Meeting Yourself As You Witness Your Breath.

10 minutes of settling into our practice as we enquire into witnessing the breath. This simple practice offers us the opportunity to learn so much about how we meet ourself - noticing where our mind meanders to and the ways we meet ourself in the meandering.

Transcript

So I'm just going to take a moment to soak in the feeling of being here with you, Such a lovely feeling, Allowing that some space and noticing where it lands in my body, Maybe you're noticing where it lands in your body, Feeling of being here together, And just that moment of noticing a feeling and getting curious about it is a wonderful invitation into presence, Into feeling the ground, Your body in relationship to the ground, The way that your feet, Your legs, Your hips connect with the floor or the chair or the bed. Noticing how the breath comes and goes and just starting to watch the breath so that you witness its arrival and its departure it's a simple invitation to witness the breath, It can be extremely difficult to stay with. So for the practice today, Sharing an intention of loving kindness, My invitation to you is to witness your breath and to meet the fluctuations of the mind with a smile. You may wonder, Like a meandering river from one circuit of thoughts to another, Quite forgetting the breath, And then you notice that that's what's happening and you smile. And it's not a rejection of the thinking, It's a noticing. Okay, I'm thinking about, My mind is wandering toward, It's interesting. And now I can come back to witnessing my breath. So that even when the mind wanders, That's not an absence of your practice, It's a welcome part of the practice. You're not getting it wrong, You're just being you. I don't need you to be different. But there is some comfort in returning to the task of being witness to your breath. Enjoy your practice. So wherever you are with your practice, Just coming back to your body, Noticing. Noticing how you're feeling, It's interesting to set off with an idea of I will witness my breath. And to notice the ways that that journey changes direction. Perhaps your thinking mind, Perhaps sensation, And then maybe more interesting still to notice how you meet yourself. Where you deviate from the plan and then you meet yourself. It's here in the meeting of yourself that you find the texture of your own internal voice. How you are to yourself. How you speak to yourself. And so this is the place where we can invite loving kindness. Bringing your hands to your heart, We offer the fruits of our practice to ourselves, To each other, And to all beings. Namaste. Thank you so much for being here. Namaste.