Sit.Feel.Heal.™ Creating a Container of Presence. Talk and Meditation with Joe Clements
In this episode, Joe Clements guides listeners through a simple approach to meditation, emphasizing the process of "Sit, Feel, Heal." He discusses the importance of creating a "container of presence"—a mental space for mindfulness and being present. Clements explores the challenges of maintaining presence amidst life's distractions but highlights that through mindfulness practices, such as focusing on the breath, sounds, and bodily sensations, it's possible to cultivate stillness and emotional healing. He introduces the idea of labeling thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in their stories, allowing individuals to develop healthier relationships with their emotions. By fostering awareness of the present moment, people can create a larger mental space for both difficult emotions and joy to coexist.
A transcript of this podcast can be found below.
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Sit.Feel.Heal. Creating a Container of Presence. Talk and Meditation with Joe Clements
[00:00:00] Welcome to the hella meditated podcast with Joe Clements.
[00:00:18] If you've been, you've been sitting with me, and you know me, a little bit. You know that, uh, I like to simplify things. I really like to simplify, especially my practice. In my practice, I really simplify it to just, Okay, learning to sit, feel, and heal. Okay, sit, feel, heal. And I feel like that's been my process.
[00:00:50] First, it was just learning to sit. And not just actually sitting, but just sitting with, being with.
[00:01:01] And we've been speaking to this a little bit, a lot of bit. Been, uh, really reflecting on this, this phrase or whatever of, uh, a container of presence. We're setting this container of just presence. And it's hard to be present, yeah? There's a lot of stuff going on.
[00:01:26] But when we shift to what is present, there's a stillness that we can tap into. There's a stillness within the flowing of life, sometimes raging of life.
[00:01:46] And I got this kind of container of presence, Jeff Foster said it in one of his writings, it's not the content of experience. It's the container that's important.
[00:02:06] So it's a practice I feel, when someone said, letting go, I want to let go, you know. I've done a lot of letting go, but that shit's still right here. I thought I let that go. The resentment, the person, the place, the thing. So it's a practice of letting be.
[00:02:30] And it begins with this, this shift of awareness and mindfulness and simplest form is, is just present time moment to moment awareness of what is happening right now. We're painfully aware a lot of times that emotions are happening, thoughts are happening for sure. We can get really stuck in that repetitive thinking, feeling stuckness.
[00:03:00] But when we can shift or just ask the question, what else am I experiencing right now? And that's this foundational tool of the first foundation of mindfulness. Feet, see, sounds, the breath, breath and body. So we shift, focus, we shift awareness. If only for a moment, that's good enough. It's a moment. And we can stack those moments.
[00:03:28] Right? And that was really helpful for me, because when I thought of meditation, it was about clearing the thoughts and just really focusing on one thing. My mind was not gonna work like that. There's a lot of things going on. So it was really cool that, oh no, I have options here. I can check in with the sensations in the feet.
[00:03:51] I can hear the different sounds. I can leave my eyes open if I want and just look at colors and shapes. And that did a lot for my nervous system. It does a lot for our nervous system. And then eventually the mind itself started calming. And then I was able to rest the awareness, rest the mind. And for me it was on the breath, because the breath for me, Sometimes it's problematic, but most of the time there wasn't a big story, you know.
[00:04:23] And what I mean by that is like, it's just the breath coming in and going out. So that's why I think a lot of meditations are breath focused. But there's sound, sound we can have preferences, and I'll get into that.
[00:04:40] So we set this container of presence is what, What I feel are the basics of this practice, and I like the basics, you know.
[00:04:53] And in this, we get to start letting go, just by letting be. And we don't just stop there, that's the whole thing. I think another cool thing about this practice, that we shift, start shifting into the feel section. You know, how am I, what is my mood? What is my, uh, preference here to everything I'm experiencing?
[00:05:22] What's the flavor? The Neapolitan ice cream flavors last week.
