Welcome to everybody to our Sunday night. Meditative space. I suppose it begins to feel like, doesn't it, the space that we find on a Sunday night and on a Sunday evening and it doesn't feel like the evening actually.

We've got really beautiful sunshine outside. Still feels like the, the evening is young, but But it's not really. So yeah, so big welcome to everybody as they start to come in and there's a few more people coming in as we speak.

So let me just share what I wanted to work on tonight. You may have noticed that we're really building our mindful muscle during this period because we've been working with a different meditation each week now. I think this is the 17th week that we've been doing this during this.

COVID period and I thought it was about time that we started to work on our mudras, and the mudras are, it's where mindfulness and yoga kind of come together, but the mudras can be really helpful for strengthening our mindful practise. So I was going to start there and then I was going to move on to, quite a, quite a complex, challenging. Meditation, which takes us all the way through, this process where we get used to being in the present moment and just accepting, what is.

And then we move to a place where we just sort of play with mindful choosing. And it's choosing and committing to try and find that, The word Nike apparently means just do it, I suppose that would be the logo, wouldn't it, and It is that sense of moving to sometimes getting to a bit like the breathing space with action step, but it's sometimes just getting to that point where we focus on a change or something that's important to you, something about our lives that we want to change, and we see if we can find. The ability to take action or within the Nike words, just, just do it.

And then If we allow ourselves to go there, we then take the opportunity to recognise that, you know, sometimes it's great to have a go and to think about whether am I in a place, but if we're not, Let go. And so it, it really is a complex meditation, but in order to, keep us to task, I was hoping to use, the most simple of the Mudras, and I thought over the next, Period we could explore a different mudra on each Sunday that we, we meet, so starting with the most common and the the the the simplest one, which I think you'll all recognise. So it's called the chin mudra and .

I tend to do the chin mudra. I, I like the chin mudra because it's just so simple. So as you can see from the picture, it's when you find yourself into your meditation position, and you know with me I'm not strict on that, that we don't have to, you know, sit on our in that lotus position or anything like that, mainly because I, well, mind you, my, with my yoga, I probably can now, but I don't want to.

And just connect your index finger with your thumb. And when we do that, we just form a seal. And then the other three fingers in the hand, we just extend out gently.

But we turn our hands so our palms are facing down and we just place. Our hands over our knees, so we just let that seal just sit and just hang there over our knees. And then what we do is we recognise that because what we find is if we start a meditation that way.

Sometimes when our mind wanders, Something really quite, it's a little bit strange actually, but as our mind wanders, our seal. Parts And I wanted to play today with both meditations actually, with when we notice that our attention has wandered off and we go looking for it, we find it, we smile. We gently escort our attention back to this present moment, and as we do, we close our mudra.

We close our jin mudra again. And If we start to notice that our mind is beginning to shift, we can just take our attention and gently just begin to explore the swirls and the patterns on our hands to bring ourselves back into. The present moment and I thought then it might, the mudra might actually help us when we do that quite difficult meditation later because there are sort of 3 to 4 phases there.

So as we finish one phase, we can let go of the mudra and as we come into the new one, we can close again and I'd be just curious to see, I really find this helps my meditative practise. But, and this is the most simple of the moras. So I thought tonight what we would do is just very gently start with a mindfulness of the breath.

But a mindfulness of the breath for about 56 minutes. But what I would like to try and do here is without as much guidance as we would normally give. And To see if we can't practise and see if we can't just notice whether or not, like me, when your mind goes a wandering.

Both your left hand and your right hand. The thumb and the forefinger just part, and when we bring our hands back, we close that and find that seal again. So we're just strengthening and deepening our mindful practise by the use of the mudra.

So I have just noticed that somebody has moved my bowels, so I'm just gonna fetch them. Oh yeah. Got them.

So, if we can get ourselves into our seated meditative position, we're just going to do a very simple seated meditation. Where the bells will bring us in, and the bells will bring us out. And it's just a mindfulness of the breath, a real staple of mindfulness.

So if we can get ourselves into a comfortable but not too comfortable position. And when you're seated in that position, just bring your index finger in both hands. And just make that seal with your index finger.

And your thumb And then turn your hands or your palms. Are facing down. And just allow your eyes to close fully or partially.

And just place your hands. Palms down With the mora in place. Finger and thumbs together.

And when we're ready, Let's just begin. So we just bring our attention. To our finger And our thumb Of the right hand.

To begin with. And we just noticed. That seal.

And we take our attention to the left side and we notice. The seal there Where our finger and our thumb just join. And we get a sense of.

Quite an intense feeling of being grounded. Just by this. Closing Of the finger and the thumb, the creation.

Of this seal this bond. We noticed that the bond is there. The seal is in place.

We take our attention. Let me go find our anchor. It is upright.

