The following practice is led by Sonia Lockyer,
Host of the Wellbeing Ritual Club.
With your beads or not,
If you're not going to work with your beads but you would like something to anchor you in your body while you practice,
Then you can just use your hands.
You take the tip of your thumb to the tip of each of your fingers with each round of the mantra and that way you've just got something to keep you in your body and grounded and your hand will lay down in your lap as you do that.
If you're working with the beads then each round of the mantra is a bead in your hands,
Just pass the beads through from one hand to the other.
And we're going to do a 20-minute mantra of so hum,
I am that I am,
And there's really,
There's just not that,
It's not that complicated.
You repeat so hum silently in your head,
You allow your breath to start to weave its way through that and then it becomes naturally a pulse,
A pulse of the mantra and the movement of your hands and the breath.
And there are three key stages to meditation and neither one of those three is more important than the other.
Stage one is when you're hooked and you're all in,
You've just started in your life,
Okay I've got it so hum,
So hum,
So hum.
And then stage two is you notice,
Oh I'm not doing it anymore,
I've gone down a rabbit hole,
Whatever that rabbit hole may be.
And stage three is I'm going to come back to the mantra so hum,
So hum,
So hum.
It can be so tempting to think that you've somehow failed when you go off down a rabbit hole but that is absolutely not true.
Noticing you're down the rabbit hole is part of the practice.
Okay so coming to sit nice and straight with your spine,
You can sit in your chair,
You don't have to be on the floor,
You can lie on your back,
You want to feel supported,
Whichever option you're going for.
We're leaning in towards the path of ease at all times,
We don't need it to be difficult.
And either with your eyes open,
In which case just glancing down at the floor,
Or with your eyes closed,
Breathing in and out through your nose.
Noticing your sense of hearing.
What sounds can you hear in your space and outside of your space?
What's the furthest sound you can hear?
And bringing your sense of hearing closer,
Can you hear the sound of your breath?
Sometimes even the sound of your heart.
And pressing your tongue gently up into the roof of your mouth,
The softest of smiles,
Maybe not even visible to your lips and your eyes.
A melting of the shoulders away from the ears,
A sensation of weightiness to the pelvis as it presses against the floor,
You allow yourself to arrive,
To land.
The breath gently passing in and out through the nose.
Unless the nose is blocked,
Some people have hay fever this time of year.
If you can't breathe through your nose,
Then of course you breathe through your mouth.
Let it be soft.
Let the practice be gentle.
Acknowledging that we are grateful to the teachers that have come before us to share these practices.
And acknowledging our intention to practice for ourselves and by doing so,
Practicing for the collective,
That the fruits of our labor may be shared by all.
We're starting,
If you have the beads,
You begin at the queen bead there,
The one largest bead of the set.
Otherwise just beginning by taking the tip of your thumb up to the index finger.
So hum,
20 minutes at your own pace.
So so so so so Noticing the journey down the rabbit hole where it takes you,
Smiling,
Returning to the practice.
So so so If you need to move,
Then move.
You don't have to be perfectly still.
So,
Breath and mantra.
So hum.
So so so so Feel free to do some circling if you find you're accidentally becoming a bit tense.
So harnessing the mind with the mantra.
So hum.
15 minutes.
So so so so so so so Noticing the practice.
Noticing the rabbit holes,
Smiling at yourself,
Returning to the mantra.
So so so I'm keeping the face so I need to frown.
So so so so so so Eight more minutes to go.
So hum so Stay with the mantra.
Stay with the breath.
Notice the quality of your practice.
Every time is different.
So so so so Five more minutes.
So hum.
So so so so Final three minutes.
So hum.
Staying gentle.
So there's no getting this wrong.
So so slowly starting to circle your head.
Releasing any tension in the neck.
Changing directions.
So move the elbows.
Maybe full arm extensions if you have space.
And then circling the heart.
In both directions.
I'm coming to settle offering our thanks once more to the teachers who came before us and those teachers that will come after us.
Offering our thanks to the land beneath us.
And offering the fruits of our practice to all beings that we can all remember how it feels to connect inwards.
Namaste everybody.