[00:05:31] But this practice is a contemplative practice. And we begin the shift of being with those feelings that are here. Those thoughts that are here. It's here as well. You know? So, there was a shift for me. This is where I start to begin to learn to have a different relationship with the thoughts and the feelings by getting to know them, but slowly and gently.
[00:06:02] Always coming back to that first container of presence, that first foundation if it's too much. You know? And there's a way that we can start just dipping our toes into these feelings, these thoughts, without getting all muddled up in them. Just kind of, you know, for me it was like this. I always felt it was just here.
[00:06:22] It's like, uh. But the more feet, seat, sounds, breath, look around, the feelings are here. And I can see them and experience them. They're an experience. Something we experience.
[00:06:50] There's a, an Ajahn, a monk named Ajahn Amaro. And I really resonate with his teachings. He's a Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition.
[00:07:06] And I don't resonate a lot with a lot of, uh, Really dark, dramatic teachings. It's like, it's a little heady for me, but I always liked Amaro stuff. He has a, uh, a way with the, with the words and the way he presents it, but I just want to read a little bit what he spoke to and it was just, it was really refreshing for me.
[00:07:31] And he speaks to this a little bit because within this container of presence, you know, I'm speaking really to this first foundation of mindfulness. The breath and body in the teachings, it gets really like, not specific, but just ways to really notice this body. You know, and uh, just knowing that this is happening.
[00:07:59] Feet, if you're, the simplicity of, if you're standing, just know you're standing. If you're sitting, just know you're sitting. You're sitting. If you're laying down, just know you're laying down if you're walking. All the way to, if you're defecating, just know that you're defecating. But then gets into body parts.
[00:08:18] And another one, a teaching that I really resonated with was, uh, reflecting on the elements in this body. You know, that really, I was, I liked that, I vibed on that. It was like this connection of the elements in, you know, this body. It's a little way to, um, not take things so personal and get into this ebb and flow of life, this rising and passing.
[00:08:48] It was helpful for me. But I stick to just the basic container, right? Feet, seat, sounds, breath, look around. But I like what Amaro wrote, and I'll read it, it's a couple, couple paragraphs, so see if it resonates with y'all. Thank y'all.
[00:09:12] But he writes it so, it's two, these two somewhat separate formula, the four foundations and the four elements of mindfulness. So they came together in his mind as, as he reflected on the upcoming series of classes, um, that he was teaching. And the theme of caring. For the world in a time of traumatic environmental changes.
[00:09:48] And it's from a book he wrote, uh, it's just a book of his teachings. It's called for the love of the world. And he writes, it struck me that the two might align well with each other. I started by making the obvious, obvious connection between earth. and contemplation of the body.
[00:10:18] If you think about this body, it's just the earth, it just kind of goes back into the earth. Then I considered what about water and saw an intuitive connection between the realm of feeling, Vedana is what the Pali word, and fluidity.
[00:10:43] So it's interesting, right? What about water? An intuitive connection between the realm of feeling and fluidity. The feelings are fluid, if we allow them, set in the container. Next, I found that a link could easily be made, as in the famous fire sermon. And the Fire Sermon was a teaching by the Buddha that our experiences, everything we experience can be like on fire through our senses, you know, if we're through the lens of greed, hatred, and delusion.
[00:11:31] So there's a famous Fire Sermon is directly related to the six senses, the realm of perception. How are we perceiving things? And the contemplation of thoughts and mood.
[00:11:53] Right? So it's including feelings, thoughts, mood. It's not separate from what's happening. And I think that's such a great thing. It's such a great tool. You know?
[00:12:11] Because I really needed to have a healthier relationship to my emotions. My thoughts. And he writes, lastly, I realized that the wind, which is about vibration and Dharma, which is about contemplating the characteristic of the rise and fall, the changing nature of all conditions went to, went together perfectly as well.
[00:12:44] Feelings the fluid, right? So there's stillness flowing. There's a stillness that is here, but it doesn't mean that shit's not popping off. Shit's not coming and going. If we allow this container of presence to allow it to come and go. You know, this container can get really small. And we can get kind of focused on one thing.
