Mindfulness in Everyday Moments

(gentle music) Hi, and welcome to this course on everyday mindfulness. I want to begin with a story my teacher shared with me early in my own practice. So there was once a monk who spent years living alone in the mountains. He had the same routines, the same rituals, and very little contact with other people. Over time, he became so good at feeling calm that he started to think he'd figured this whole thing out. Even the mosquitoes didn't bother him anymore. Surely he must be enlightened. Then one day, he had to come down from the mountain to renew some paperwork. He stood in a line that barely moved, only to reach the front and be told to wait in another line. And somewhere in all that waiting, he completely lost his temper. The monk realized he hadn't necessarily reached enlightenment. He'd gotten really good at being calm in conditions that rarely challenged him. And that's kind of the thing about meditation. We can feel wonderfully at ease sitting on a cushion, eyes closed and nowhere to be. But the real practice begins when we stand up, when we're off the cushion, in traffic, in conversation, waiting in line. So how do we practice mindfulness there in the middle of everyday life? That's what we'll explore over the next five days, how to carry a little more awareness off the cushion and into everything else. And we'll practice with the body scan. The body is naturally present and aware, always responding to what's happening within us and around us. So when the mind gets pulled somewhere else, the body can become an anchor, something we return to wherever we are. So let's give this a try, sitting comfortably or lying down, whatever feels right for you. And then just taking some nice big deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth. Now allowing the breath to settle into its own natural rhythm. And if you haven't already, gently closing the eyes and just beginning to notice the feeling of being supported, feeling the body pressing down into the chair or floor beneath you and noticing the different sounds around you in your space. And then guiding your attention to the very top of the head, not trying to create any particular feeling, just noticing what's already here. Perhaps you notice warmth, coolness, pressure. Now allowing your awareness to gently move down through the forehead, around the eyes, the cheeks, the jaw, and just noticing whether these areas feel soft or maybe a little tense. Now bringing awareness to the neck, the shoulders, the arms, hands, all the way down to the fingertips and just feeling into whatever sensations are present. There's nothing to change, just shining the light of awareness onto the body. Now allowing that awareness to move into the chest, noticing the gentle movement of the breath, that rising and falling and not controlling it, but just allowing the breath...