So good morning everyone.
Welcome.
All the time that you need is here for you to settle.
Allow yourself,
Allow yourself the space to find comfort.
An invitation for this space to be easy and nourishing.
The external world can move fast sometimes.
So many pieces taking form and needing attention,
Needing awareness.
I don't know what the stars are doing right now but certainly this last few days have felt for me like things have moved just a little bit too fast.
Can't quite keep up.
And so the practice is a sanctuary where the external world just fades out for a moment.
They'll be there to pick back up again in half an hour.
But for now the internal world takes precedence.
And whilst the external world might be filled with expectations and deadlines and forms to fill in,
Jobs to be done.
Can we leave that for a moment I wonder?
And come to the internal world without expectations,
Timelines,
Deadlines,
Jobs to be done.
Can we let all of that go and come home to a place of being where whatever it is we find in the weather systems of our inner world.
Whatever that looks like or feels like.
Can it be good enough?
Can we silently whisper you belong to whatever it is we find.
Perhaps we move our gaze towards our breath.
Our gaze coming from our inner eye.
Looking inwards.
Feeling.
Sensing.
Inwardly.
Without us laying down a template of expectation on our breath.
If we just meet our breath where it is and allow it to be.
How is that?
Maybe at the same time a sense of remembering ground.
Stepping out of the rush of the external world and allowing the internal world to be what it is.
Not asking it to be different.
Is there a reconnecting with ground?
We might be feeling the current,
The tidal flow of our inner narrative.
What brings us to our practice?
And it can be tricky ground.
The world of wellness.
There can be a strong undercurrent of I must be better.
I must be different.
If I do this thing then I will be this way.
A current of self-improvement that underneath it lies on a bedrock of I'm not enough.
I need fixing.
I need to be different.
I can definitely be there.
Whatever it is that you notice about the deeper layers of why you practice.
Smile and greet them.
Notice the intelligence within them.
Silently whisper you belong.
There's no need to fight yourself.
Maybe as you do that if you do that.
Maybe you'll get access to some different feelings.
Some different sensations.
And they belong to.
And a simpler way for this self-inquiry is just to witness the breath.
If you want to you can practice expanding the breath.
Noticing how that feels.
Deepening the in-breath and the out-breath.
Drawing your awareness toward the very center of your heart.
If that's somewhere you're able to go.
Perhaps drawing your in-breath into the very center of your heart.
And allowing the exhale to emanate from the center of your heart out in all directions.
Filling your body with the vibration of your heart space.
And letting the inhale come into your heart and the exhale expand out into the space around you from your heart.
Filling the room.
Filling the building.
The ground and the sky and the walls.
Meeting the streets.
The ocean.
Our intention for this week is to remember our inherent compassionate heart.
Yes of course towards others but starting perhaps towards ourselves.
Compassion for the ways that we are in the world.
The ways that we feel.
The ways that we experience.
Perhaps bringing your hands up towards your heart.
A deepening of breath and a remembering of ground.
To be of the fruits of our practice to ourselves,
To each other and to all beings.
Namaste.