[00:13:09] You know, the thought, the feeling, so it's like expand.
[00:13:15] And he continues to write, of course, it could be reason, it could, I don't, I don't really want to totally read this last part, because he gets all heady with it.
[00:13:29] But he just talks about like how, you know, if you're really like a true like Buddhist or something like that, you know, that, uh, you could dismiss this whole thing.
[00:13:42] But he writes, Why should one not consider the elements in terms of the mind as well? Is not the teaching of the Buddha and indeed all of life itself an open field for our contemplation? I
[00:14:04] like that, you know. So it's referred to as a contemplative practice. Contemplate this human experience. How, what is my relationship to experience as it is, including thoughts and feelings, give yourself some space.
[00:14:30] So, you know, the tools I feel that were really helpful is sometimes just naming what's arising when it's arising, just taking note. And we begin to start letting go of the story of why I feel this way. Because the story just gets us more spent, spun out. And we get into the questioning, what am I actually feeling right now?
[00:15:00] And I think for me, the biggest shift was, where do I even feel this? Because that's what's happening, right? The story isn't usually what's happening right now. There's a thought, but it's usually something that happened in the past or something that may or may not happen. But if we pause and note it and ask, what am I feeling?
[00:15:22] Maybe there's a word. Oh, this is sadness, worry, whatever it may be. Even that, you know, can have a, some kind of ripple effect to it, but just getting into the Soma of it, the somatic experience of it. Where do I feel it? Oh, there's a tightening. Whoo. Oh, there's a heaviness. Whoo. Or there's a lightness, too.
[00:15:52] So letting go of the story, I think, is a big part of it. And just letting go by just letting be. It doesn't mean that the story goes away. You know? There's past things. There's always going to be a memory of something.
[00:16:10] But we can let go of the grip that we have held on it or push the push of pushing it away.
[00:16:22] And we do this and we set this container in able to contemplate how we are experiencing each moment. What naturally arises is wisdom and compassion.
[00:16:40] It's actually the natural response.
[00:16:46] It's a natural response when our nervous systems are regulated. And again, going back to that first foundation, it really is helpful to, it regulates our nervous system. So that we can hold what is here with more space, a bigger container.
[00:17:06] So taking note, just noting. And sometimes if we just, we can just name it, right? And sometimes, just naming it containment, just naming it. That's here. And we can see the opinions too. The preferences that get us stuck. The flavors, the flavors of the mind. I hate this. I want more of this. Or just somewhere in between.
[00:17:41] And I'm not just speaking of emotions, like, eventually we can turn towards that in that way, but first, like, just with that first foundation of just noticing the feet right now. Is there a flavor of pleasant, unpleasant, somewhere in between? Sounds, really see, you can really notice it with sound, yeah? It's like, ah, the dancing, the music, ah, sirens, uh, uh, you know?
[00:18:08] And then there's just somewhere in between.
[00:18:18] So the trick, I think, with taking note of experience as it unfolds, you can label it, right? Okay, this is a pleasant experience, or this is unpleasant, this is neutral, or whatever, whatever you want to put to it. You know, it could be this is edgy, this is smooth, somewhere in between.
[00:18:42] This is hell no, this is hell yeah. I don't know. You can play with it. Pleasant, unpleasant, I don't really use those words, but it's helpful.
[00:18:57] Just notice the pushing and pulling. But the trick, I think, of the labeling, the taking note and labeling, is not to get into the ingredients of why, right? Just read the label. Okay. That is peanut butter. We don't need to get into the ingredients. Especially of the way we feel. We know why.
[00:19:28] And when we do this, it's not just the sorrow and the, the suffering that is here. We also notice the joy and the happiness that is here waiting for us. But we've just been so, like, kinda, uh, you know, the scale has just been tipped. Cause we're just really focusing on, ugh. Cause naturally, we want to feel better.
