Hey,
Welcome.
It's Doug.
Today,
We're going to generate some focus.
Now,
Ideally,
I want you to be seated,
Not laying down for this,
Because I don't want you to sleep.
I want you to be primed to work,
To be productive,
To do whatever you need to get done today.
Oh,
One more thing.
I do need your feet in some way interacting with the earth.
They can be firmly placed on the ground,
Or if you're seated cross-legged,
Just make sure the feet can feel the earth in some way.
That's going to help with this meditation later.
Lastly,
I just need your eyes closed.
So once you have all those things,
We'll get ready to start.
As you get settled,
I'll explain the session to you today.
I'm going to introduce you to a focus technique that melds mindfulness and Samatha,
Or peace practice.
This is different to a relaxing meditation,
As it requires you to be an active participant.
However,
You may feel relaxed as a result,
And you may end up in this beautiful place between totally chilled but hyper-focused.
It's a beautiful place that we like to call flow.
So if you have something big to do,
This is going to be ideal.
Now,
I want you to focus on the areas of the brain that allow focus to happen,
And I want us to try to increase the production of neurotransmitters that facilitate this.
Now,
Specifically,
The area of the brain I want you to light up is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,
And the neurotransmitters I want you to engage in or produce more of are dopamine and acetylcholine.
Now,
You don't have to know their names or where they are,
But I do want you to feel their impact.
Like with most things in our body,
It's a use it or lose it process,
Which means it can also be a train it to gain it process,
And that's what we'll be doing in this session.
So,
Since these are the elements of focus,
I thought we could use the elements to generate this focus,
Namely air,
Fire,
Water,
And earth.
So let's do that now.
So let's focus on that first element now,
Air.
Now,
That's quite hard to do,
So I'm going to help you out a little bit.
Notice that there's air entering and exiting your body right now in this moment.
As you breathe in and out,
There's a journey of air becoming part of you and then leaving you.
I want you just to start by noticing its journey,
Feeling where you breathe it in and where you breathe it out.
Now you can focus even further on how it travels between those two things,
How after it enters your nose or your mouth,
It travels down your throat,
Into your lungs,
And how it exits the same way.
See if you can feel every aspect of that journey of air in your body.
As it comes in,
As it integrates through the different body parts,
And as you exhale out,
How it travels back out.
Notice too how the air is different on the way in and out.
Noticing the temperature change.
Start to notice even the sound that air makes.
Is it different as you breathe in and as you breathe out?
And do you have some control over that?
Can you make a different sigh on the inhale and exhale?
Let's shift our focus of attention to a different element,
The element of water.
Becoming aware of how you are majority water as a body.
Start to notice the blood in your veins that carry oxygen from that air you were just breathing into something that is converted into energy in the body,
And how it is pumped around the entire body by your heart.
See if you can feel the flow of your blood through your body right now.
See if you can tap into the feeling of your heart pumping.
Can you hear its rhythm?
Can you feel the flow through the body?
Now this can take a lot of focus,
So give it time.
Sometimes you can feel the pulse in the strangest of places.
Start with the obvious.
Can you feel it in your chest?
Can you feel it in your neck?
Can you feel it maybe in your fingertips?
Or maybe you can feel it in your feet.
Notice how that liquid life force that's flowing through your body is encased by the environment it's in.
As Bruce Lee says,
We should be like water,
Formless,
Filling the space with ease,
Filling the environment we find ourselves.
Let's turn now to the next element,
The element of fire.
Notice the heat that the body generates naturally,
Magically.
So begin to find the coolest place of your body right now.
What body part feels the coldest?
Most likely that is the part that is exposed to the most air.
If you're anything like me,
My feet are always cold.
But now turn your attention to the part of your body that feels the warmest.
And notice how that skin,
More than likely,
Is warm and insulated.
And become aware of the joy that it is to be warm.
And feel that disparity between the coldest part of your body and the warmest part.
Lastly,
Bring your attention to your feet.
Feel them connected to the ground below you.
We start to integrate all three of the other elements.
Beginning with air,
We breathe directly into the feet,
Bringing awareness with that breath,
Noticing the air as it touches our feet or interacts in any way.
Then we notice the liquid as the inside of our feet becomes part of our focus.
We feel the blood pumping through our feet.
And then we notice the fire element,
Or lack thereof maybe,
Noticing the temperature of how those feet feel.
And now entering into the last element,
Earth.
Whether it's through our socks and shoes or directly with the ground,
We notice how we feel the earth underneath our feet.
Paying attention to the contact points.
Where do you feel the earth the most?
Where does the weight of your body meet most with the solidness of the world below you?
Is it in the heels?
Is it in the toes?
The ball of the foot?
The sides of the foot?
See if you can now give more of yourself to the ground,
Relaxing even more weight into the earth.
See if you can relax your weight and fall through your feet.
No need to press into the ground.
Just allow it to support you.
Notice the security that comes with that.
All right,
Good work.
Those are our elements of focus.
And our focus on the elements.
Well done for practicing focus with me,
And I hope to see you soon.
Namaste.
