Hi,
And welcome to pressing pause.
I'm your host Ray Louise.
And today's session is a recording of a guided group practice where we used our meditation to focus on becoming more aware of our self talk and on cultivating self compassion.
So take a moment to set up your practice space,
Your seat,
And join us.
We're going to take the time today in our practice to just focus in a little bit more on self talk.
And in particular,
How we might use our sitting practice as a place to cultivate friendliness towards ourselves to cultivate kindness or gentleness towards ourselves,
Which may sound really lovely and welcome,
Or may sound really gross and lucky and impossible.
So however that lands for you today,
That's okay.
And let that be part of your practice today.
It's all welcome.
Whether your eyes are opened or closed,
You might start your practice today just by taking a couple of really clearing breaths,
Breathing in through your nose perhaps,
And out through your mouth and just allowing a sigh.
You might take a few like that deep,
Deep breaths in really filling up and a big sigh.
Maybe two or three more just at your own pace.
You can take as many of those as you need.
And when you feel ready,
Just let your last sigh really empty.
And let your breathing just fall back into its own natural pace.
Whatever that is right now.
And as you let your breathing settle,
You might take a few moments to just check in with this body that you are wearing right now.
To notice where the body might be working a little harder than it needs to be right now.
So noticing nooks and crannies and corners of yourself where you could be perhaps a little softer,
A little wider,
A little more at ease.
And then you might also notice the parts of your body today that are maybe feeling a little heavier or more collapsed,
Where you could use a little bit of lift,
A little bit of brightness or opening in this body right now.
As that balancing of finding ease,
Settling and softening without collapsing.
As that starts to happen,
You might then just turn your attention back to your breathing.
And for our practice today,
You don't need to do anything to the breath,
You don't need to control or conduct it.
And as you entrust your breath to your body,
Just notice where your breathing feels most vivid or clear to you right now.
Where you can really connect a little bit to the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.
It might be that you're drawn just to the feeling of breath at your nostrils or your top lip.
Or you might gravitate towards the feeling of breathing in and around your chest or your heart space.
Or maybe breathing feels a little clearer for you in the abdomen today.
Just finding a focal point so that you could sit down inside that part of your body at your nostrils or inside your chest or inside your belly.
And you could feel from that place,
The sensations of your body breathing in and breathing out all on its own.
As you tune into the breath there,
Just naming this place today as home,
Home base in your body.
And throughout our practice today,
We know that the attention will wander,
That the mind is going to move away towards imagination or memory.
But we will use this place and these sensations of breathing there in the body as the home that we return to over and over again.
And so in that way,
The practice is not about staying here,
But about returning about coming back,
About calling yourself home to what is happening right here,
Right now in this body.
What you might begin to pay attention to through your practice today is how you do that calling home.
How you speak to yourself in the moments when you notice that your mind has wandered.
And in the way that you endeavor to come back to the breath in this body.
Just sitting with the body breathing in and breathing out.
Feeling the air moving through.
Feeling energy moving through you.
Feeling life moving through you.
And in the moments when you notice that your attention has moved away from your breath,
Away from your body.
Just noticing that.
Noticing how you call yourself back home to your breath.
These earlier moments of your practice today,
Just really noticing how it happens naturally.
Maybe the calling home is really gentle or loving.
Maybe it's really frustrated and judgmental.
Maybe it's shaming even.
Just notice and come back.
Starting over again with your breath in the body.
Tuning into the sensations of taking in and letting go.
And each time that you notice that you recognize the mind moving to other places,
Other times,
Other thoughts.
Just naming that wandering and inviting yourself back.
If it feels difficult to call yourself home in a friendly or kind way,
Just noticing,
Noticing that tension or difficulty.
Noticing that that is maybe not the first instinct.
You may even allow yourself today to imagine how you might call a loved one back.
How you might call a beloved home.
Tuning yourself back into the sensations of breathing there in your body.
Feeling those subtle waves of the body expanding and relaxing.
Just noticing where your attention is right now.
And even if it feels a little uneasy,
Or a little untrue at the moment,
Just see if you can try calling yourself back in the way that you would call a loved one home.
Seeing what that feels like.
Taking them by the hand.
Just gently guiding them back toward the breath.
Sitting back down inside this body.
Just paying attention to the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.
The sensations of being alive here this moment.
And this moment.
And this moment.
Once more just noticing where the attention is.
Just trying to bring yourself home with gentleness with friendliness.
Perhaps even with a sense of humor.
As you come back toward your breath in this body.
Noticing how the breath encourages this balance in your body between brightness and release between lifting and opening and settling in between widening and relaxing.
Again and again,
Just bringing yourself back home to the breath to the body.
Using each homecoming as an opportunity to practice friendliness,
Gentleness with yourself.
Driver's seat book And when you feel ready to,
You might begin to close your practice today in the same way that we started taking a few deep,
Deep,
Deep breaths in through the nose and letting out some sighs.
Take a few more at your own pace.
Thank you for joining us today.
I hope this practice will go with you where you go from here.
And I hope you'll join us in pressing pause again soon.
