So I'm just going to jump right in.
This is going to be a short,
Like,
15-minute meditation and breath work.
I thought this is I'm reading The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.
I know you can't really see it backwards.
I'll post this on my little description on this.
And I'm at this part of the book where he's really talking about our emotional life.
He's going to mention the emotion of loneliness in here,
But this goes for any emotion.
And I think it's very pertinent to how we're feeling right now and actually getting in touch with our feelings and spending a lot of time on our hands to be with ourselves,
To be with our feelings,
To experience our feelings in this incredible experience of the pandemic that it just keeps getting bigger at this point.
So here it goes.
This is Michael Singer.
I do the best I can.
And oh my god,
My nephew's online.
What's up?
OK,
So here we go.
You can experience these very human states without getting lost in them or resisting them.
You can notice that you notice and just watch how experiencing loneliness or any emotion affects you.
Does your posture change?
Do you breathe faster or slower?
What goes on when loneliness is given the space it needs to pass through you?
Be an explorer.
Witness it.
And then let it go.
If you don't get absorbed in it,
The experience will soon pass and something else will come up.
Just enjoy all of it.
If you can do this,
You will be free.
And a world of pure energy will come up within you.
So this is just a great reminder for me that we are not our thinking.
We are not our emotions.
They are just like the passing weather.
They just come and go,
Come and go,
As Goenka says,
My Vipassana teacher,
Rising and falling,
Rising and falling,
Rising and falling.
If we get caught up in this storm of emotions,
Of thinking,
Then where are we in that?
And this meditation practice and our breathing practices help us to come back to our center.
And that is the most important place and most powerful place we can be because that's when we can make a choice.
So let's drop into our meditation.
Find a comfortable seat.
Hello,
Hello.
Those of you just joining us.
We're going to start with some breathing.
I really think you should bring in a receptive posture to your hands during this time.
So maybe make a Muja with your hands,
Thumb and index finger touching,
Or you can rest your hands in your laps.
Close your eyes.
Exhale your breath all the way out.
Shh.
You can take a big,
Giant inhale.
Exhale out your mouth.
More big,
Giant breath in.
Let it go.
Let's do five more.
Bigger breath.
Side out the mouth like a raw exhale.
Ah.
This helps to release tension in the throat,
The jaw,
The face.
Another breath in.
Side out.
One more inhale.
Let it go,
Go,
Go.
Exhale out.
Ah.
Yeah.
Excellent.
Let's try to find.
Come in to a nice,
Smooth,
Rhythmic breath.
Notice just your breathing for now.
Notice if something is getting in the way of you breathing and dropping in.
And can you just step away from that?
Drop into your breath.
And this is how we begin to center ourselves with our breath.
It's an active game.
It's proactive in order to find this moment.
And the breath is the key that unlocks the doorway to this moment.
And it also puts us into our observatory so we can be aware of our thinking,
Our feelings,
Sensations.
So I'm just going to shut up for the next few moments.
And I just want you to really find a beautiful,
Sweet breath with a rhythm,
With a depth.
But also notice and be very aware.
This is an awareness mindfulness practice.
Be aware of those spaces between the inhale and the exhale and the exhale to the inhale.
And maybe take a moment and drop into that stillness and into that silence.
And just do the best you can for the next seven breath cycles to just bear witness 100% to your breath.
And then we'll come back and resume.
And just do the best you can for the next seven breath cycles to just bear witness 100% to your breath.
And then we'll come back and resume.
Stay with your breath.
And I just want you to become aware of the most prominent emotion that you have in your body right now.
Don't try to hide from it.
You don't have to tell me what it is or tell your friend.
Just be authentic with the experience you're having right now emotionally.
Be with it.
Really drop into it at the start.
I know it might sound really scary to kind of go into more panic or anxiety.
But just drop into it just for a moment.
This is a process of becoming aware.
So we have to really be with it first.
And again,
It's just a feeling.
It's not who you are.
It's not the state of the world.
It's just a feeling.
Keep coming back to your breath so you can remain calm.
I'm dealing with frustration right now.
Dropping into it,
Being with it.
And then see if you can extract yourself away.
So create a division between you,
Yourself,
The centered,
Grounded seat of consciousness,
And your emotional life.
So kind of zoom out,
Step back,
Watch it move.
Notice the energy of it.
And just be this silent observer.
And see as you continually watch it,
It will change.
It might get a little smaller and smaller.
And then it just might just go away.
But if you keep finding your breath and deliberately calming down your mind and your body with your breathing and not giving more fuel to that emotional source or giving more fuel to your thinking,
This is that rising and falling,
Rising and falling.
We're getting back to the blue sky of our nature,
Our blue sky of our consciousness.
The clouds may come.
The weather may change and shift.
On the other side of those clouds is our blue sky conscious self.
And that one has passed away.
What's next?
Is there something else?
There's another feeling that's trying to pull you.
It's maybe the same feeling that's coming back.
But it's by being mindful and bearing witness,
Like Michael Singer says,
And exploring it,
Diving into it instead of running away or being freaked out by it,
Holding space for it,
Through this process gaining clarity,
Switching from reactive to responsive.
I know.
Maybe the siren.
Maybe brought up some more anxiety or something.
You just,
Boom,
Beware.
There's a trigger.
There's a response.
Can you respond to it and let it go?
Keep working with compassion,
Patience,
With diligence and persistence.
And what else is there?
Just something else on the inside that we can explore,
That we can be with,
That we can be more mindful of.
Because if we get to understand that we are not our emotions,
We can begin to identify them,
Then the next step is identifying what triggers them.
So therefore,
They are less likely to happen again and again and again.
This is meditation.
This is mindfulness.
This is a conscious life.
Stay with it.
I'm just going to read this passage again.
Maybe it'll sink in a little bit deeper this time.
Keep breathing.
Keep breathing.
You can experience these very human states without getting lost in them or resisting them.
You can notice that you notice and just watch how experiencing loneliness or any emotion affects you.
Does your posture change?
Do you breathe slower or faster?
What goes on when loneliness is given the space it needs to pass through you?
Be an explorer.
Witness it.
And then it will pass.
If you don't get absorbed in it,
The experience will soon pass.
And something else will come up.
Just enjoy it all.
If you can do this,
You will be free.
And a world of pure energy will open up within you.
A few more breaths,
Guys.
Stay with this.
Let's do five baby breaths in.
And whatever residual feelings you have,
Let it out of the exhale.
Again,
Inhale.
Let it go out.
Three more.
Bigger breath.
Inhale,
Inhale,
Inhale.
Exhale out.
Two more.
One more.
Let it go out,
Out,
Out,
Out,
Out.
Open your eyes when you're ready.
Thank you all for joining me.
