So a lot of you may know about the importance of vagus nerve which is a part of our parasympathetic nervous system and it is the longest and most important nerve in our parasympathetic nervous system which is involved in controlling a lot of involuntary functions including heart rate,
Breathing digestion and also immune response.
So the vagus nerve has been considered as the healing nerve of the body.
So when you are in a mindful state the vagus nerve is activated and hence the healing and the rejuvenation is activated.
Whereas the sympathetic nervous system is responsible for flight and fight response.
So when we are stressed,
Feeling of overwork or burden triggers the sympathetic nervous system.
Parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for rest,
Rejuvenation,
Renewal,
Healing responses.
So today we will talk about some of the ways to activate vagus nerve and we will incorporate that in our practice today.
So feel free to close your eyes if they're not closed already and put two palms on your eyes very lightly and feel the sensation behind your eyes.
Continue to breathe in and out slowly.
Continue to remain here in this light behind your eyes.
Nothing special is happening.
Just breathing in and out.
So that was one very simple way of activating your vagus nerve.
It's connected with your eye movement.
So there are a lot of eye movements that are recommended in therapies,
In certain kind of conditions,
But we won't be able to go through all of them.
But I wanted to show you this very simple technique and it can snap you out of the stressful episode you may be feeling.
And sometimes you find that some of these vagus nerve activation are very intuitively done by humans because somewhere down deep down we knew that this is a relaxing thing to do.
So one of the other relaxing thing to do as we all probably know is rhythmic simple deep breathing.
So as your breath is already slow and relaxed and something in you is already responding to this opportunity here,
Continue to breathe naturally,
Normally and just a slightly deeper and allow your diaphragm to move and have that deep breathing sensation and count five breaths and see the effect of it is on your on yourself.
That was another quick way of activating your parasympathetic nervous system.
Humming and singing is another way of activating your vagus nerve.
So sometimes in stressful situation we find people humming to calm them down.
But one of the most effective way of activating your vagus nerve is your smile.
So if you feel stressed or anxious try smiling for few minutes.
But for now allow a gentle smile to come on your face and see the effect of this smile.
So when we smile we give our body,
Our mind a message that I'm safe,
I'm happy,
I'm satisfied and that is responded to internally.
So in this meditation you continue to smile and as you continue to smile be aware of your body,
Be aware of all the sensations in your body,
Be aware of the sensations,
The soles of your feet,
Be aware of the sensations at your back,
The lower back,
Upper back.
See if there is any sensations in your shoulders,
See if there is any stress,
Strain in any part of your body and relieve them and just be with this bodily sensation,
Bodily sensation of breath.
See if you can clearly explore and be with the bodily sensation,
All sensations.
See if you can feel sensations in your palms,
Both palms left and right.
Now can you move your awareness to the sensations on your lips and cheeks as you're smiling and even feel sensation on your ears,
Outer part of your ears.
See how gentle attention can make you feel the sensations on a part of the body that we sometimes don't really pay attention to,
Such as ears.
Just a gentle attention when you're calm,
You may be able to feel the release of your ears.
See if you can feel your temples,
See if you can feel the back of your head,
Just the sensations on the back of your head.
So if you can feel sensations on your forehead and how about the very top of your head.
See if you can now hold your entire body from the top of your head to the soles of your feet as one sensation,
One experience that we call body.
Entirely held in your awareness seamlessly without dividing any parts,
Just one body,
Just one sensation,
One experience,
Including your breath.
So be the body breath,
Body breathing,
Just one phenomenon,
One experience without any strain,
Without any effort,
Just a light awareness of entire body.
And the state that you are in now has activated your vacancy,
Has activated the rejuvenation,
Relaxation,
Healing in your body.
But they are all the by-products of being like this,
Of paying attention like this,
Of being mindful like this.
So we leave those benefits on side for now.
As we continue to enjoy this here,
This now,
This presence of your awareness and this being aware of being aware,
The being aware of being aware.
In many traditions known as one of the highest if not the highest meditations or even prayers,
Just being like this with yourself,
Without any effort,
Without any prerequisition,
Without any practice,
Effortlessly being human,
Being just ourselves,
The being fully aware of being ourselves.
Nothing special,
Nothing new either and no effort whatsoever needed.
And why effort is not needed?
Why would you need an effort to be yourself?
You are not cultivating this state,
You are just being in this state,
Recognizing your own being in this way.
You have done this before many,
Many times.
But today on this Are You Okay Day event,
We're taking a special time out to be here,
To be in this home that we always knew we had,
This home that we visit when we sleep,
This home we visit when our eyes are open,
When we are engaged in an activity that we love.
So you're always home when you're calm,
When you're in love,
When you're enjoying yourself,
The nature.
So let go of any notion of something special happening,
But be very comfortable,
Be very yourself,
Be full,
Be whole,
Be fully satisfied and let go of any thought,
Any judgment,
Any criticism that I can't do this,
Am I doing this right or wrong,
And know very clearly that all of those doubts,
Judgments,
Thoughts are also seen in this.
You can clearly see your thought,
You can clearly feel the emotion here,
But also confirm to yourself that those emotions and those thoughts are always coming and going.
