Hey there everybody,
This is Kristen from Teaching Balance and I am here with you with this week's mindfulness meditation practice.
We are now in a new year,
Happy new year.
This is your first practice of 2023,
The first of January,
And our month,
Our theme for the month of January,
As it always is,
Is New Year,
New Know.
It's just such a wonderful opportunity to give ourselves a fresh start,
To start playing with the idea of letting go of things,
Obligations,
Pressures that we put on ourselves,
As well as sort of setting things down,
Taking breaks,
All of those types of things.
So it's going to be a great month filled with all those types of boundary settings and cutting yourself some slack,
Etc.
But I thought it would be kind of fun for this first month to transition a little bit from December and that whole holiday vibe,
Which of course many of you right now are even still on holiday break,
Which is glorious.
And of course the winter holidays are so much about giving.
And earlier today I was thinking about this idea of what is the opposite of giving.
And I think a lot of people would say taking.
But the term that really came to mind for me instead of giving versus taking is giving and receiving.
And so what I mean by that is really just allowing yourself to receive what is offered.
And I would even add to that to receive what you may choose to ask for.
Now of course I'm not talking about literal physical gifts,
But what I'm talking about is energetic exchanges,
Affections,
People just trying to help in some way.
I mean that's really the thing that I think of when I think of this idea of receiving in a way that's somewhat gracious.
I think sometimes we just are so accustomed to doing things ourselves and kind of like buckling down and grinding through and all of that sort of thing.
But oftentimes whether it's offered freely without any prompting by us or when it's offered as a response to perhaps either a direct or indirect solicitation for some assistance,
There is something to be said for once it's offered allowing yourself to really receive it and to not fight it and to not feel bad about it.
There's so many ways that you can look at this.
The thing that comes to mind for me was quite a while ago I went on a writing retreat and there was an older woman who was on the retreat and we went on a hike,
The whole group,
And there was a point where it was pretty treacherous and she was a little unstable and one of the things that I and a couple of the other folks felt was necessary was to really give her a good amount of literal physical support to get down from this hike.
And I could tell she was really struggling with it.
She was articulating that like she was feeling embarrassed that she needed help.
And I remember saying to her,
You know,
We all bonded like crazy over this,
You know,
For several days.
I was like,
You know,
I think there's just something to be said for the grace of accepting help when it's freely offered.
I was like,
Maybe if you think about it as not being needy and instead of accepting what people want to give you,
That might be sort of mentally a way to think about it.
So a little bit of meandering here,
But the point being that as we are transitioning into this new year,
You've probably already done a lot of giving and you probably will continue to,
But really just reflecting on some ways that you might be able to allow yourself to just graciously receive in whatever way feels appropriate to you.
So let's go ahead and kick off our first meditation of the year.
I feel like this is such a nice time where so many of us really try to get back into our healthy habits,
And of course meditation is a great example of that.
So in the interest of fresh starts,
I'm going to just do some kind of classic prompting as far as getting us started.
All right,
So allow yourself just to settle in.
You can close your eyes or you can just lower your gaze.
And automatically I begin to invite in some of those long,
Slow,
Deep breaths,
And I would invite you to do the same,
Perhaps noticing how accessible deep,
Slow breathing is to you right now.
If you came to this sit feeling a little agitated or stressed,
Pressured in some way,
You might notice that it is maybe a little harder to take those long,
Slow,
Deep breaths,
So just doing the best that you can.
And of course,
Knowing that doing that in whatever,
To whatever degree feels right can help to activate your body's relaxation response,
Lets it know that you're safe,
You're okay,
And that it's all right to relax.
Noticing the posture,
If you're sitting,
Sitting in a way that is upright but not tight or constricted,
I always like to give my shoulders a roll back,
Drop my shoulder blades down my back slightly,
Opens up the chest,
The heart center,
Which is helpful for fuller breaths.
And also,
If you think about it,
Also is about opening up your heart to receiving whatever goodness may be coming your way.
Noticing the hands wherever it feels comfortable,
And as we begin to settle in even further,
Letting go of any expectations or any pressure about how you think you want this practice to go or how you think it should go or anything like that,
And instead,
What we're really doing is being deeply present to how it is.
So if you're feeling slightly twitchy or over caffeinated,
Just noticing all the ways that that particular disposition in this moment is manifesting itself,
Noticing an impulse to shake or even rock.
And also,
If you're feeling like just exhausted,
Noticing where you feel that exhaustion in your body.
Are your lids of your eyes heavy?
And just allowing that to be that momentary object of your attention.
That can be your anchor,
In addition to the breath or the body or sounds,
And wherever you are right now,
Wherever your attention may be,
If it's wandered,
Just gently bringing it back,
No pressure,
No scolding.
Just come back to the breath or whatever is the anchor for your attention in this moment.
And if it's helpful,
I also would love to offer you an idea regarding maybe trying a little less hard in whatever way you are exerting effort to be present,
Maybe loosen the reins just a bit,
5%,
10%,
To see if that is more supportive or less and adjust in whatever way you'd like to,
Allowing yourself to let go of any self-assessment and for the remainder of our time together,
Just a couple of minutes,
Seeing if you can settle even more deeply into your anchor being a place of rest.
Every time you come back,
You're giving yourself a break from following your thoughts,
Your judgments,
Your opinions,
Your ideas,
All of that will be waiting for you when we're done,
But for right now,
Just rest in the simplicity of just being present with a quality of neutrality,
Just to this moment,
Until we hear our final bell.
That is our 10 minutes.
So for this month of New Year,
New Know,
This new year,
And for this week,
The invitation is just to allow yourself perhaps to open up a little bit more to the idea of receiving,
Whether it's help,
Affection,
Attention,
It can take so many forms.
And if you find yourself having a moment of resistance around that,
It's completely fine and maybe just reflecting on why that may be so and if there's a possibility for you to warm your heart,
Perhaps a little bit more to this idea of receiving in whatever way makes the most sense to you.
So as always,
Thank you so much for taking the time for yourself and of course,
For allowing me to accompany you on this journey.
I will see you next week.
Happy New Year.
Take care.
Bye.
