Welcome to the mindfulness practice session.
My name is Nolita Tsengiwe and I'm here with Dina Olufsen.
We're both going to guide you in a mindfulness practice.
The practice of mindfulness is the practice of bringing careful and kind attention to what is happening now.
It's attention that is non-judgmental,
Attending to what is the immediacy of our experience.
The first thing to do is to take up an upright and yet relaxed posture.
You can use a chair or a cushion.
If you're on a chair,
Move to the edge of the chair.
Both feet firmly placed on the floor.
Allow your lower back to move inwards and let the belly relax.
As you move the lower back inward,
The upper body will fall supported,
Allowing the shoulders to relax,
The chest to open.
You can do this practice with your arms closed or open.
If they are open,
You can maintain a soft gaze.
Remember that this is taking some quality time for yourself.
And make it to be another work project.
Work hard at it.
Being relaxed is going to support your attention.
So we maintain throughout the sitting this posture of uprightness,
The spine is straight.
Muscles are relaxed,
Especially the jaw muscles.
Now we can bring our attention to the body.
Being aware of the body seated on this chair.
Felt it firmly on the ground.
Feeling into the regular rhythm of breathing.
You can take two to three deep long breaths.
Just to keep the attention on the breath as you get started.
And then allow the breathing to return to its normal rhythm.
You will notice that the mind goes away to the future,
To the past.
It's okay.
All you do is gently bring the attention back to the breath.
Allow the attention to rest here.
Key word is rest.
Notice where the breath is most felt.
This could be at the nostrils or the chest or the belly.
Keeping your attention right there.
Keep the breath right there where the breath is mostly felt.
If you're feeling any tension about this at all,
Invite yourself to relax your attention.
Soften the jaw,
The eyes,
The forehead.
Allow you to retain the attention to just one breath at a time.
If it's helpful,
You can repeat this thought to yourself.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
As you retain the attention to one breath,
You let thoughts to come and go.
Thoughts are not a problem here.
Awesome.
Were we worried for the fact that we can't listen?
And as we come to the end of the first part of this sitting become aware of the whole body.
Notice the body as the breathing body.
Now when you feel ready open your eyes.
Noticing the feel of the body.
Now I'm going to give over to Dina to continue.
Now I'm going to give over to Dina who will continue to guide us.
Now I'm going to give over to Dina who will guide us in the second part of this sitting.
I'm going to guide you through a practice that we call the PIEZE CHICKEN or tuning in with yourself on various layers.
PIEZE stands for P is for physical,
I is for intellectual,
E is for emotional and S is for spiritual.
Whatever that word and concept means for you.
This is a way of tuning in with the different layers that make up the person that you are.
There's no right or wrong way.
It's just dropping into where you find yourself in this moment.
All of us have these rich layers and through busyness we don't always notice how we are doing,
Where we find ourselves.
In this posture that Nolita explained you can just readjust making sure that you are seated in an upright position.
Concentrating and yet at the same time feeling relaxed.
Drop into where do you find yourself physically speaking.
How is your body in this moment?
I invite you to just think about a word that will describe best how you are feeling in your physical body in this moment.
If it's difficult to find a word just notice what your sensations are.
Through noticing we're inquiring into ourselves.
We are recognizing where we find ourselves.
Becoming present to how is my body in this moment.
Words for physical could be exhausted,
Energized,
Warm,
Cold,
Any word that rings true for you.
Just accepting where the body is at.
There's no need to change it.
There's no need to judge it or explain it in any way.
With the next in-breath I would like to invite you to shift your attention to your heart space,
Your emotional body.
And with the next in-breath I'd like to invite you to shift your attention away from the body and to rest your awareness into your intellectual space.
Tune into where do you find yourself intellectually in this moment.
Another word for this is mentally.
Where do you find yourself mentally speaking?
Tuning into the mind,
Just meeting yourself.
Whatever you find is there.
What do I find in my mind in this moment without any need to change it?
I want to invite you to find a word or a color,
Anything that you can use to describe or name how you are feeling intellectually this morning.
Possible words could be clear or confused,
Focused or spacious,
Maybe distracted.
Whatever you find just to name it and to be open for what you are experiencing.
Meeting yourself exactly where you are.
And with our next in-breath I want to invite you to shift your attention to your heart space,
To tune into any emotion that you might be feeling in this moment.
What feelings are arising moving through you?
And if it's possible to find words to describe and name them,
Just hold these words.
If it's difficult to find a word,
Just sense into the feeling itself.
It can sometimes be difficult to feel and then all you need to do is to notice that it's difficult to feel.
Just notice whatever is present in your heart space.
Some words that help us to tune into emotions can be calm,
Excited,
Scared,
Sad,
Mad,
Afraid,
Anxious.
And sometimes there are a variety present all at once.
Just giving space for everything that is present in this moment.
No need to have a story about it,
Just feeling what is here now.
The invitation is just to be present with what arises,
Right here,
Right now.
With no need to change it.
We cannot think about feelings,
We can only feel feelings.
And then with the next in-breath,
I'd like to invite you to shift your attention to your spiritual self.
Whatever spiritual means for you,
Your own understanding,
Your own practice,
Your own definition.
But to drop into your spiritual self.
Just sense what is here,
What is here now.
And if it's possible to find a word to describe this space,
To find that word,
Naming what you are sensing.
And sometimes it's really difficult to find a way to describe this space.
Just notice that if that's the case for you.
Some words that can be useful in our spiritual space is present,
Grateful,
Connected,
Sometimes disconnected,
Isolated.
And oftentimes it can be many things at the same time.
And in a moment,
As a last step,
I'd like to invite you to sit with your entire pies in your mind,
In your heart,
In your body,
And in the peace that's much bigger than all of those together.
Hold yourself in this moment without the need to change it,
Being fully open to your experience.
And in a moment I would like to invite you up step by step into the Which brings us to the end of this Pai's practice.
Thank you for creating this quality time for yourself.
It is a form of self-care.
The practice of mindfulness is a way that we can take care of ourselves and take care of each other,
Especially at these times of the crisis of the pandemic.
Thank you.
