Be Here Now

Hey everyone,

We are back for our third episode of season three's Just Be Mindful podcast.

I'm Mindful Nikki,

Co-host of this podcast.

And I'm Nuri L.

August,

But you can call me Nuri,

Host of this podcast for parents,

Teachers,

And teens who want more calm,

Connected moments where they can just be.

So I think a good place to begin our Just Be Mindful practice for today is with our intention,

Which is be here now.

So there's a well-known book entitled Be Here Now by Ram Goss.

And I just love these three simple words as they are a great reminder to come back into presence again,

Again,

And again.

All right,

Nuri,

Are you ready today to cultivate more presence and the ability to just be?

Yeah,

I'm ready to cultivate more moments where I can just be.

I believe we are ready to begin navigating our Just Be Mindful Map practice for today.

Okay,

So let's start with the first step of our mindful map practice as always,

Which is coming into our mindfulness posture.

So it's always best to do this when we have a few minutes to sit and just be with as little distractions as possible.

Definitely don't do this practice if you are driving,

Of course,

Because we want you to be safe.

So let's come into a comfortable seated position.

If you're sitting on the floor,

A cushion crossed your legs comfortably.

If you're on a chair,

Come to the edge of your seat and just ground your feet flat into the ground.

And let's now make our spine nice and straight and long,

Not holding our torso too tight or too loose,

But just somewhere in between.

All right,

So now place your hands on your thighs,

Palms down.

Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind your two front teeth,

Which allows your jaw just to become slightly open and relaxed.

And now just I want you to roll your shoulders back and down so it makes your chest nice and wide open for you to take nice,

Deep,

Long breaths.

All right,

So we're going to settle in to this mindfulness posture by doing three mindful breaths together,

Always making your exhale a bit longer than your inhale.

And if you can breathe in and out of your nose,

That's perfect,

If not just to your best to be comfortable.

All right,

So let's do three mindful breaths together.

Breathe in and out fully and deeply.

Notice your body just relax as you exhale.

Again,

Breathing in fully.

As you exhale,

Allow your body to settle in.

All right.

Yes.

I thought that was two mindful breaths,

No?

I think I did three,

No?

Oh,

Okay.

I guess I was really into it.

I got you.

So I'm remembering how this works in the classroom.

So when I go into the Just Be Mindful program in the classes,

The students in just a few weeks knew exactly what to do when I'd come in.

And after a while,

I wouldn't even have to guide them into the mindfulness posture.

They just knew what to do or their bodies just knew what to do,

Which is called somatic memory.

This is like remembering of what's coming in the body.

And so it's pretty cool.

That is really cool.

I have noticed that in myself actually practicing over time that each time feels more natural.

And I want to go into this space of being because I have a positive association with it now.

That's exactly what I'm talking about,

Nuri.

I'm so happy that you shared that.

Thank you.

And to all our listeners,

Just know that this will happen with you as well when you stick with this practice.

More comfort and ease will definitely come the more familiar you get with this practice.

Now we're going to do our check in.

We begin by taking a deep,

Long mindful breath together.

Remember when we are intentionally focusing on our breath and we make it a bit longer than usual,

Our body begins to release and settle.

Again,

This takes practice,

But this is a practice of kindness towards yourself.

This is for you and it's totally worth it.

Yes,

I totally agree.

So let's connect now into our hearts by placing our left hand over our heart and now place your right hand over your left.

And just calmly observe what arises without judging it right or wrong,

Good or bad.

Just allow your thoughts to flow naturally.

Notice what is true for you in this moment.

And if you can and you'd like to and it feels safe to,

Just close your eyes or you can just half close your eyes,

Which just means like looking halfway down with a soft gaze at a point in front of you that's not moving.

All right,

So we're going to do this for one minute and I'll let you know when that minute is up.

You get some light from your breath.

Making your exhale nice and low.

Allowing your thoughts to flow naturally.

About 20 more seconds.

Okay,

One minute is up.

Let's keep our hands over our heart through the next part if you're able.

Now it's time to connect and reflect by asking ourselves three questions.

Allow the questions to be digested through your being.

I know that may sound strange,

But just like good foods are digested to nourish your body,

This too is a practice of ingesting words and moments of being that will nourish your mind,

Body and heart.

So take notice of what comes up when you ask yourself these questions.

Open up to curiosity,

The answers will come.