[00:19:51] You know? But when we Kind of find balance, you know, there's joy, there's happiness.
[00:20:05] And Khalil Gibran writes, uh, just a little sentence, Joy is our sorrow unmasked. I love that, that hit. Joy is our sorrow unmasked.
[00:20:27] So again, you know, as we, Kind of evolve in our practice. It's not just, you know, checking out as checking in, checking into experience. And we start letting go of the stories and be with what and where the somatic sensations of like how we're holding it and give it space because that's mindfulness, right?
[00:20:55] The stories aren't here, but there is a sensation that is here. Present time awareness. There is a heaviness. There is. I'm experiencing this. It's not what I am. There's an experience that's happening.
[00:21:11] And maybe we can rest on that and just watch the rising and passing of it. If you have enough tolerance, if you have the window enough to be with it, cool. Watch it. Be curious. But also, if it's too much, yoga pose that shit. It's like, go right to it. It's like, that's enough. Come out of it. You know, that's my analogy, right?
[00:21:36] You do yoga. You don't want to overstretch. You just go right to the tension. Okay. And then maybe next time you can go a little deeper and be with it a little bit longer. So you get choice in it. And I think the key, I know the key for me was curiosity in this contemplation. Just curiosity. Today.
[00:22:06] Has anybody, uh, done the love and kindness practice with me or in general? Metta, they call it Metta, yeah. So there's also a practice of kind awareness and I think that's a great way to shift our awareness too by just saying a phrase. Somebody even said that they said a phrase, um, just kept saying words in their mind.
[00:22:27] And the Metta phrase is, You know, we can think of a loved one and, and send them kindness in our hearts, in our minds. May you be at ease, may you be at peace, may you be happy. And it goes so on and so on in the practice of to, um, neutral people, to, uh, caregivers, uh, benefactors, um, difficult people. But the key factor is including yourself in that as well.
[00:23:02] You know, and that was problematic for me in the beginning, but helpful. It's a helpful tool for me once in a while to just say the words, may I be at ease? Ooh, this is here. May I be at peace.
[00:23:19] May I be happy or whatever your words are. Just, and I, I feel like with that is, is, it's a request, not a demand. Cause we may not feel that way, but just may I keep doing what needs to be done. To widen the scope on this. To be able to be with this. Just kind of giving you another out. If it gets too sticky.
[00:23:41] A lot of times my practice is just tapping my knee. You're right here, dude. Because I'll be stuck in some stuff. You're right here.
[00:23:59] Yeah, I think, I don't have many more words on this, but it's a practice. And that's what I want to do tonight, is just practice this. And, you know, I'll guide us through a meditation of just setting that container, bringing our awareness to the feet, the seat, the sounds, the breath, over and over. And maybe the contemplation piece comes into what you're experiencing through the senses.
[00:24:25] If it has a flavor of like, Oh, I really am leaning into that or I'm pushing that away. It's a pleasant, unpleasant, whatever words. Just kind of noticing where the mind kind of gets stuck, where it pushes away. And just noting what is arising, feet, sensations, sound, just a sound. I don't know that's a seagull, but somebody told me that was a seagull, right?
[00:24:53] I read it somewhere.
[00:24:58] But it's just sound.
[00:25:05] Sound that doesn't go away soon enough, but there it goes. I was waiting for it to go. Go away! Don't get my chips. But when we note it, we can just, it's just sound. It comes and goes. A siren, the music, the ebb and flow. And we can maybe if you like, you don't have to, and I'll suggest that maybe in the meditation of when a feeling or a thought comes up, just name it, name it, let it be, let it go, come back, come back to whatever is a place that feels okay to come back to the breath, the feet, the seat, the sounds, and just allow yourself to rest.
[00:25:51] Be curious, be. playful if you can, you know, be light with it. But I do feel like this, this part of the practice is super important for how we take it from the seat to the street to hold more space for ourself with the things that arise and pass to be able to experience the joy and the happiness when it arises, both.
