Sit,Walk,Work (SW^2)
A Tapestry of Sensation Connecting with Your Bodys Wisdom
ladies and gentlemen may I have your attention please welcome to the sit walk work podcast a show about paying attention my name is Dominic and I'm your host and today is a guided meditation if you find today's episode valuable please share with your friends and family and feel free to leave a review wherever you listen the podcast for irish yoga nidra this is a non-movement practice so make yourself comfortable in any position that is comfortable for you but if you need to adjust or adapt to the practice along the way you know that that is that is welcomed and this idea of welcoming this idea of welcoming is a critical piece of this practice for the next hour or so that's what we're gonna be doing we'll be doing it in a lot of different ways I'm gonna be guiding you with various prompts to do it but ultimately we're just taking in witnessing feeling kind of moving through all the stuff that comes up every day but doesn't often capture our attention because we're lost in thought about something we feel that's more important so as you begin to settle in I want to start with drawing your attention just to the sensory information that's in space that you're in right now so I just want you to notice four things that you can feel in this moment might be a temperature-based feeling might be clothing or blanket on your skin might be the heartbeat it doesn't matter if you get the number but just kind of notice a few things that you can feel you're gonna notice three sounds in your environment to include the sound of silence you you we'll notice two smells in the environment one taste and along the way in practice today that's the general idea I'll be pointing your attention to various objects see what you notice and notice what you feel as we open up I always like to invite the opportunity for you to consciously connect to your motivations and understanding of your motivation helps you to clearly see if you're headed in the direction you want to be going rather than just being pulled aimlessly by the current you pick your head up and see that your things are moving like you want them to make adjustments along the way and so that being said what brought you here today put you in place to be in this community sharing this practice and allowing me to guide you through that motivation could be anything from a whim to a larger goal of wellness as you think about your intention notice how the body feels in this moment turning the attention now to the physical sense of being grounded and supported I'm feeling held and cradled by the surface beneath you it's supporting feeling tension you might be holding seeing if you can soften some of that tension allow your cushion and mat your bed your hammock simply hold the weight of you and support you in your practice feeling your body in this way points you to this sense of feeling your body in this way points you to this sense of okayness that comes with feeling grounded and supported if that feels foreign today or not really readily available when was the last time you felt okay supported and rounded and allow that memory to come forth and use it as a catalyst for feeling this in your body you you [silence] Ultimately, the goal is to get out of the overactive thinking mind and get into feeling the body. So you can begin to let go of any thoughts you may have used. See if you can harness your attention or just want your feeling in the body right now. And where you might be feeling any sense of peace, stability, and okayness. [silence] [silence] [silence] This body of ours is a complicated space. We only get one of them and houses all the various energies. It moves us through this space we call the world. Sometimes it's our friend but more often than not, it can be our enemy. We spend a lot of time bargaining with it. But what we often overlook is that when we make better friends with it, it can become a refuge as well. A place of support and stability. So we'll begin the journey through the body with our attention. Noting the sensations that are present from moment to moment. Keeping that curiosity and that sense of learning. First as you begin to bring your attention closer into the body, I want you to imagine that there's an invisible line. Coming down out of the sky, running through the crown of your head. Down your spine. All the way out your tailbone and down. Out and away from you or down and out into the earth. The center line, the sutra, up on this thread. We used to kind of focus our attention between the rights and left sides as we scan the body of the day. That's your full weight of your attention, drop into your right big toe. Then on the right foot, let the attention expand through all of your other toes. To the bottom of your right foot, to the sole of your right foot. Moving and scanning up through the right ankle. Into the calf. Into the upper part of the right leg. Right into your right hip. Pausing for a moment and just taking in the sensations you feel in that right leg. Notice if you're trying to think or force or look for a specific sensation and then just feel what's there and what's not. The attention continues to move up the right side now. Into the right half of your torso. The belly button, the actual belly itself. The right side of your chest. The right shoulder. The upper part of the right arm. The right forearm. The center of your right palm. Your entire right hand. Always sensation. In addition to maybe feeling the density, the weight of the right leg, you now have the movement of the breath. The changing nature of your pulse. Temperature and tingling and emptiness. The more you can hold your attention on the side, the more the other parts of the body while still present. So you want to backdrop. The lower part of your body. Moving from the ground of being through the ground of doing to the ground of seeing as you bring your attention up the right side of the neck. The right jaw, right knee, right nostril, right eye, all the way out, the right side of the head. Maybe feel a little breath and tear it through the right nostril from the next end. Notice if the jaw is clenching or holding the intention. Now there's a little moisture temperature in the mouth. As you sit with the sensations of just the right half of your body. There's no wrong or right way to observe sensations like this. You find yourself sensing and feeling you're doing it wrong, but you're not with yourself in this moment for what this moment is. With that sutra, that line that's running down the center of your body, your attention simply jumps over the line and falls into noticing sensations on the left side of the face. Your left eye, crown of your left head, your left ear and jaw. Each section we add in continues to expand your focus. So it's okay if you're still sensing and feeling things a little more vibrantly on the right side as you begin to widen your aperture. In the space of awareness, there's enough love and support for all that wants to be here. The left shoulder resting against the surface supporting holding your weight. The left side of your chest. The left side of your belly or torso. The left upper arm. Exhale to the left. The left side of your body is. Sensation. Letting your feeling and attention guide you further on the journey down into the left hip. The upper part of the left leg. The left knee, the left calf, down into the center of the left foot. Through the toes on the left foot, ending the left big toe. The entire left leg, heavy, supported, relaxed. Aperture wide. Notice your whole body and head to toe. Just as changing sensation. If you find that there's even unpleasant