Hello dear friend and welcome.
If you meet this meditation having been feeling anxious,
Rushed,
Or scattered,
First things first,
You are certainly not alone.
Please extend yourself some grace for being human in a modern day world.
Secondly,
I'm so glad you are here.
For the next few relatively simple moments of existence together,
We'll indulge in a breathwork practice that honors the art of pausing.
Our breath is one of the very best guides we could ask for.
It shortens under stress,
Tension,
And pain,
And it lengthens to flow free as a river as our bodies,
Minds,
And spirits feel a sense of comfort and safety from within.
Not only does body and mind send us messages through our breath,
But the opposite can also be true.
We can send messages to our bodies and minds through altering our breath patterns.
In fact,
Our breath is the one single autonomic human function that we have any control over.
My hope is that you can take this tangible pausing practice out of this space today and into your everyday,
Utilizing it when,
Once again,
The hustle and bustle of life requires you to seek a sense of stillness.
Today,
As we remind every inch of our beings that it's okay to press pause,
It's okay to let life land,
I encourage you to eliminate distractions that might live around you.
Watches that ping on your wrist,
Phones that buzz with notifications,
Computers or kiddos nearby asking of your attention.
What we know to be true is our mindfulness practices only bring benefit when done with intention and self-honoring.
Begin by finding a comfortable seat.
Maybe this is with your legs crossed where they can extend long,
Or your heels can even travel underneath your hips.
Maybe shadowing down your eyes or finding a steady gaze.
Finding the full length of your crown towards the sky,
Allowing a little extra space in your spine.
Can you notice where your body is in this space?
Bringing your ear lobes over your shoulders so your chin invites a light tuck.
Bringing your shoulders over your hips so everything presses back just one inch more.
Taking a nice big deep inhale in through your nose,
And on your exhale allowing your hips to sink a little bit more into the earth.
Begin with our rounds of loma breath.
Beginning by inhaling to just one third of your full breath and then pausing.
Then inhaling for two thirds of this one single breath and pausing.
Then inhaling filling all the way up the rest of this full breath to the very tippy top full expansion and an open mouth exhale for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale for one third of your breath and pause.
Inhale up to two thirds of your breath and pause.
Inhale to the very tippy top filling all the way up open mouth exhale for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale one third and pause.
Inhale to two thirds and pause.
Inhale filling all the way up tippy top of your breath.
Inhale for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Continue with a few more rounds on your own letting your pauses linger as long as necessary.
Inhale filling all the way up.
Finding one more round of this breath at your pace and then settling back into the natural rhythm of your breath.
The natural inhale,
The natural exhale.
Neeping tide or what's considered the lowest tide in the ocean occurs when the moon expresses itself in one quarter or three quarters.
Here lives an intentional shift from high tide rushing,
Crashing,
Reaching to low tide slowing,
Steadying,
Clearing.
In each wave at neeping tide lives untouched space,
A moment of pure simplicity and rushlessness.
In the veloma breath pausing at each quarter or third much like the moon,
We give ourselves the same permission to nip,
Permission to stop,
Permission to reset,
Permission to begin again,
Again,
And again as many times as this moment,
This day,
Or this season of life requires.
And the beautiful thing about a pause,
Whether it be in a breath,
In a moment,
In a practice,
Or in a season of life,
Is that it's this beautiful pocket where time gets to fade away,
Rushlessness gets to exist.
We have the opportunity to feel all that came before the pause in mind,
In body,
In spirit,
What we felt,
What we thought,
What we experienced.
And then we have the conscious choice to decide what comes after the pause,
Maybe with brand new intention.
When you find yourself at high tide,
Rushing,
Crashing,
Reaching,
Gift yourself with this low tide practice to slow,
To steady,
To clear,
To linger just a little bit longer.
You are unhurried here,
Dear friend.
This low tide is yours to lay us in.
Thank you for being here and be well.
Thank you.
I love you.
You