[00:26:17] And, and it's a practice. You're not going to nail it or you might nail it. Who knows? You don't even have to listen to me. If you don't want to, you get to just rest. You're already here. You did enough. I thought this would be a good practice for y'all to contemplate a little bit. Yeah.
[00:26:41] Before we shift into the meditation, is there any questions or any reflections? Any thing I need to clarify? You'd like me to clarify if I can.
[00:26:57] Practice makes the master. Yeah. I heard too, I like that. I heard practice makes progress. Right? And that's what we're doing. Yeah. Thank you for that. Anybody else? Please. Sit, feel, and heal. Yeah. There'll be a book on it. Don't worry about that. My friend said you should do Sit, Feel, Heal, A Fuckhead's Guide.
[00:27:33] Yeah, okay. Yeah,
[00:27:41] yeah. Absolutely. It's a hard one, yeah? Yeah. So, just when I'm talking about, when I talk about, I don't know everybody's lives. It's hard to find space. But in our container here. Giving that, so how we create space for the emotions, the thoughts to be here is by shifting our awareness to the senses. The more we do that, there's a bigger container to hold what's coming.
[00:28:12] Right now, I mean, there's probably a lot came up for you maybe today, so it's pretty focused there, right? There's not a big container. So the more we come to the feet, the sea, the sounds, and we'll go back there, but we keep going back out. And then it sets the container. It sets the container and gives space for you just to be.
[00:28:32] For the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions to rise and pass. That make sense? And like our friend said, practice. It's a practice. Because we're going to keep going back there, right? So, and we don't need to beat ourselves up for that, you know. Yeah, that's the hard part. Yeah. I hope that's helpful. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:57] Anybody else?
[00:29:00] Okay. So let's take a little stretch break. Bio break a couple minutes and I'll ring the bell and we'll get into a little meditation.
[00:29:24] Where is this space and how do I get it? I want that now.
[00:29:33] Don't do it dude. It's not funny. It's not cute. It's not funny. Just don't do it. No one likes, no, no one likes it. No one likes it. It was, it was, it was.
[00:29:52] Go ahead and grab a blanket or pillow if you want to set up camp in the back.
[00:30:02] It's hard to start talking about like foundational stuff, you know, like in a practical way. I'm gonna, I'm gonna refine that a little bit more, I think, but it's important, you know, the flavors of the mind.
[00:30:21] Yeah. But I don't know about you. I like, I don't sit there. It's not like part of my, Oh, this is pleasant. This is unpleasant. This is neutral. You know, it's just like, Oh, it's just a way to like, in practice to notice. Oh, where the mind leans. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Right.
[00:30:48] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I feel like the first foundation is pretty direct. You can wrap your head around it and then, you know, like met to practice. And then, you know, you do this within the feeling tones. It's like, I think that's where it's like, okay, it's like kind of floaty, but always stay on that for come back to that first foundation.
[00:31:12] I think it's super important. Right. Stay anchored. Yeah. It's like, oh, well. But we're anchored. Yeah. Yeah. And that's where the space comes. Maybe I just pictured myself like new boat. Yeah. On the ocean. Yeah. Because it's ocean. Big one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Water and mean a lot. Mm-Hmm. . Me too. So full.
[00:31:36] Totally. And when I really can't like it, I just picture myself as like a Oh, beautiful. Super cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And everything else is still flowing. That's what I like. There is stillness in there, but there's flowing. Yeah, cool. Thanks, man. I like all of those images. Yeah, one drop of water. Yeah, it's beautiful.
[00:32:07] It's like it takes the size of the skull and makes it all kind of the same. Yeah.
[00:32:20] There's no separation. The non duo part of it, yeah? Yeah. Did you just get work done? Yeah. That's super sick, dude. Thanks. Woo! Yeah, I'm stoked on it. Yeah. Cool, man. Looks good. Yeah. Yeah, it looks great. It looks great. I remember you were talking about, like, getting the neck, and they weren't sure. Yeah, I was like, well, it's a cherry, right?
