So we're going to do a practice this morning.
Prepare yourself for a sitting practice,
Whether you're sitting on a chair or you're sitting on a cushion.
Just making sure your back is nice and straight.
Your hands can be on your knees or in your lap and just drop that chin down slightly.
And you can close your eyes if you like or you can just lower them.
So we're just going to connect with our breath,
Our breath in our body.
Breathing normally and smoothly.
So now we're going to take in three beautiful deeper breaths.
Breathing in through the nose.
Let's breathe in,
Breathing in.
And out through the nose.
Once again,
Breathing in and out.
Last one,
Last one.
Let's breathe in and release out the mouth.
Side out,
Just side out.
Let it go.
Let go of any obstacles,
Anxieties that you have this morning.
And just settling on the breath.
Just a soft breath.
Give up trying too hard.
Don't be.
.
.
This is not about the best practice you can do.
It's just about showing up.
Let's bring our awareness to sounds.
Sounds outside,
Sounds inside.
Using sound as the object of our focus this morning.
And this is where mental health really works.
This is how mindfulness works for mental health.
Is that we bring control into what we choose to observe rather than being swept away by distraction or emotion.
We're building control.
We're building awareness and introspection which is vitally important for our mental well-being.
And observing sounds around you.
Observing that the mind is throwing judgments up a lot.
You may hear a busy street and wonder why is it so busy.
Or a sound of a motorbike and it may irritate you.
Or maybe beautiful sound of birds.
Maybe lovely birds and you enjoy the sound.
Or maybe there's a hearty dog and you think oh my god I hate that.
Whatever sounds are arising,
Let's observe how the mind brings up judgments.
Breathing softly and calmly but our focus is really on sound.
As it arises,
Not something we're listening to like a conversation or a radio or a TV playing.
It's just whatever sounds we can hear and then they fade away.
And then try to catch the mind as it brings up a judgment.
I like,
I don't like,
I'm neutral.
Consider how some of these sounds that we've made a judgment on might not be the same for somebody else with a different mind.
If they hear a loud motorbike,
They might like that sound.
For them they may be riding that loud motorbike.
There's no particular sound that's from its own side irritating or pleasant.
To be curious as to I'm experiencing this and I feel this but could there be other opinions about it or other ways of seeing or hearing this?
Getting in touch with those judgments,
Can we track where they come from?
Did we have an earlier experience that caused us to feel this way about this sound?
Is it something I learned?
Is it something I grew into or was I just born liking this or not liking this?
And could that change?
Could I have the power to change it or not?
Is this just going to be something that will always be enjoyable or negative for me?
Or is it caused?
Is this caused by something?
Are a lot of my judgments and feelings coming from an earlier experience which has shaped my reality?
Coming now to the end of this practice,
Let us understand that we are developing our wisdom mind which is the mind that is so connected to the heart.
Compassionate mind is the mind that understands other people's viewpoints,
Gives them a break and in turn loves them.
As Mother Teresa said,
You can't judge someone and love them at the same time.
So let's extend this feeling of non-judgment out into our country today and think of all those who are stuck in the little boxes of judgment which might be causing them harm and to encourage them to come out of the box and say have a look around and look carefully at how everybody is taking these views.
And in a way it's a little bit of a prison.
So with curiosity we can move freely from this box to that box to this person to that person and often wisdom is associated with a beautiful sparkling diamond.
There are so many different facets,
So many different angles and ways of seeing it which is truly liberating for our own minds and affects our own mental health.
Imagine shining this light out from your heart center,
This light of non-judgment and loving kindness so that everybody can just give each other a break at this time.
Everybody can just be a little bit more understanding and accepting and supporting and we'll get through this together.
Dropping our chin down to our chest let's take in another beautiful immune boosting deep breath breathing in through the nose and release out the nose.
Another big breath in and release.
Another breath in and slowly out the mouth sigh.
And when you're done you can lift your chin and open your eyes.
Well done.