sensations, arising can soften the labels and see them as the energy that's moving and changing. Notice your whole body and head to toe. Notice if your sense of feeling grounded and supported that you were connecting with earlier in practice. Where is that in this sea of sensation? There's so much attention rest on it. You can see the whole body and head to toe. It's the time of the year when stillness becomes a very prominent being. And even moments of stillness, there's an abundance of change happening underneath the surface. Much like what's happening in you right now. You've seen witnessed the change in landscape of the physical body, but also the breath. It's been here. Moving, providing a rhythm to your entire experience. So let's give it some attention. Keeping that same centerline that you use to move through your body scan. Imagine that your in-breath is moving up the front of your body along that line. So coming from your feet all the way up through your torso, all the way to the crown of your head. And then when you exhale, the breath falls down the back, all the way back to the legs. And it creates this cycle, this wrap of breathing. You can even use your imagination to visualize each breath spinning up the front of the body. Down the back. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] Feeling the way that the breath influences the physical landscape of the body. [ Silence ] How each exhale inhale and exhale has this overlaying of acceptance, kind of built into the process. And that's accepted in the sense that we're not trying to change what's happening right now. We're trying to see if we can be okay with what's happening right now. But even if just for a moment we can put down the need to fix or change, just experience. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] At some point you might find the mind wandered. You lost the visualization if you had it or your focus slipped into something else. That's fine. Wherever you are, that's your attention to find its way back to your breath. Notice the stillness that contrasts with the movement of the breath. Space where change and unchanging parts of your experience meet. [ Silence ] The body and the breath. They have a unique relationship. It's kind of a push and pull. The way one of them is leading the party. Some days it's your breath and some days it's your body. But the way they come together leads to a result of a general sense of feeling in this moment. Allow your attention to consider. What are you feeling right now? That can be a physical sensation that you're feeling. That can be the movement of breath. It can be pleasant, unpleasant. But as you perceive it, let your attention look into it. And as you look at it, notice what it does to your body sensations to the movement of your breath. Follow. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] As we continue to slow down and get a little more still and create a little more space, it can open up the opportunity for a variety of feelings to reveal themselves, to come forth looking to capture your attention. It can be easy to slip into our patterns of pushing away or grasping or holding too tightly to what we like and doing less of what we don't like. Part of this practice is we're learning to see that we can trust ourselves enough to hold it all. There's enough space there for it. As you notice, what you're feeling and where you're feeling. See what it's like to invite in a feeling that is opposite of what is present. Just so you can start to understand a little more about that. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] As you feel what is present and it's opposite, notice which part of the body these sensations are appearing or if they appear at all, texture, size and color. What are attributes that they share? What's it like if you try to hold both feelings at the same time? [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] That might be stillness in the physical body. It might be the sense of space available in your practice. It could even be that grounded inner resource we touched into earlier in the practice. [ Silence ] This idea of awareness that permeates or kind of holds, if you will, the scope of our entire practice is often tied in with the metaphor of the sky. The sky is our awareness. It is always there. The backdrop holding everything together. But when you look up in the sky, some days you see clouds and you can't see the sky. And those clouds are our thoughts and our feelings and our breath and our body. They're going to chain. But the awareness is always going to be there. Sporting, holding, waiting for your attention to rest there and acknowledge it for a moment. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] As you've witnessed this experience of your practice, the commentary of your mind has been there. Then with you, moving like a breeze through your experience, being helpful, maybe not being helpful. [ Silence ] Take a moment and simply note what the quality of your mind is like. And then bring the practice isn't meant to change that and just to see that. And watch it change on its own. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] So our practice you've been inviting in all the aspects of your being. And the invitation, the tool that you used for that invitation has been your attention. Where you've placed it, how much or how little. [ Silence ] Because all of the experiences are available, you can begin to invite in. The gratitude, the joy, the appreciation that is here in this moment. Using the mind to help you recognize what are the things you're grateful for or appreciative of. Listening for the feeling, the location, duration, size, color, sensation. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] You can be okay. Appreciate the simplest gratitude. Made it to practice. [ Silence ] Any one of these had taken a different direction. It would have impacted your ability to be right here in this moment. [ Silence ] Arise for you. [ Silence ] I mean it's okay with the mind. If the attention is moved to something else that felt more prominent in this moment. As long as you bring your curiosity to witness and observe and learn, apply that to whatever is arising in this moment. [ Silence ] For a moment, just zoom out and see kind of all of this from the space of awareness. With that, with the eyes closed, you have a vast available range of subtleties in your experience. If you felt or had the opportunity to feel where and how joy shows up and moves through your body. The way your thinking mind interacts with each change and experience. [ Silence ] The way your feelings come, go. The spectrum which are what's available. [ Silence ] The way your breath shapes and influences the body. [ Silence ] The way your body physically holds. [ Silence ] All the way back to your inner resource, your sense of ground. [ Silence ] Back to your intention. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] Bring the intellect, your attention. Notice what you feel in this moment. [ Silence ] Notice what you hear in this moment. [ Silence ] As we begin to bring the practice to a close, we open the eyes softly notice what you see in this moment. [ Silence ] So as you take your time to bring your practice to a close, be gentle in exiting the practice. If there was something that occurred that was worth bringing for for yourself, make note of that. [ Silence ] Thank you for listening to today's episode. I invite you to check out my sub stack where we are building a community of like-minded individuals to discuss all topics related to the idea of paying attention. I hope to see you there, but until then, with Meta, may you be well. [BLANK_AUDIO]