Wakeful Thinking

Through this practice we'll observe the flow of thoughts and their nature without judging, avoiding, or clinging. Just observing with a sustaining focus on the breath and the result on the body based on the experience.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice. Today we're gonna just place our attention into the thoughts, The experience of just thinking on this moment. So find yourself comfortable and bring a stillness to your body. Allow yourself to just adjust your body on your seat whether it's on a chair or on a cushion and allow yourself to breathe naturally. There is no need for forcing your breath but you can start by taking a couple of deep rounds of breath, Finding yourself at ease. Inhaling, Exhaling. So find yourself in this moment noticing the experience of your thoughts today or for the last couple of days. Maybe these thoughts were happy, Positive or maybe gently dragging negative. Now we just remind you that just as things and experience around us, This comes and goes. The mind is always changing as experience. Start placing your attention around your eyes, Softening your eyes, Your eyelids, Eyebrows. Just relax in the area of the forehead and start relaxing your mouth, Your lips. It can be gently softened and maybe you can notice the tongue fully relaxed, The roots of the tongue relaxed and allow the rest of the body as neck and your shoulders to relax. Maybe you can roll your shoulders back and down if you need to adjust and just find yourself from the top of your head to the shoulders. There is a gentle weight or it can be just as water, Pouring water, Relaxing your body. Start softening your arms, Elbows close to your body, Hands on thighs, Relaxing your fingers, Your hands and allow the hands as best as possible to not move. Move your awareness now to the throat, Finding openness, Finding relaxation and gently moving to the chest, Noticing the heart, Maybe the gentle movement, Pumping, Pulse, Heartbeat. Just sensing without the need of visualizing. We're not here to form more thoughts, Just observing. We don't need to form any extra sensations, Just connect with the experience in this moment, Whether it's positive, Negative or maybe neutral and just find yourself feeling from inside out, The sense of space inside your body, The space in your belly. Maybe it's empty, Maybe it's not, But just notice and gently the awareness moves to the pelvic region, Notice the weight, The pressure, Temperature. Just being aware and gently move that awareness to your thighs, Noticing the glutes, The pressure, The weight of your body in this area, Knees fully relaxed, Calves and lastly your feet fully connected to the earth, Whether it's directly from the sole of your feet or maybe from the sides, Knife edge of your feet and just feel, Listen, Observe, Sensing, Fully connected with your breath and start gently with that sustained attention on your body. We're now resting in the presence of easiness, Stillness, Silence, Just noticing the breath and gently start moving your attention, Your awareness to the mental experience, Just as experience that we might feel in the body as aging, Discomfort, Gentle pain, Numbness, But also positive experiences as just easiness, Relaxation. It also happens on the mind, Whether some thoughts can be uncomfortable, Maybe pleasant, Find yourself where is more reactive for you. If you are building an aversion for those thoughts or maybe clinging on those thoughts, It's not about to denying or holding, It's just about to receiving and gently just letting it go. Just as your breath, It comes and goes with the same natural flow, The thoughts also comes and goes and every time that you notice you're thinking, Just open that attention, Observing in a neutral way. You're just strengthening this view without judgment and that actually creates more thinking, Thinking in why am I receiving this, If this is a past experience or maybe thinking ahead. What is the quality of these thoughts? It can be from jealousy, Greed, Lost, Or it can be also the positive side, Just as generosity, Love, Kindness. And try to find the gap between these thoughts, A balance where you can just release any of these negative sensations, Clinging sensations and to just offering openness, No judgment, Just a wakeful presence. And that's when eventually the mind stops to being so small, Chained, Restraining and gently, Little by little, The mind starts to expand, Fully awake of all the experiences without judging, Full awake of all the experiences without bringing suffering. Gently you can start adding some movement on your body, Softening your toes, Maybe your feet, And move with your hands, Elbows, Shoulders, Gently adding movement, Being aware of that movement. And you can start opening your eyes or softening, Blinking and continue with that experience, The wakeful presence that you're having in this moment, As best as possible, Continue through your day with that balanced mind.