The thought you had 20 seconds ago is gone already,
The emotions you had five minutes ago is gone already,
But what has not gone is this awareness of those mental objects.
So continue to be this awareness that knows,
That detects,
That remains in background in all our experiences,
But today we're taking this time out to prioritize this awareness that knows and experience and feels and allows you to live your very colorful life,
But the priority for now is to that awareness that knows and detects,
And we are not interested in what is being known,
What is being detected,
What is being enjoyed,
All of those objects are there,
We are not refuting them,
Not rejecting them,
But we are also not pursuing them,
Because we are giving priority to the experience of being aware,
Being aware of being aware.
A very simple experience,
It's not even a technique,
Nothing new is added to you,
Nothing is removed from you,
Just sitting like this with full awareness of all that is taking place,
Including your body,
The breath,
All the sounds,
All your senses are working open,
Wide,
But no management is needed,
So you've withdrawn the management from all your senses,
You've withdrawn the engagement,
And you have prioritized the simple experience of being aware,
Of being aware,
And again if there are any thoughts,
Any judgment,
That how can it be this simple,
How can I get it right,
Am I doing this wrong or right,
All of those objects are just thoughts,
Clearly see that,
Clearly see that thought and let that go.
A metaphor we often use is,
Become the sky,
Become the space,
Become wide open awareness,
And see that all your thoughts,
Emotions,
Storyline,
Shapes,
Colors,
Contours,
All of those objects are like clouds,
Clouds seen by the spacious space,
And like all clouds,
They also disappear,
So be the wide open,
Empty,
Transparent awareness,
Aware of all the clouds,
That it's not the cloud.
Confirm to yourself that you are this wide open,
Transparent awareness,
Continue to breathe in and out,
And continue to repose here,
Continue to abide here,
As awareness,
One breath at a time,
One moment at a time,
And release one thought,
One storyline,
One emotion at a time,
Let them come,
Let them play,
Let them go,
Let remain the open sky-like awareness,
And seeing this sky-like awareness,
You are aware of the entire soundscape,
The sounds coming from your computer,
Sounds coming from within your room,
All the sounds coming from outside of your room,
Are all present here,
And how effortlessly they are all known,
And the sounds are known here in this space,
They are not known outside of this space,
So allow your awareness to remain as wide as all the sounds that are being known,
Imagine that you are as wide as all the sounds that you are intuitively knowing,
And slowly allow your awareness to become as wide as the sky,
As the space,
Very effortlessly,
No effort is needed,
Awareness is wide,
Is open,
Is translucent,
So there's no effort needed for you to make it bigger,
Bigger than what you may have thought before,
So let go of any sense of boundary,
And see yourself,
See your body as a wick of the candle,
And see your awareness as the glow around it,
So let go of the body boundary,
And become this wide,
Open,
Spacious awareness,
Awareness that is aware of the body,
The breath,
The sounds,
All the thoughts and emotions,
But it is still just that awareness,
So continue to give priority to being like this,
But not to the objects that are coming in your awareness,
There's another myth about meditation,
That meditation means thoughtlessness,
Meditation is not thoughtlessness,
Meditation is not giving priority to thoughts and emotions and mental objects,
Meditation is giving priority to being aware,
Being aware of being aware,
This is a simple recognition,
Recognition of the awareness that you already are,
You already have,
And no practice,
No re-qualification is needed to be this,
All humans and all living beings are this awareness,
So being born as human is already winning a very big lottery,
It is recognizing that we have won the lottery,
We are this already,
It's always well within our power to come back to this,
Come back to this with a genuine smile,
Or by just putting your palms on your eyes,
By breathing naturally,
Normally,
Mindfully,
By humming,
By being in nature,
By knowing this experience of being aware of being aware,
And knowing it's always well within your power to come back to this home,
And not get carried away by those objects,
Those mental objects,
And they do have power to take us away from this,
Because we give them the power to take us away from here,
We see very clearly that all thoughts and emotions are not you,
They don't define,
What you essentially are,
Is this awareness of things,
And take back the power,
Power that belongs to you,
Feel complete,
Feel whole,
And see how easy it is,
How natural it is to you,
Sit in this recognition for few more moments,
With yourself,
In yourself,
As yourself,
And know that you're always okay,
Always okay,
And whenever you have a mental object telling you that you're not okay,
Remember to become aware of being aware,
Become this wide open awareness self,
And respond,
And knowing yourself like this,
Being yourself like this regularly,
Will strengthen your mindful muscle,
Your brain,
So next time when something happens,
Next time when you need to become this,
To respond,
You will do it quickly,
Intuitively,
So continue to create some space in your life,
To recognize this,
To become this,
To be this,
That you already are,
And strengthen your pathway,
Reduce the time it takes for you to be this,
So that you can respond to things that may be stressful,
And we meet every Tuesday at 1.
15 on the same zoom link,
So feel free to put that on your calendar,
Create some space to be this,
To abide here,
You'll find that in few months time,
Few weeks time,
Your ability to respond to things as this wide open awareness will be enhanced,
So you're welcome to sit like this with your smile,
Continue to activate your vagus nerve,
You're welcome to open your eyes,
Thank you so much for joining me today.
