The last few days we've been working with the koshas,
Which are considered veils or layers,
Or sometimes they're considered treasures.
So we can think of them as the Russian nesting dolls that have different sizes and different layers.
And the last two days we worked with the physical body,
I consider it the outer layer,
And then the energetic body or the pranic body,
Which is the next layer,
And now that we've accessed those two layers,
We're going to work with the mental layer,
The manomaya kosha.
And basically this is the psycho-emotional body,
It's also part of the midbrain and the central nervous system.
So it's the area of our body,
Or of the koshas,
That perceives suffering or perceives a threat.
So there's our perception of what we see to be the cause of our suffering,
Or the perception of what we perceive to be the cause of our joy or our happiness.
And what happens with this then is it becomes an undiscerning mind,
And then we're striving constantly for that next best thing that's going to bring us joy,
Or that's going to bring us,
Or that we avoid,
That causes us suffering.
So it's really the seat of the midbrain.
This is the place where our emotional processing occurs,
Even though it's,
We're calling it the manomaya kosha,
The mind,
But it's in that midbrain.
So as always I like to include a hand mudra,
And today's hand mudra is another pretty simple one.
We're going to bring the index finger just at the first bend of the thumb,
And then the palms go up.
And if possible the fingers go straight,
But what I find is that it's really,
Can be really strenuous,
But you might,
You know,
Maybe just the fingers end up being relaxed.
There's no right or wrong.
In fact,
With this hand position you might find that your hands start to get fatigued,
Which just like with any yoga asana,
You know,
Holding the yoga asana for 10 minutes could be very fatiguing.
So just keep that in mind and try not to,
You know,
Worry too much about whether or not you've been able to hold on to that mudra or not.
And today's mudra is called the metaprana kriya mudra,
And basically this means mental vigor.
And what we're going to work with today is to allow any thoughts to arise and just to recognize them as thoughts,
That we don't have to place any value on those thoughts.
We don't have to place any judgment or any criticism or any kind of concerns with those thoughts because they're just thoughts.
And we want them to come and go just like the breath and so having the hands in the metaprana kriya mudra.
And just resting your hands on the lap and just get comfortable,
Again,
Lying or sitting.
Just taking a deep breath or two,
Maybe a long exhalation out.
This mudra is also intended to invoke fuller breath into the rib cage,
Expanding the breath wide in three dimensions.
And ultimately,
This bringing our attention to any thoughts that arise and particularly focusing on the midbrain.
And as the thoughts are arising,
Notice if you are clinging to those thoughts as maybe something that you perceive that might bring you happiness or something that you're avoiding that you think will cause you suffering.
And ultimately,
Either one of these gets us on a treadmill of sorts of either striving for that that we think that will bring us joy,
Ultimate joy and happiness or avoiding something that we believe will cause us suffering,
Pain.
So allowing any thoughts to arise and if it's difficult to let them go,
Just bring a sort of an emerald green color to the midbrain sensing your body breathe,
The length of your body,
The height of your body,
The width of your body.
And just as the breath is moving in and out,
Up and down,
The thoughts will arise and dissipate as equally.
And the more you focus on one thought or idea,
The bigger it grows,
The more it becomes something that maybe becomes unmanageable even.
And recognizing that we are thinking and if that thinking is coming from a place of fear or seeking pleasure in something that ultimately doesn't really bring us joy,
Becoming less attached to that thought because this is also a place of imagination.
So our mind can get attached or create an outcome that may or may not be actually fulfilled and that puts us on a road of disappointment.
The metta prana kriya mudra activating mental vigor in a way that we acknowledge we are thinking but our thoughts are clear.
They're not muddied or sullied by the perception of the meaning.
And I'm referring to maybe stories that we've even told ourselves that we continue to tell ourselves about who we are,
What it is that we need to do in order to find happiness or what we need to avoid to avoid pain and suffering.
And we sit within that mental body to acknowledge as the thoughts come and go that we sit at the seat of our heart once again finding balance between heart,
Mind,
Breath and body.
Ma'am,
Good morning.
.
Taking just a few more moments.
Letting those thoughts rise and fall.
Letting those thoughts rise and fall.
And we'll welcome in an affirmation.
I'll first say it in Sanskrit.
Om Bhu Budhya Namaha.
This means to honor the purity of my intellect within.
I honor the purity of my intellect within.
I honor the purity of my intellect within.
Om Bhu Budhya Namaha.
And lift your gaze if you had your eyes closed and circle those wrists and fingers.
Just getting a little bit of movement maybe back into the shoulders and the head.
A little bit of side to side,
Forward and back.
And just coming back to the world around.
Take care.
Have a great day.
