My name is Larissa and we're going to practice together for about 15 minutes.
As always,
Just an opportunity to slow down a little bit,
Spend a little time with yourself,
And beginning always with your body.
Settling into a posture that feels supportive.
Taking a moment to make some neck rolls or some wrist rolls.
Even just taking a couple of deep breaths.
Invitation to let a sigh out or to slow down your exhale just a touch.
You're of course welcome to close your eyes or set your gaze downward once you get situated,
Once you get settled.
Softening your external gaze so you can awaken your internal vision.
We always begin with body.
Finding a posture that feels supportive.
Not only to help you stay,
Setting yourself up for success,
But this reminder that our body is always present.
And your body then becomes this stable foundation for you to return to as many times as needed.
We can witness the movement of our mind from this stability of body.
And just notice for a moment what parts of you feel stable,
Solid,
Unmoving.
It's touching the earth beneath you.
And from that steadiness,
That unmovingness,
That's where we can start to notice movement.
Just noticing how your breath is moving through you.
You might even be still enough that you can notice your heartbeat.
And that contrast is very often what we notice in our practice.
When we invite in stillness,
Sometimes we notice more the movement of our mind.
When we invite in slowing down our body,
Becoming a bit more still,
We can notice,
Again,
Movement.
So this contrast,
It's what allows us to experience most things.
So we know what joy feels like because we also know what difficulty feels like.
And our mind gets used to things.
Sometimes what felt deeply pleasant eventually feels slightly less pleasant as we get used to it.
It's something called the hedonic treadmill,
Where our mind is seeking sometimes these higher highs.
But when we slow down and we invite our mind just to rest in the stillness of the space between breaths,
We can start to remember that joy exists in every moment.
And there isn't some future version of you that will be happier.
But oftentimes,
Our mind sets up those little scenarios.
So if this happens,
Then I'll be.
When this happens,
Then.
Here in the present moment,
We have the opportunity just to draw our attention back to notice the simplicity of breathing.
It can feel really good to produce something,
To finish something,
To go out to dinner with friends,
To create plans.
And yet at the same time,
When we let our mind continuously move in that direction,
We start to miss these subtle moments of joy.
And there's no judgment in that.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's just remembering to come back to yourself.
And just notice this breath right here.
Maybe you want to breathe a little deeper.
Slow down your exhale or maybe sigh it out.
Just coming back to that stable groundedness by just noticing a breath.
And remembering too that that steadiness is what helps us notice movement.
When we get used to movement all the time,
Sometimes it can feel hard to slow down.
Our bodies,
Our minds,
Our reactivities.
We have the wisdom of our breath to return to.
So notice how your body might soften a bit as you exhale.
And how when you invite in that softening,
You notice it even further.
Where can you soften as you exhale?
Just curious.
Welcome to change your breath in any moment.
Our body's wisdom is constantly changing our breath throughout the day.
Even down to the level of which nostril is dominant,
That changes throughout the day.
And that's not something we need to think about.
It's just our body's wisdom doing its work.
And yet at the same time,
We can also focus on our breath.
Tap into our breath.
When we have an equal inhale and exhale,
That helps us concentrate.
When we slow down our exhale,
That helps us calm down.
When we speed up our breath,
It helps us ignite.
It gives us energy.
Our body naturally does that to many responses throughout the day.
And I'll invite you,
While we're in this still quietude,
To just play with your breath.
It's so subtle.
Can you notice this subtle difference?
I'll invite you to just take a regular breath.
Maybe it's a little deeper.
And then release your exhale,
Perhaps with a sigh.
Then I'm going to invite you to pause on your inhale and exhale in just a moment.
But just a normal breath in.
Steady,
Slow breath out.
This time,
When you breathe in,
Just pause at the top of your breath.
You might even sip in a tiny bit more breath.
And then when you feel ready,
Just opening your mouth and releasing.
Do that again,
Just pausing at the top of your inhale.
Breathing in until you feel full and pausing.
Maybe you sip in a tiny bit more breath again.
And then release.
Before you do that one more time,
I'm going to invite you to notice,
Are you holding your belly at all?
Can you allow your belly and ribs to expand just a touch more?
And then go again,
A big,
Full,
Deep breath.
Let your ribs and belly expand with it.
When you get to the top of that inhale,
Just pause for a moment.
Maybe you have space to sip in just another touch of air.
And then when you feel ready,
Just slow down your exhale again.
Let it release.
And then just a couple of rounds of breath.
And that's a very small amount of breath retention.
It not only helps us concentrate,
But physiologically,
Our heart rate increases ever so slightly on the inhale,
Decreases ever so slightly on the exhale.
So when we pause at the top of our inhale,
It not only gives us that moment of pause,
Which we usually need throughout the day,
But it also gives us just a moment of energizing.
Heart rate increases slightly.
You might even feel your heartbeat more intensely in that pause at the very top of your inhale.
And as you practice that,
It can also help increase your lung capacity,
Your ability to hold more air in your chest cavity.
There's so many benefits to just a couple of moments of breathing.
And you might not have noticed that energy in the moment,
But it's a tool you can take with you.
Use it at any time throughout the day.
Pausing at the top of your inhale for a little energy.
Pausing at the bottom of your exhale for a little slowness,
A little soothing.
And I'll invite you to bring your hands into any of your closing habits or practices.
Just let your hands rise and fall with a big,
Deep breath.
A slow,
Steady exhale,
Just letting this exhale be a little bit slower.
And we'll end with a few loving kindness phrases.
Just repeating these back as they make sense for you.
May I remember the innate goodness of my breath.
May I check in with my breath often throughout the day today.
May I remember to pause to appreciate the small joys today.
When action is needed,
May I choose to move with ease and peace.
And may the merits of our practice ripple out to benefit all beings.
And then go slow.
Slow if you can.
So whenever you feel complete,
Take your time.
Start to find a little movement in your body.
Take a moment to thank yourself just for showing up today.
As always,
Thank you for being here,
Supporting each other.
