Day 6: Clear and Free

It's day six. We're going to start again in Virasana, unless of course you prefer your crossed leg shape. Please be comfortable. Choose the seat that's best for you. But if you are starting in Virasana, release your inner thighs down and draw your outer ankles in, make sure there's no, you know, unnecessary pressure in your knees, and then get centered on your sitting bones.

We'll repeat the counting meditation from yesterday. So close your eyes. Place your hands however you like to place them. And then begin your process. Intune the physical.

Sometimes when our eyes are opened, our attention is more outward, we're a little less sensitive and self-aware. Now that you've closed your eyes, really feel your body. You need to adjust your feet in any way or your sitting bones on your support. Make that adjustment. Grounding down through your base, through your foundation.

Aligning center with the pelvic bowl. Standing up tall through the spine, stacking the vertebra. Adjusting the shoulder girdle. Shoulders in alignment with your ears. And then maintaining that bit of effort that's required to sit well, to sit tall.

And then the relaxation process. Grounding through your entire body. And then the awareness shifting towards the more subtle aspects. Your mood today as you get quiet and check in. Quality of your attention, your mind state today.

And observing energy. And then as you move through all those check-ins. Taking attention again, of course, to the breathing. And noticing how your breath feels today. It's always changing.

All of these check-in points are a way of recognizing all the change that's constantly happening. So there's what's changing and there's what's not changing. These meditative practices help us distinguish between the two. And over time to more clearly connect and see that which isn't changing. So observing how your breath feels right now, natural breathing.

Very regularly notice students in meditation changing their breath, breathing hard, trying to make the breath extended, jai-y. Really in pure meditation the breath should be natural. And just noticing what it's like right now. And then refreshing your memory on the technique. We begin to count downwards starting at 50.

We begin by counting exhalation. Natural exhale is 50, inhale is 49, exhale is 48, inhalation 47. Just like that, well held by counting both exhale and inhale. So beginning that process down to 20. If you make it to 20 without distracting, then only count exhalations.

Inhale is silent, just count each exhale. However if you're completely lose track of where you are, go back to 50 and begin again. Good. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you make it to 20, remember just exhalations and there's this sense of slowing down even more. Inhalation is silent, just count as you breathe out.

Thank you. Thank you. You may notice, the more comfortable you are with the technique, the more focused your mind becomes, the slower your breath becomes. So when we're deeply relaxed and focused, the breath is slight and subtle and slow. So you may actually sense the slowing down process, parasympathetic nervous system, very, very calm.

Thank you. If you make it down from 20 to 1 and you're still needing technique, go back to 50 and start again. But remember, don't get overly attached to technique. If you find yourself no longer counting but just very quiet and present, great. The technique fades out.

Use it as you need it. Today could be one of those days where your mind is very busy and it's very hard to stay on track. We all experience that. Then you use technique. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. And if you need any kind of postural adjusting, now is a good time to remember to sit tall. If there's any tension building anywhere in your body, remember to release and relax. Home stretch of the meditation, using technique as needed or dropping into quiet stillness. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now as we bring the meditation towards its close, noticing, moving from technique, noticing what's going on internally, noticing quality of attention and energy and emotional state.

And again, that deepest connection point, whatever you call it, however you would describe it, hopefully it's starting to feel much more clear and visceral. That spiritual connection, accessing that inner space that's not changing, that isn't conflicted or challenged, clear, calm, luminous and peaceful, hopefully starting to touch that place within you. Now let's finish by again bringing the palms together at the heart. Namaste. And thank you for meditating with me.

See you tomorrow.