While on my walk, I was playing with focus meditation and tuning into how the wind moved the tree branches, how a crow landed on a light post, or how everything unfolded in the present moment. But as I zeroed in on the way the top of a tree swayed in the wind, I completely unfocused on everything else and walked straight into a parked Amazon truck. So, moral of the story, make sure you are not moving. 🤣🤣🤣

I love this quote you mentioned!

I just wanted to acknowledge you for where we are and to add some context to the frame this training provides. First, to define training the way we did yesterday: "Training just means doing something over and over again with an open heart and a willingness to learn." This is sooooo important. There is nothing rigid about this course. I know many of you come from more rigid practices. This is not that. I don't care if you missed the calls or haven't practiced "enough" - you are, without doubt, exactly where you are, and the moment you acknowledge, allow, and accept that singular fact, you have started practicing mindfulness. And the cosmic joke is there is nowhere else to get. So just breathe. You put yourself in this to get exactly what you are getting. Breathe. Sit. Smile. This is it. As for the frame or container we are in. The first third covers the basic building blocks of mindful practices. Breath, body, metta. Beathe, sit, smile. The basics. Next third, we build from there. If this were a garden, I'd say we've prepped the soil, planted seeds, and watered. Now, we start to deal with sprouts, weeding, and tending. If it matters to you, and you should tell me if it does so I know for future programs, the next weeks look like this: Week 4: Eating/Walking meditations - demonstrating for yourself what operating mindfully feels like off the cushion. Week 5: Labeling meditations - starting to train yourself to notice exactly the way your mind talks to you. Week 6: Open Awareness/Focused Attention meditations - learning how to control your awareness so you're not obligated to chase every damn squirrel. In the final third, there's a large enough background of presence that conversations for gratitude make sense (that's the harvest and eating stage of gardening). Anyway, I wanted to give you all the encouragement (literally: to instill courage) to keep walking this path and to find those places where the path is rocky - go slowly enough, and you can get over anything.

The recording for Week 3 is now in the classroom along with the link to the Metta meditation.

I just saw this on IG, and it cracked me up! It's all about the breath... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDxZMm5JDvP/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==