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

I'm Catherine Nikolai. Thanks for sitting with me today.

Please settle in. If you're sitting on a cushion or just on the floor, sometimes it helps to kind of move the flesh out from under your sit bones, so those are grounded and your knees rest downhill of your pelvis.

But really, you could be in any position.

Let's draw a deep breath in together and sigh it out.

One more, inhale, and out.

Good.

So let's spend this first minute or so, just gently shepherding your attention into the present.

Probably by starting to focus on the feeling of breathing.

But it could be any sensation in your body as long as it's happening now.

Just tuning in, picking up those signals of what you can feel.

And if you notice your mind is somewhere else, no big deal.

Just see if you can bring it back and start again with the very next breath. Thank you. I'm I'm

I'm

I'm I'm I'm The Thank you. Thank you. Thinking about just us sitting in solidarity today with each other and with communities in distress.

Doing this not because it's somehow going to fix what's happening or fix even how you feel about it.

These are not normal times, and your body knows that, and I'm guessing your mind is tired of trying to comprehend it all. So I'm not going to

say you should calm down or feel any particular kind of way. Just going to give you some space

to notice what's there and sit with it. Thank you. I'm going to I'm

I'm

I'm Thank you. Thank you. Still aware of your breath.

The way it rises and falls. The way sensation in your body is always shifting. Thank you. Everything about our experience

...