[00:32:40] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right on there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe, like, they get into, like It's like they're tattooing you. And then down here. I remember when I was getting my chest done, you know. This girl was running. That actually helped a lot. Yeah. That did it.
[00:33:18] Yeah.
[00:33:26] Yeah. Great place to come back to, yeah. Alright, y'all.
[00:33:38] So set up camp. Get comfortable.
[00:33:46] Can y'all hear me in the back okay? Does it matter?
[00:34:07] I love that question of how do we find this space. Where is this space? Where is that elusive space?
[00:34:22] And so just this
[00:34:27] beginning of just shifting awareness and we're already creating this space by just showing up. Such a real kind, really radical kind act that you're doing for yourself right now.
[00:34:46] So we're already creating this space, this space between stimulus and response.
[00:35:03] So finding a comfortable way to be.
[00:35:17] If you're trying to find the most spiritual way to sit or lay down. You found it.
[00:35:36] And just shifting the awareness from outward to inward and just noticing right now. The energy of the mind from connection, connecting.
[00:35:50] Maybe matching the energy in the body.
[00:36:00] Maybe there's already ease here waiting for you that you can tap into. Or maybe it's still a little restful, restless. If
[00:36:18] there is a thought and a feeling that the mind is just in that rut, just acknowledge, okay, thinking it's here. Feeling, oh, validate it. Of course it's here. It might be big.
[00:36:43] Again, not pushing, not pulling, but just shifting awareness,
[00:36:56] checking into the senses.
[00:37:01] These sounds,
[00:37:06] sound of my voice, sound of the movement in the room, the settling in the room, sounds outside, just noting sounds.
[00:37:32] Shifting focus to the points of contact, the feet, the seat, the floor
[00:37:45] sensation of touch, the air, touching the skin,
[00:37:52] noting touch connection,
[00:38:07] letting the shoulders relax, the arms just hang on the sides, rest in the lap,
[00:38:22] taste.
[00:38:26] Taking note.
[00:38:31] Smell.
[00:38:40] Seeing, even with the eyes closed. Taking note. Shapes. Colors. A mental picture left over from a thought.
[00:39:01] And as we take note of how we're meeting experience or how this experience is meeting us. However you want to look at it.
[00:39:18] Labeling experience. A pleasant or an unpleasant. Sound. Somewhere in between.
[00:39:35] Wanting and not wanting. Taste and smell. Somewhere in between.
[00:39:53] Touch. Connection. The body. Resting. Kinds of different sensations. It's some pleasant, some unpleasant, some in between.
[00:40:13] In the middle of each moment, this dear friend, the breath, just breathing. So we take note, where we feel the breath coming in, where we feel the breath going out.
[00:40:37] Is there a pleasant, unpleasant, neutral sensation with the breath?
[00:40:55] And here's where you begin to have some choice. And steering the mind,
[00:41:06] inviting it to rest on a place in your direct experience that maybe feels neutral or pleasant. A place that you can use as an anchor when the mind's drifting, like a ship drifting to sea. Or just a place to come back to. Remind yourself that you're right here.
[00:41:40] Feed the seed, the sounds, the breath, something we see,
[00:41:53] a gentle shift, focus, awareness, if only for a moment.
[00:42:21] And when you notice that that thought, feeling, kind of rears its head, comes to say hi, label it, thought.
[00:42:36] Plan.
[00:42:40] Take note. Memory.
[00:42:47] The labels. Pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. Whatever words that resonate with you. And then shifting the focus back. The feet, the seat, the sounds of the breath. Place. That you can rest.
[00:43:25] And if this thought is connected to some feeling Some emotion. Maybe practicing letting go of the story. Why? Trying to figure it out or fix.
[00:43:47] Just for a moment, maybe shift the question to what?
[00:43:56] Maybe even more important, where? What am I feeling? Where do I feel it?
