Practice: Mindful Gazing

Jenna Zaffino [00:00:06]: 

Hi, everyone. I'm Jenna. Welcome to your mindful gazing practice. For this practice, you'll need a comfortable seat and also something interesting or beautiful that you're going to focus on throughout the practice. I love using an e candle. It's just a little electronic tea light that flickers, doesn't have a scent or any smoke to it, and allows me just to kind of focus in on something that is calming. Other options include little objects of beauty that you might have on your shelves, a crystal, a figurine, even a plant. Make sure you choose something that's going to stay stationary so that you can focus on it for at least a short duration of time. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:00:50]: 

You can pause the video to gather your objects and then come back and meet me. Once you've got your seat, let's be sure that we're right up on top of our sits bones, right on top of our pelvis so so that we can create some space within our trunk and torso to help our breath enter and exit our lungs with, hopefully, a bit more ease. When you're ready, we'll begin simply by focusing on your object. All you have to do at the beginning of this practice is simply watch. We'll just begin to allow our breath to come in and out of our body, trying not to force a tempo or an amount of breath. Just allowing our body to do what it does. With it each with each inhalation, allow yourself to feel the space that you create around your chest and your rib cage. With each exhalation, see if you can let any tension go around your neck and shoulders, your chest, and your back, maybe even around your abdomen. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:02:38]: 

As we continue to breathe, let's continue to hone in your focus on the object that you've chosen. Notice any distinct features that might be really curious or interesting to you. And if your eyes begin to kind of glaze over a little, just allow that to happen. There's no true right way to focus. Our intention is simply to keep our focus on the object. If you find yourself being distracted by sensations in your body or thoughts in your and I'm gonna use a bit of imagery metaphor and think about each thought, each Patient, like a cloud. It's just simply drifting, maybe in front of the and. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:04:00]: 

They eventually move on. You can find your focus once again. It'll take just a few more moments to watch and notice the object that you're looking at. And then when you're ready, either soften your gaze a little bit more so your eyelashes begin to come together or close your eyes all together. And as you take your focus away from the external environment, and come into your internal environment. See if you can conjure up an image of the object you were just looking at. Continuing to breathe almost like a painter with a magical paintbrush. Think of the details, the interesting aspects, the distinguishing features of your object, and do the best to just create a picture in your mind, whatever it was you were looking at. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:05:42]: 

And again, if your mind starts to interrupt with distracting thoughts, the focus is just to keep your intention on your object. We can allow those distractions to be part of our experience for a moment, and then we can continue to allow them to move on. Your focus is the most important thing. When you're ready, maybe wiggle your toes a bit. Then we're going to blink your eyes open in a way that allows you to focus once again on your object. As you open your eyes, notice if there was any detail that you may have missed in your picture that you created in your mind. There's no pass or fail. It's just all about paying attention. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:06:53]: 

Take another moment or 2 to just take in the image of your object. Then we're going to widen our gaze out into the room, maybe blinking your eyes open a bit more, Noticing some things around your space. Often when we widen our perspective, we start to bring in some of the agenda items that may have been trying to interrupt you as you were focusing on. That's okay. We're gonna let them be there for a moment. And then let's focus back in on our object. Just bringing our gaze a little smaller, a little more specific, looking at the details once again. And then again, widen your gaze out into the room. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:07:58]: 

If you're in a space that allows you to look farther away than 10 feet, I'll invite you to look at something that's maybe 15 or 20 feet away from you. Notice anything that's interesting to you in the room. And then one last time, let's bring our focus back to your object. Just any lasting impressions that you wanna keep in your and, thinking about textures, colors, shapes. And then do the best you can to take a breath in and out, moving your spine just a bit to bring us back into our bodies, and if you're ready, releasing the focus on your object. So the metaphor that this practice provides us with is this idea that we can zoom in or zoom out on the distractions and the people or the places or the noises that are consistently pulling our focus. Sometimes we forget that we have the ability to focus in on something very distinct without an agenda or rules or protocols or regulations. It's just an object that holds some level of interest to us. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:09:41]: 

And it's a really nice break to give yourself if you're navigating through a lot of agenda items or a lot of information throughout the day to just remember that you can orient yourself to something small and simple as well as something big and complex. I like to use this one whenever stress is high or there's more on my table than I'd like to see. I make a moment each day to just focus in on something that's interesting and curious to me. On the days where your plate is more full than you want it to be, it can be really helpful to take just a few minutes of a break, have something on your desk or in your home that you can focus in on and just be still still with yourself. Let your thoughts pass through. Feel a sense of being able to press the pause button without needing to be in action all the time. And then you'll be better resourced to go back to that full plate and make it all happen. So in order to weave this well-being tip into your week, I'd like to encourage you to choose a few objects that might hold some level of interest for you and place them in spaces where you're more likely to be inundated with information or even some stressful interactions. 

Jenna Zaffino [00:11:28]: 

Maybe that's your desk or a place in your home. With that said, see if you can challenge yourself to take a few moments out of each day to just have some focus, some time for yourself. This is the simplest form of self care and can really make a difference in helping you regulate your nervous system. Remember that everything doesn't have to be chaotic all of the time, and remind yourself that, as we say, the small moments matter. Thank you for practicing with me today. I hope you'll come back to this practice and do it again soon.  

And remember, you are strong and resilient, and the small moments do indeed matter. I'll see you next time.