My name is Larissa and we're going to practice for about 15 minutes.
Just taking a little bit of time to slow down.
Spend a little time with yourself.
And just this gentle reminder and I know I say it often but I think it's really important because our mind tells us all kinds of things often,
Consistently,
Very regularly.
So to repeat these things to ourselves is actually really important.
It's just this reminder to be tender with yourself.
To see yourself through the eyes of kindness.
And when we start to see ourselves through the eye of kindness,
We can start to see the rest of the world through those same lenses.
And they are the lenses that exist within our eyes.
It's not something separate.
It's not a pair of glasses we need to find and put on.
It's our nature to be able to witness with gentleness,
With tenderness,
With connection and care.
And you're welcome to close your external eyes if you haven't yet done so.
And take a moment to settle into your body.
Make sure you have the right amount of support.
And that's the beginning of this witnessing ourselves with gentleness,
With tenderness.
Just taking a moment to make sure that your body feels cared for.
And your body is always caring for you.
Breath moving through you.
Heart beating.
Blood flowing.
Digestion.
Circulation.
Balance.
Temperature control.
All of these things are just simply happening.
Your body taking care of you.
And so when we practice witnessing ourselves with kindness,
With gentleness,
With tenderness,
We're just simply reciprocating the care our body already gives to us.
And we all know what it's like to listen to our inner critic.
Or to listen to that inner critic judge externally.
We all know what it's like to force ourselves into something.
And that can be a strategy at times that works.
But it's not sustainable.
Sustainability is being able to be with yourself no matter what's coming up.
Sometimes there's a fear of if I lose this critical eye,
Maybe I won't get anything done.
Or maybe other people will harm me.
So to invite in tenderness and gentleness for yourself is deeply vulnerable.
But just to remember that it is our nature.
And when we come out of the womb,
We immediately ask for help.
And we just receive and receive and receive.
And there's no thought in our mind yet of what receiving means or what we should do or what we're supposed to do or what we need to give back.
We just receive.
We innately know how to do that.
So in this meditation,
Can you just allow your heart to be open?
Every time you exhale,
Invite in that softening.
And in that openness is where we find our tenderness.
It's just right here.
It's not outside of you.
It's right here.
And the way that we can open our hearts is to do the work so we can start to feel safe within our own body.
And that begins with inviting in tenderness,
Gentleness,
Consciously choosing to view yourself through the lenses of kindness.
That are your true eyes.
Sometimes it's removing layers of judgment,
Of comparison,
Of shoulds and supposed tos,
Always and never.
Because that kindness just exists within our literal eye.
We've all heard that phrase,
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
There's an Arabic phrase that says,
The beauty you see in anything is a reflection of the beauty within you.
And that's more true to what that phrase means.
It's literal.
Your literal eye contains the gentleness and the tenderness you need to be able to behold beauty.
And I'm not talking about the beauty of glamour or the beauty of what the external world tells us we should look like,
But the beauty of a pile of decaying leaves as they compost.
Turn themselves into soil to create new life.
The beauty of connection.
The beauty of being able to be in a body and do absolutely nothing,
And yet your body still breathes for you.
That beauty literally lives within our eye.
Let's take a moment just to notice the literal eyes in your head.
Can you notice the weight of them behind your eyelids?
It might take a moment just to move them in a circle one direction and then the other.
Just taking a moment to notice how you can change the direction of your vision,
Quite literally.
And then in our practice,
Just practicing,
Just witnessing these different thought patterns we have in our mind,
Very often filled with judgment and criticism and comparison.
And we never need to fix those things.
We can just witness them.
Oh yeah,
I see my thinking mind is going.
I see that I'm looking at the world through a lens of comparison.
And when I can see that,
Suddenly I can see a little more clearly.
And that's enough.
Just witness again your breath moving through you.
Invite in the softening of your exhale.
Let your entire being just settle into that softness.
Notice again your breath.
Notice the weight of your eyes behind your eyelids.
And just that noticing can be a form of appreciation.
It's appreciating your body.
It's grateful for each breath that moves through you.
Grateful that you don't have to think about a single one,
That it's just happening.
And you can just rest in this moment of being breathed.
And in these last moments,
Just really,
Really slowly,
I'm going to invite you to slowly,
Slowly open your eyes.
And just let your gaze rest down on your hands.
And with the kindest eyes possible,
Thank your hands for something that they've done for you today.
And then I invite you to just open your eyes.
Outside of all of the doing that we can appreciate,
Can you just witness the beauty of your hands?
They don't have to be glamorous or perfect or manicured.
Can you just witness all of those incredibly intricate lines that have held you for this entire life you've yet lived?
And take those same hands,
Place them over your heart,
Palms together like gratitude,
To any of your closing habits or practices.
And we'll end with a few loving kindness phrases.
Just repeating them back as they make sense for you.
May I remember to appreciate my hands today.
May I remember my eyes are already filled with kindness.
When I move today,
May it be with ease and peace.
And may the merits of our practice ripple out to benefit all beings.
And go slow if you can,
Find a little bit of movement,
And no rush.
Just whenever you feel complete,
Flutter your eyes open,
Take a moment to thank yourself.
And as always,
Thank you for being here,
Supporting each other in this sangha,
This community.
