying this posture as a strong back and an open front or soft front.
Bringing those two qualities together through how we align our body.
And then a few shoulder rolls in case there's tension being carried in the shoulders.
Danny Arguetty.
Danny Arguetty.
Loosening of jaw.
And eyes either opened or closed,
Whichever you prefer in this moment.
Settling in and noticing.
Through our posture,
If you've been feeling somewhat.
Chaotic or scattered.
Then tuning more into the grounding sense of this posture through feet,
Thighs,
And bottom.
Or if you find yourself feeling a bit sluggish or stuckness is the quality you've encountered.
Danny Arguetty.
Then tuning into the uprightness,
The lifting of this posture,
Head held high atop spine and shoulders.
As a way of inviting some spaciousness and opening.
And then the joining of these two qualities is found in the center in body breathing.
Bringing your attention to this.
Gentle expansion of body with the inhale.
Not forcing,
Just allowing refreshing air to enter in the body.
Danny Arguetty.
In some ways,
No effort required,
The exhale just happens.
Bringing your full attention to the physical sensations of body breathing in this moment.
And fully recognizing that.
It's part of our human experience that our minds will drift,
Our focus will drift.
Typically into the thinking realm,
Maybe memories of the past or worries of the future.
Just acknowledging that's what our minds do,
No big deal when we drift away.
Acknowledging where you drifted off to.
And then gently coming back to body breathing once again.
The mindfulness quality or characteristic we'll be exploring today is that of letting go.
Which in many ways is a wonderful compliment to allowing or accepting that we explored last week.
And one way of practicing letting go is noticing the tendency for something to be sort of sticky and stay around.
And we can tie this into that experience of focused drifting.
When you find your focus has drifted away into.
Perhaps a thought,
An emotion,
Or a sensation.
And you find yourself sort of stuck there with whatever you're noticing in that moment.
It's acknowledging this sense of being sort of stuck there with whatever that is,
Maybe even wrestling or struggling with it.
One metaphor I find helpful here is the idea of a closed-handed mind or an open-handed mind.
Envisioning Wherever you've drifted off to,
A thought,
Sensation,
Or emotion is resting in the palm of your hand.
You can step back and look at it.
Imagine the thoughts,
Sensation,
Or emotion as sort of an object.
And closed-handed mind is closing your hand into a fist and tightly clinging to whatever you're noticing.
Open-handed mind is relaxing your hand to a open relaxed palm.
And how whatever arrives upon your palm can simply then drift away.
So if it's a particular thought that you're noticing in the moment,
Imagining that moment.
Just arriving in your palm and then.
Sometimes it's helpful to let your outbreath be part of that letting go,
Where it just gently allows it to continue on.
Or a particular emotion arrives,
Just allowing it to be noticed with a relaxed open palm and then drifting away.
An important aspect of this is we're not pushing anything away,
That the natural tendency is for these thoughts,
Sensations,
And emotions to arrive and fade.
So much like how the out-breath just happens following the inhale.
Letting go really just happens.
It's the nature of things.
If we bring ourselves into fully noticing.
So for the next few moments,
Noticing what is showing up in your awareness.
Letting it arrive onto a open palm hand.
And then drift away as best as you can.
Coming back to body breathing once again.
Danny Arguetty.
Maybe a little gentle stretch.
Movement as a way of transitioning back from being mode into doing mode.
But doing mode in a little bit different way,
A little more present and engaged.
So thank you all and may you be well.
Goodbye now.