And we follow our breath as we breathe in. Let me breathe out. Breathing in.

And letting go. Breathing. And for the next.

Few minutes just you. And your breath Just breathing. And if we notice that Our mind is Struggling to just stay.

With the breath We take our attention and we find our. 4th finger and our thumb. My finger that the thumb, we just find that seal and we choose to just break that seal.

And we Go and look. Where our mind is wandered off to and we smile. And we perhaps name what it was just the sound.

Of cars in the street. Just a thought, just a feeling. Just a loss of focus.

And once again we bring. Our finger and our thumb together. And we're back.

We find the breath once more. Let me just breathe. Perhaps bringing curiosity.

Mindful curiosity to the The actual process of the breathing. Noticing Where our in breath begins today. Noticing the temperature.

Of the air that we breathe in. And the temperature of the air. We exhale.

Using curiosity. To hone our ability. To just use every breath.

To remain present. In each moment. And if we take our attention at any time and we find But the seal Between the finger and the thumb is.

Absent or Feels less firm. Just press them together again. Just gently palpating.

The Just the bad really of the thumb. My finger. And if we want to, we can.

Explore for a second. Back in the moment. Using that mudra.

Just to connect with the present moment again. And we come back to the breath. Let's just stay with the breath again now.

Just sitting Meditating. And if your attention gets pulled away. Very gently, just let the fingers come apart.

And as you bring your attention back. Just reconnect. That seal.

Take your attention back to the brain. Once more. We stay with this until we're here.

The things say balances. So we're just beginning to add this. Extra dimension today, just learning this extra dimension to our meditative practise and Just keeping that going.

I'd like now to Move really quite a few notches, I suppose, because this isn't a a a a simple meditation by any means. Various stages to this meditation and it comes from the work of a guy called Tom Lavin. An American who practises out of Reno, and he's a really great, mindful practitioner in the.

In the field of functional contextualism, and I really like a lot of his work. And this is one of his meditations that Is one that If I'm feeling things have got a bit stale, but there's stuff happening and I'm just letting it happen and I'm Being too passive in my life. And, I, I recognise that there's a shift needed in me, or there's a shift needed, and it's my shift to make.

And to go in and explore that. Using meditation, giving yourself the option of the let go. If what we find is that now isn't right or we don't have that level of commitment now to make that shift.

But there are, as I said, 3 stages, 3 or 4 stages to this one, and I thought we might try and use the mudra. Just to let go of the finger and the thumb. Before we go into the next phase, so that we can just refocus and use that connection with the Finger in the thumb to reseal and to move to the next part of the meditation.

So we really are . We really are up in our game today, aren't we, in applying. The mudras to the meditations.

And I will use probably up to 10 different murras, dependent on, what I'm trying to achieve or how I'm working with mindfulness with clients. But the one we've been working with is the most simple and, Jinmudra. So let's just stay with that.

So Our second meditation today is, what is as it is? What is as it is, sometimes known as accepting, choosing, committing, and taking action, but I just prefer what is. As it is.

So if we Just go and find the mudra in our right hand. And our left hand and We just close our finger and our thumb together to make that connection. To close the circle to.

Find that seal. To get a sense of the commitment. We allow our Hands palm down.

Just rest on our knees. Making sure that we're not hunching. The position of our hands is relaxed.

And we begin what is as it is. So very slowly. Just ask you all, please.

To just take a few. Deeper than normal breaths. So we just take a breath all the way in.

Filling up tummy. And our chest and let go. That's good.

And another breath filling in. The tummy in the chest. Feeling that inhalation.

And letting go on the exhalation. That's good. I'm just sitting Allowing Finding that seal with the finger.

And the thumb. Which brings us our commitment to stay with the meditative process. We just allow Whatever thoughts.

Whatever feelings. Whatever mind pictures. To just emerge.

And to just be there. And some we like. And some we like less.

We noticed that. Like a cloud of butterflies. The thoughts.

The images, the feelings. Some of these butterflies we Allow to rest and settle on it. And the other ones we sort of bat away.

I think we don't need to. And just let them be! We take a few more deep breaths.

Once again, all the way into the tummy. And the chest and let it go. Another deep breath, just filling.

Tell me And the chest like a wave. A ripple just filling the tummy. .

Just letting our thoughts. And our feelings be there. Gain not swiping at the butterflies we don't like.

But just allowing them to settle. OK. Again, more deep breaths so lovely.

Deep its fill that tummy. Fill the chance. Let go again.

Noticing that we're no longer judging. The thoughts, the feelings that flutter in like these butterflies. We're no longer trying to make the Butterflies that we like less.

Go away! We're just letting them. Yeah We sit with that.

And now let's take our attention to our chin mudra. Let's let go. Feel the loss of that connection.

