Welcome to today's meditation time.
I invite you to find a comfortable place,
A place where your body can come to a state of ease,
Where the distractions can be fewer than they are now,
And where you can begin to bring your awareness to that next breath coming in.
The inspiration for today's meditation is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,
This ancient text that is so relevant and so meaningful to our lives today.
And so as you gently begin to soften your gaze or close your eyes,
Let's just sit with one of these first verses and see what inspiration can be drawn from it for our lives in the here and the now.
Yoga Citta Vritti Nirodha.
Yoga Citta Vritti Nirodha.
Yoga Sutra,
Chapter 1,
Verse 2,
Says that yoga,
This way of being,
This way of living,
Can calm the fluctuations of our minds.
Other translations would say that it can ease the agitations in our spirit.
It can still the waves of our thoughts.
And so it doesn't matter which verb you choose or which visualization you apply to it.
The idea is still the same.
This practice,
This beautiful,
Ancient,
And still alive today practice can bring a sense of peace and calm to each of us.
And when Patanjali,
This great sage,
Wrote these words so long ago,
He wasn't talking about the time that we spend on this rubber mat,
Folding forward or turning upside down.
He was talking about this full way of being.
And so as you've just brought yourself to this pause for these moments,
See you as if you're taking a spotlight,
A flashlight,
And you're peering into your soul to the true essence of who you are.
See you.
See where there are places within that need calm.
See where there are places within that are so hungry for ease.
And just imagine yourself living from that state of calm and ease every day.
Imagine yourself as the challenges of life come across your path,
As the behaviors of people disappoint you,
As the world becomes overwhelming and noisy.
See,
Imagine if you could maintain a state of peace and calm and ease amidst it all.
That's what Patanjali was telling us so early in these Yoga Sutras.
I almost picture him just saying the words,
Trust me.
Trust me.
This practice has done this for me.
And I want to share with you how it can also do it for you.
That really is what today's meditation is all about.
Ancient words for today's living.
Yoga Citta Vritti Naroda.
This practice,
This practice brings ease to my spirit.
It brings respite to my tired self.
It brings balance and harmony to all the parts of me that feel like they are going in every different direction possible.
Yoga Citta Vritti Naroda.
But the first thing that our thinking minds will begin to wonder about is,
But how I see it,
I believe it can exist,
But how does it become real for me?
And so our journey begins.
As we breathe here,
Slow,
Deep,
Compassionate breaths,
Just imagine that inhale bathing you with the promise of calm.
And then as you begin to breathe again,
See this breath washing over you with a sense of ease,
And then feel the next breath offering to you the sense of harmony and balance.
Yoga Citta Vritti Naroda.
There's not a recipe for how many times we practice before we experience it.
It's not something we're trying to master or grab onto.
It's a showing up.
It's a showing up into the here and the now,
Trusting in that next breath as it comes,
And letting it just wash over us with this beautiful promise given to us thousands of years ago.
Yoga Citta Vritti Naroda.
I breathe in.
Calm comes to my spirit.
I breathe out.
My spirit is calm.
I breathe in.
Peace comes to my heart.
I breathe out.
My heart is at peace.
I breathe in.
Ease comes across my body.
I breathe out.
My body feels at ease.
Yoga Citta Vritti Naroda.
Allow these ancient words to be your words today.
Allow this teaching to speak to you.
Allow this practice to nourish your soul,
And allow this next breath coming in to remind you that the power,
The how,
Sits within you.
And so let's just pause for just these next few breaths in quiet.
Yoga Citta Vritti Naroda.
Allow this practice to ease the fluctuations in your mind.
And then together,
Let's take a slow,
Deep breath in,
And ever so gently let that breath go.
And as we prepare ourselves to reenter the activity of the day,
To move through our world in whatever way we need to today,
Let's do it from a place of ease,
A place of stillness,
A place of calm.
And through it all,
Fill the sense of gratitude for Yoga Citta Vritti Naroda.
