Hey there everybody,
This is Kristen from Teaching Balance,
And I am here with you with this week's mindfulness meditation practice.
And we are now in a new month,
And that month is around the theme of slowing down and savoring.
It is of course also December,
The month of all of those winter holidays.
And so it seemed only fitting for our first invitation for this week for this particular video and practice to be centered on the idea of savoring the specialness of the holiday season.
Now before we get into thoughts on that,
I want to acknowledge the fact that not everyone really digs the winter holidays.
It's not everybody's jam,
Which I completely understand.
And so I like to think of it almost as like that spectrum of really disliking to being that person who just,
It's their favorite,
Literally their favorite time of year,
And all the things in between.
Because although I am specifically referencing the holiday season,
It can also be paying attention to and savoring things associated with just winter,
Or you know the longest night of the year and that sort of thing,
Or you know,
Just having winter break,
Which for most people I believe is about two weeks,
Which is delightful.
And all the things associated with that.
So,
You know,
Certainly there's a lot to be savored if you're already into it,
Like the carols and the dress-up parties like for New Year's and special foods,
Treats,
You know,
Meals,
Traditions,
All of those sorts of things.
Or,
Or and,
All the things that if you don't find any of that to be appealing,
For whatever reason,
Which is entirely understandable,
Those other things like I mentioned before,
Just getting perhaps a little more sleep with the longer nights,
Fingers crossed hopefully,
Or just really savoring the deep rest that could be associated with having those two weeks off,
Or more,
Or whatever your circumstance may be.
So that's my invitation to you this week,
Whether you're the you know,
No thanks,
But no thanks,
Or eye-roll-y type of person regarding the holidays,
Or like,
Whoo!
You know,
Wearing your Santa hat like in October,
Wherever you are,
Anywhere on that spectrum,
My invitation to you is just to savor the specialness of things that happen this month in whatever way they might manifest themselves,
From experiences,
To people,
To you know,
The sky's the limit.
So let's go ahead and get our practice started.
I think I'd like for this practice to be a little bit more spacious,
So I'm gonna do less talking,
But I am gonna interject from time to time just as a reminder,
In case your mind wanders,
Which of course we know it often does.
Excuse me one second.
All right.
Let's go ahead and settle in,
Dropping into your body,
Allowing yourself to invite in those longer,
Slower,
Deeper breaths in whatever way feels right to you.
Eyes closed or gaze lowered,
Just allowing yourself to savor this short opportunity to rest,
Even though there is a bit of effort associated with resting or anchoring your attention to the object of your awareness,
Breath or sounds or the body,
Whatever it may be.
You're also taking a very profound restful break from constantly following your thoughts.
They'll pull you away and then you notice and just let go and bring your attention back to this restful present moment of just being aware of what's happening to you in this moment in real life right now.
Noticing where the mind is now and if it's wandered into thought,
Imagining,
Planning,
Whatever it might be,
Just seeing it for what it is and allowing yourself just to release the images and whatever is associated with it and then just pivoting your attention back to where we are.
Resting your attention once again on your breath or the body or sounds.
No judgment,
No worries.
Checking back in,
Noting where your attention is and if it's in this moment,
On your anchor or object for your awareness,
Allowing yourself just to continue resting your attention there.
And if it's wandered off into thought,
Remembering that's not a problem.
That's actually the opportunity for you to strengthen your mindful awareness.
So never something to see as problematic and then just shifting your attention back once again,
Again and again.
For our final minute or so of our practice,
If it's interesting to you,
Allowing yourself just to simultaneously deepen your focus and attention while also trying a little less hard.
It's almost more about relaxing into this presence in whatever way feels right to you.
So let's play with that until the final bell.
That's our ten minutes.
Sorry about that.
So happy holiday season,
Happy December,
Happy winter,
Happy soon new year and allowing yourself just in whatever way feels right to you.
Really giving yourself permission to savor anything that stands out to you this month and in this season that you want to just pay special attention to.
And I think you get the idea,
I think I've already talked about it enough.
So as always,
Thank you so much for taking this time for yourself and thank you for allowing me to accompany you on this journey,
And I will see you again next week.
Take care.
Bye.
