Today's exercise is called Joy and Peace.
And what I'll be inviting you to do today is just intentionally cultivate pleasurable
feelings as you practice.
To do this,
As you inhale,
I'll be asking you to repeat the word joy in the mind,
And
then as you exhale,
Using the word peace.
And as I guide you through the session,
I'll invite you to try and focus on any aspects
of your experience which could be perceived as pleasurable,
And these can be really small
or subtle things.
The great thing is,
Is even if you don't feel anything particularly pleasurable as you practice,
The simple act of being in the headspace where you're looking for the positive is enough
to make the difference here.
Our minds are hardwired by evolution to be negative.
Some estimates suggest 90% of our thoughts have a negative tinge to them.
This made sense on the plains of Africa where there were threats to our life all the time,
But not so much today.
And so in this exercise,
By intentionally focusing on the more positive aspects of our
experience,
Even for a few minutes,
Can have positive impacts on us for the rest of our
day,
And at times can also be enjoyable as we practice.
So to begin,
Just making sure that you're sitting comfortably.
Sitting with a straight back,
With a relaxed but alert posture if it's possible.
Closing the eyes.
And to begin,
Taking a few nice and big in-breaths through the nose,
And then releasing through
the mouth.
Breathing in,
Letting go,
Filling the lungs,
Releasing,
Final one,
And releasing,
Gently
allowing the breath to return to normal.
Closing the mouth and breathing through the nose for the remainder of the session.
Getting a sense of the state of the mind right now.
As I mentioned previously for many of you,
There'll be a sense of unease,
Agitation,
Worry,
Busyness in the mind.
This is the normal state of the mind for most of us.
So with a sense of kindness,
Just acknowledging this is how the mind feels right now,
And
that's completely fine for the purposes of today.
Taking a moment to feel grounded,
Noticing the points of connection between your feet
and the ground,
And your legs on the seat.
Then moving on to focusing on sounds,
Just allowing hearing to unfold exactly as it wants
to.
There's no right or wrong sounds to hear,
An absence of sound is fine to notice,
Louder
noises are fine to notice.
Just allow hearing to unfold exactly as it wants to.
I'll now invite you to move away from hearing,
And to begin focusing on the breath in as
much detail as you can,
And connecting with the breath wherever you feel it most clearly
right now.
Whether it's at the chest,
Or the belly,
Or at the nostrils,
It doesn't matter,
Just
go with the one that feels most pleasurable and most natural for you today.
And as you follow your breathing,
Seeing if you can now use the words joy on the inhale,
And peace on the exhale,
To help you focus on your breathing.
No need to say the words out loud,
Just use them as anchors in the mind.
And as you focus on your breathing,
Really see if you can allow yourself to feel the
most pleasant elements of the experience right now.
These can be really subtle things,
Like the fact that the breath is automatic and effortless,
It happens all by itself,
There might be a sense of calm knowing there's nothing you
need to do right now,
Or there could be other very subtle aspects of the breath which just
feel right.
Not getting upset if the mind wanders off,
Instead seeing if you can turn this into a
positive experience,
Taking the opportunity to put a subtle smile on the lips as you practice.
It might feel forced or a bit silly at first,
But it will help to relax the muscles in your
face,
And what started as a fake smile can turn into a real one the longer you stick
with it.
So with that smile on the lips,
Just returning your attention back to your breathing,
Joy
on the inhale,
And peace on the exhale.
It's almost like you're sucking in the joy from around you on the inhale,
And then just
relaxing into peace on the exhale.
Just remembering that it doesn't actually matter if you can't feel anything pleasant
or joyful right now,
As long as you're in the frame of mind where you're looking for
the positive,
Where you're looking for the pleasurable aspects of your experience,
This
mindset shift is enough.
Looking for the positive will put you in a more positive frame of mind.
When you feel ready to,
Just letting go of all effort,
Dropping the focus on your breathing,
And doing nothing for a moment or two.
Connecting with any smells or sounds that might be present in the room right now,
And
finally checking in with the state of the mind,
With a sense of curiosity rather than
judgement,
Just seeing how the mind feels now compared to the start of the session.
And then gradually and gently opening the eyes,
And maybe stretching the body or waking
up the body in any way that feels right.
Congratulations,
Amazing effort for turning up to practice today.
Hopefully you saw the value of looking for the positive aspects of our experience.
Some of you may have felt a bit of joy or peace subtly as the practice went on.
And for those who didn't,
Just remembering once again that the simple act of looking
for the positive rather than looking for the negative as we do from almost all of our lives
is enough to shift your state and should have positive benefits for the rest of your day.
Have a great day.