As we move into the next phase of this meditation. Let's bring our concentration back again and rejoin. Resale That mother.

And we just connect with the fact that Accepting these thoughts. And these feelings. Doesn't mean that we like them.

We like some of them. And some of them we like less. And accepting situations.

Doesn't mean that we like. Situations, it just means. We let them be there.

And as we sit, Breathing Meditating. Just allowing The thoughts and feelings to be there. The situations that our mind is connected with.

To just be there. As we settle into accepting. What is As it is.

Just stuff And if you Having a hard time. Accepting what is. With anything, a thought, a feeling, a situation, a doubt.

Just go ahead and accept. I'm having a hard time. Accepting what is.

The I can accept. But I kind of wish the thought. Or the feeling We're different.

And they're not. Just noticing that I'm happy and willing. To accept what is.

As it is, even if It's a part of me that wants things to be different. I can accept them all. Once again, let's Let go of that murder!

Bree And prepare to move to the next part of the meditation. We bring our Finger and our thumb together again. And after accepting what is As it is.

Just focus on. What is it in life at the moment that is important to me? To you guys.

And is there something about? The really important stuff of life. That we wish to change.

And as we sit here being curious, is it? Do we want to change the perspective. That we take to this important area of our life.

What do we want to change? Situation. Just allowing ourselves to connect with What is it in my life?

I would like to change. And if you think you can Move forward and begin to make that change. And that This change that you discern would be Positive.

Good, mindful things to do. And am I ready to engage in It's Nike A branch. Be willing to Just do it.

Be willing to take. Positive. Assertive action.

Where's my willingness to. Make a move. Let me sit with that for a few moments.

And we let go. We allow our mind to rest and We part the finger in the thumb of both hands. Let me move into the final.

Stage of this meditation and Once again we gather our mindful. Curiosity. We gather our concentration and we bring our finger and our thumb together again.

Using that seal, that connection to. Build our mindful ability to just stay. And we noticed that If that situation, that issue.

It is not currently changeable. It's not the right time. I don't feel able to.

You're struggling with your perspective. Let go. Just like God Let it go for today.

And just let it be. It's OK. Let it go.

And just move on. And in doing so, What we're saying is yes to life. Is sticking.

And allow our focus to shift. To the other aspects, the other features, the other parts of our life. That really matter.

The other parts of our life. But we value. We just said.

And we just. Bring a level of gratitude. And we thank ourselves for having made this time.

To go explore. Where we are with the stuff in our life. When we're ready, Very gently now.

Just allow the finger. And the thumb of both hands to palms. And when we're ready, You smile.

And we bring ourselves back. To on Sunday evening. As the sun begins to go down outside.

Well done. So Quite a difficult meditation, but I think made easier. By Just enjoying.

Adding in the connection of the moras. So, next week. What I thought we might do is introduce you to a different one of the moderates, and this is one that helps us very much with grounding.

And perspective taking and acceptance. But I just wondered whether And what we do for a few sessions is add the mudras into our meditative practise with a spirit of curiosity just to see what we learn and where this takes us on our Sunday evening explorations together. So I hope you enjoyed.

Tonight's meditation. Remember guys, If you were to look back and say, you know, I wish Mike would do, go back and do the mountain meditation or the lake, or I wish Mike would go back and have another go at that gratitude meditation or wish Mike would, Do a little bit more around compassion, self compassion or. Maybe even loving kindness meditation.

Because you know you only need to just go onto your chat function if there's something you'd really like. I'd like to stay exploring these mothers, but the choice of meditation can be yours. So if there's a particular favourite or if there's one I haven't explored yet that you would like me to have a look at and share with you on a Sunday, really willing to be led by you guys.

And if not, then . I'll look at my arsenal, which is just vast of meditations and try and fit them to what's happening in the world around us at the moment, so. If you do come up with any sort of requests, just let the webinar vet know via Dawn.

She's always wonderfully there. Oh, somebody's just come in. We'd like to visit the Treehouse meditation.

Well, why don't we do the Treehouse Meditation? Next week and see if we can't Bringing the mudras into the treehouse meditation. So I'm just writing that in my diary.

Yeah, it's lovely meditation. Let's use, let's look at the treehouse meditation. Thank you, Catriona, we'll do that.

And Stephen's just come back. Mountain is my favourite. I also like the loving kindness, but happy with you on plan though.

Oh, thank you guys. Thank you, Stephen. So we'll do the, why don't we do the tree house next week?

And maybe the mountain. I think we can probably get both done on that one. Treehouse Why don't we go with that for next week?

There we go. That's, that's been brilliant. Unless something's really happening in the world and it feels like we need something different, but that's great.

So have lovely, lovely, Sunday evenings. Enjoy your tea and, see you next week, guys. Thank you very much.