Yes,

I just,

I felt so relaxed when you said,

Nourish your mind,

Body and heart.

Like this is a practice of ingesting words and moments of being.

Love it.

So I'm going to ask you these three questions and after each question,

I will pause for a few seconds so you can allow these words to digest through your being.

So let's take a mindful breath together to begin this reflection.

Breathe in.

And breathe out.

I just want you to take a moment to notice what are the contents of my thoughts right now.

Like maybe if there's one thought that sticks out that's maybe like nagging you or just you notice it's coming into your awareness often.

What is the content of your thoughts right now?

Another deep breath in and exhale fully and I just want you to notice how your body feels in this moment.

Maybe you're tired,

Maybe you feel grateful because you're doing this practice for yourself or maybe you feel agitated.

Just notice what your body feels in this moment.

Take a deep breath in and exhale fully.

Now I want you to feel your hands over your heart and connect into what is my heart feeling right now.

It feels tender,

There's a lot going on in our world.

It feels open and loving.

It feels both.

Now place your hands back on your thighs,

Palms down.

We want to remind you all that it's not so important that you are spot on knowing the answers to these questions.

It's the asking that helps to cultivate a deeper kind of knowing so we can act and speak in different ways that are more in alignment with what we value.

Yes,

So that being said I'm going to take us through the next part of our practice,

The hand jam.

So if this is your first time listening in,

The hand jam is a finger tapping practice that helps bring peace and calm into our minds and bodies through rhythmic tapping of our fingers.

The tapping sends a gentle message to our body to focus and just be.

Alright,

So let's do this together.

At the same time we're going to tap our thumb to our pointer finger,

Our thumb to our middle finger and tap your thumb to your ring and lastly tap your thumb to your pinky finger.

So while we tap we also recite the intention which for today is be here now.

So once you get a hang of this tapping hand jam thing we can do it with both hands and it's always best to do the hand jam with your elbows into your sides and your palms open to the sky.

Okay,

I think we're ready to begin the hand jam while saying our intention be here now.

So let's take a deep mindful breath in,

Exhale fully and begin our intention while we tap be here now,

Be here now,

Be here now,

Be here now,

Be here now.

Five times silently inside of our own minds,

Continue to tap.

Last one and release.

And I wanted to just take notice of sometimes the intention doesn't match perfectly the tapping like you might notice be here now kind of ends at the ring finger but it's fine you can just tap through all four of the fingers.

All right.

So bring this intention into action which we like to call mindfulness in action.

Decide to bring your awareness to relaxing your jaw and shoulders while at work,

Driving,

Listening to music or whatever you may be doing.

Decide to do this every day for a few minutes to see what happens when you bring your focused attention to what you are doing.

Yes,

So I'm on my computer a lot.

I'm guessing there you are too being in college and what I often notice when I bring my attention to the way I'm holding my body,

My shoulders sometimes are up high by my ears or like my traps get really tense and I might even be clenching my jaw if something is like frustrating me with technology.

So when I notice this is when I can change it and come into a posture that won't make my body tense or tired and it's pretty interesting to see how the way you hold your body mirrors what is held in your mind.

So this is a good time to pause and notice how you're holding your body as you're listening to this podcast right now.

So notice if you're hunched over,

Are you tapping your feet or fidgeting your hands,

Maybe you're biting your nails or maybe your breathing is like really high in your chest.

So let's take a moment here to just breathe,

Reflect and see what is happening inside of our mind and body right now.

So take a deep breath in and breathe out.

And now let's close out our practice together by placing our hands back over our hearts,

Left hand over our heart and right hand over our left.

Alright,

So let's collectively take one full inhale and exhale nice and long.

Take a moment to acknowledge taking this time for yourself to just be.

You have completed your Just Be Mindful Map for today and have added more Just Be Mindful moments into your being.

And now wherever you go,

You are spreading that into your world.

I love that we are all co-creating more self-compassion,

Radical compassion actually and kindness out into our world.

So thank you to everyone who took out the time in their day,

Stuck around to the very end of our Just Be Mindful Map practice.

Together we truly are co-creating more moments in ourselves and one another to Just Be.

Remember to subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend who could benefit.

Also try out 7 free days of Mindful Nikki's Just Be Mindful app.

The link will be in the description.

Alright Nuri,

That's a wrap for today.

Remember to take a moment out to Just Be.

See you next time.

See you next time.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.