[00:44:06] And you can just touch the edges or just notice it. That could be enough. Name it and shift your awareness back. Feet, the seat, the sounds, the breath. That's your practice.
[00:44:26] Not dismissing, not pushing away, not grasping, just noticing.
[00:44:46] Remembering. This is a practice. Contemplating experience as it unfolds in each moment. Notice sounds coming to you. Notice sounds leaving.
[00:45:08] Sensations in the body rising and passing. The breath coming in, going out.
[00:45:30] And if we pay close attention, we can notice thoughts coming and going. Feelings rising and passing
[00:45:51] like leaves floating down a river, waves crashing on the ocean.
[00:46:01] And we get to rest on the shore of our direct experience. Feet, seat, sounds, breath,
[00:46:22] creating space for yourself just to be
[00:46:38] reminding the
[00:46:43] body, the mind. The right now there's nowhere you need to go right now in this moment. There's nothing you need to do
[00:47:01] right now in this moment. There's no one better that you need to be or become.
[00:47:15] You get to rest,
[00:47:34] take this time to use the practice of contemplating, noting, labeling. Letting be, letting go,
[00:47:56] or you get to just practice resting awareness, giving yourself space, maybe even picturing that in your mind. What does that look like? To have space when
[00:49:37] the focus starts narrowing, you can feel the contracting thought of feeling. Remembering, that's the point of practice. Label, note, let be, let go. Shift awareness and return.
[00:50:15] Find a place to come back home to, to land. Soft landing. Finding
[00:50:26] liberation in the exhale.
[00:51:43] Just noticing the nature of all things. Coming and going.
[00:51:51] Noticing. Releasing.
[00:52:00] Maybe even shifting. Can
[00:52:06] bring to mind maybe a soothing texture or color. An image.
[00:52:22] What comes to mind?
[00:52:30] What do you notice when something soothing or pleasant comes to mind?
[00:52:40] Can you just be with it or are you holding on to it?
[00:52:49] Notice the coming and going.
[00:52:54] Maybe that could be a place to return to.
[00:53:02] Maybe some simple words in the mind of, may I be at ease.
[00:53:09] May I be at peace.
[00:53:14] May I be happy.
[00:53:39] Coming and going. Pushing and pulling.
[00:53:48] May I be at ease. May I continue to do what needs to be done.
[00:53:57] To cultivate more ease in my life. More space.
[00:54:08] The body breathes, the body rests, all on its own.
[00:54:16] May I be at peace. May I be at peace with who I am. Right where I am. With room to grow. Space.
[00:54:36] May I be happy.
[00:54:40] May I continue to do what needs to be done. To cultivate more happiness and joy in my life.
[00:54:53] The body breathes, the body rests. You're doing great.
[00:55:03] Doing better than you can even imagine. In
[00:55:42] these last few minutes of our formal practice, I want to invite you to just let go. Let go of the practice. Let go of the phrases, the doing. See if you can notice
[00:56:04] an intuition and instinct to what the body would like right now. Maybe a shift in posture sway. Maybe the eyes want to open and close. Just notice some mind want to drift off into a thought. Notice.
[00:56:36] Or you want to just savor and rest just for a little bit more. Just the last few moments before the bell rings.
[00:56:50] Again, you have choice.
[00:57:35] And as I ring the bell, there's no rush. Just gently shift your posture. Bring your awareness back into the room. Slowly, on your own time.
[00:58:28] Let that sink in.
[00:58:33] It's well deserved. You're doing the work. Let it sink into the marrow of your being, but also let it ripple out. Let the goodness from our practice not only benefit us, but let it be for the benefit of all beings. May all beings be at peace. May all beings be at ease.
[00:59:05] May all beings know true liberation, inward and outward.
[00:59:23] Sit, feel, heal, y'all. Appreciate you.
[00:59:28] Thanks for listening to the Hella Meditated Podcast. Please subscribe, rate, and review. Stay up, stay true, be you.