Hello,
My name is Shannon Algeo and welcome to this practice of attentional ease.
Our attention is such a powerful and important quality that brings us from the external world of the five senses into our internal landscape of interiority,
The inner space.
And today,
In this digital age,
Our attention is so easily distracted,
Fragmented,
And pulled in so many directions that this is a practice to nurture and protect the gift of your own attention and to find ease as you become a director and a steward of this attention that we have available to us right now.
So let's begin.
And you might just start by looking around the room and noticing a detail with your vision in the external environment.
Perhaps there's a plant or a window nearby,
Taking in a physical detail through your sight.
And then when you feel ready,
Go ahead and close your eyes and begin to sense into your hearing.
And perhaps you're hearing my voice or your own breath or a sound in the distance.
And feeling the sense of touch,
The texture underneath your hands.
Perhaps your hands are on your lap.
You might feel your pants or the chair around you or your cushion.
Now bringing your attention to your nostrils,
The inner nostrils,
And noticing if there's any scent that you can sense through your nose or perhaps just a little bit of your nose.
The coolness of the air.
Now bringing the awareness to the inside of the mouth,
The inner lips,
The inner cheeks,
The jaw,
The teeth.
And perhaps just swallowing,
Noticing the taste,
The sense of taste inside the mouth.
Now moving to what neuroscientist Dr.
Daniel Siegel calls the sixth sense,
Which is the internal body awareness,
Interoception,
The awareness of the body on the inside.
So notice how you're feeling inside the body right now.
Any sensations,
Communications,
Experiences of knowing how you are feeling and sensing from the inside of the body.
Imagine this direction of your attention stewarding the attention internally.
So you're bringing this awareness of the external world and coming into this inner seat of awareness,
A place of ease within.
And it might be helpful to bring the awareness,
This attention to the navel and feel the body inhaling.
And feel and notice the body exhaling.
So the breath is an ally of attention,
Of attentional ease.
When we slow down to notice the breath,
We can stay with this moment and with the attention right here,
Right now.
Noticing what does it feel like to breathe with ease?
What does it feel like to have a buffer or a cushion around your attentional capacity?
In this practice of slowing down and breathing and being here with yourself and your inner experiencing is an act of nurturing and protecting your own attention so that you can be in choice,
In power,
In agency about where the attention gets placed as you move throughout your day.
And in closing here,
We're going to bring the hands just in front of the chest and the palms are going to face each other,
But not quite touch.
They're going to be as if you're holding an invisible ball.
Imagine that you're holding,
That you're nurturing and protecting your own attentional capacity with ease.
Imagine you're holding your attention between your own two hands right now taking a few breaths to be the steward and director of your powerful attention.
And when you feel ready,
You can bring the palms together to touch.
Take a deep breath into the whole body and exhaling,
Honoring and acknowledging yourself for showing up for this practice.
Thank you for joining me.
Have a beautiful day.
