Peaceful Mind Cultivation

Hi,

It's Rachel.

Breath is life.

When we enter the world,

We sip our first inhale.

And when we leave the world,

We release our last exhale.

In between those moments is our life.

Our lungs are like a river inside of us that contract and expand constantly.

Pure presence.

But the thinking mind can feel as if it takes over.

If we are not mindful,

Then the thinking mind can seem more powerful than our breath,

Than our spirit,

Than our courage.

If we're not mindful and careful,

Our minds can seem as if they are everything.

But it's not true.

What we feed grows.

What we focus on grows.

So how do we focus,

Direct ourselves,

Towards presence,

Towards gratitude?

In the ancient text,

The Yoga Sutras written by Patanjali,

He outlines for us psychic forces,

Three of them,

That constitute our mind,

Called the gunas.

And he states that these three forces of mind govern the subconscious.

And they are called sattva,

Rajas,

And tamas.

Sattva,

The sattvic state of the mind,

Is balanced,

Pure,

Peaceful,

Alert,

Clear-minded,

And filled with light.

Rajas is the moving,

Active energy that is ever-changing.

And tamas is inertia,

Decay,

Heaviness,

Dullness,

Darkness,

Obstruction.

So how do we get a more sattvic state of mind?

Are we getting enough water?

Are we putting clean,

Rich,

Nutrient-dense foods in our bodies?

Are we getting enough sleep?

Are we moving our bodies?

Are we getting outside to appreciate the birds,

The sky,

The flowers,

And the sun?

And most of all,

Are we creating a sacred time each day,

Even if only for five minutes,

To practice loving awareness,

To decide to not do,

To not worry,

To not consume,

To not produce,

And to not be seductively pulled into the tempest of fear that the news and the collective so desperately wants us to be sucked into?

Are we,

For at least just five minutes,

Instead choosing peace?

Today we choose peace in this meditation.

And we choose dignity.

We choose sanity.

We choose a moment to bow our heads to the mystery of being here.

I invite you to find a comfortable seat.

So you can sit on a chair if that feels more easy for you.

You can sit on the ground with a meditation cushion or a pillow under your sit's bones.

And once you've found your seat,

Go ahead and really embody it,

Meaning you've chosen it.

So commit to it.

Take a moment ever so gently to place your right hand on your heart.

Place your left hand on your belly.

Take a moment to gently roll the shoulders back and down.

Lengthen your spine.

As the eyes close,

Feel the chin bow down ever so slightly to the heart.

See if you can just feel your connection through your sit's bones into whatever you're sitting on.

Feel the contact you're making with the earth through your seat.

And then with your hands on your heart and belly,

Just simply begin to notice your breath.

Notice the ebb and the flow.

Let yourself land.

Let yourself land however you are.

If we think we have to be a certain way,

If we oppress ourselves in that way,

We obstruct peace.

Peace starts with acceptance,

Noticing,

Being curious,

Having faith.

Faith that we are processing the circumstances of our lives in the best way we know how.

Seated here,

Listening to your breath,

Begin to get curious about the sensations in your body.

Without labeling them,

Accusing them,

Or pushing them away.

And now we'll come into some Samavritti.

Samavritti means equal fluctuation of inhale and exhale.

So exhale your breath completely.

And here we go.

Through the nose,

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Mouth stays closed through the nose.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Starting with the belly,

Inhale,

Two.

Chest receives the breath.

Last three,

Four.

Through the nose,

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

One on your own.

Beautiful.

Keep it going,

Please.

Keep your Samavritti even,

Committed,

Gentle,

Yet firm.

I'll say an affirmation,

And I'd like you to link it with the breath.

On the inhale,

I'd like you to think,

I choose kindness.

On the exhale,

I'd like you to think directed towards myself.

Here we go.

Inhale.

Silently think,

I choose kindness.

Exhale.

Silently think directed towards myself.

Inhale.

I choose kindness.

Exhale.

Directed towards myself.

I choose kindness directed towards myself.

Just linking it with your breath.

Inhale.

I choose kindness.

Exhale.

Directed towards myself.

One more time.

On your own.

Beautiful.

So slowly,

Keeping your eyes closed,

Let your palms return to your lap.

But this time,

Let the palms face up.

We're going to end with a poem,

And I'm going to teach you a hand mudra to place your hands in while you listen.

This mudra is very powerful.

It's a very powerful,

Powerful,

Powerful,

Powerful,

Very powerful for me.

It makes me feel quite calm,

And it makes me feel that I'm becoming more sattvic,

What we talked about early.

The definition,

Again,

Is sattva balanced,

Pure,

Peaceful,

Alert,

Clear-minded,

Filled with light.

So quite simple.

This mudra is called vayuviyana mudra,

And it helps with the communication of the different systems of the body,

Particularly with regulating blood pressure.

Vayu means air.

So we're just going to take a moment to sort of help balance your prana.

Prana can mean air,

Breath,

Life force.

So all you're going to do is touch your right thumb gently to your right ring finger,

And then touch your left thumb gently to your left middle finger.

So again,

The right thumb is gently pressing into the right ring finger.

Left thumb is gently pressing into the left middle finger.

And then you'll keep that mudra with the palms up on your lap,

Rolling your shoulders back and down again,

Gently bowing your head down again,

Spine tall.

Can you just feel your presence?

Take a moment to notice any shifts that this mudra may or may not produce within your physical,

Psychological,

Emotional,

Or spiritual landscape.

And then once you've done a check-in,

Come back to Samavritti,

Inhaling for four and exhaling for four,

As I close with a poem.

This poem is called If by Rudyard Kipling.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about don't deal in lies,

Or being hated,

Don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good,

Nor talk too wise,

If you can dream and not make dreams your master,

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same,

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken,

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken and stoop and build them up with worn out tools,

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one tum of pitch and loss and lose and start again at your beginnings,

And never breathe a word about your loss,

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them,

Hold on,

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with kings nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run,

Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,

And which is more,

You'll be a man,

My son.