Welcome to First This, a short mindfulness practice and message for any time.

I'm Catherine Nikolai. Please make yourself comfortable, remembering that any posture is just fine.

If you're feeling really tired today, maybe lay down or take your legs up the wall.

If you can't seem to stop moving, you could do this practice standing or even slowly walking.

It only has to make sense to you.

Breathe in and let it out.

Again, in through the nose, out like a sigh.

Good. Find a point of focus.

Maybe it's your breath moving through your nostrils.

Maybe it's a sensation in your body, like the touch of your clothes, or even a sound in the room.

Something that is happening now that you can tune into

to keep you here and in your body.

Okay. to keep you here and in your body. Then just pay attention to it. Then just pay attention to it. If your mind hops away instantly,

that doesn't mean you aren't good at this or can't do this. It means you have a functional brain. You are a human.

Or we're practicing a different way of being in the world.

Takes patience.

Moment to moment awareness. Thank you. Thank you. As a yoga teacher, I often described practicing yoga as making shapes, noticing how they feel, and being calm about it.

That's it.

You make a shape with your body, you feel the sensations, you practice responding with equanimity. And this is really just the same, we're just holding the shape.

Students often got caught up in the idea of doing it right,

needing to categorize themselves as good or bad at something,

wanting to strive and achieve.

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