Good morning and thank you for joining me on this Monday morning mindfulness meditation.
Start the week off with some good alliteration there.
A lot of people don't like Mondays and I believe that's because they're either clinging to the past,
Maybe wishing that weekend was a little bit longer,
Wishing they could have done a little bit more,
Or maybe some anxiety about the week coming up.
Maybe you have a lot of work,
A lot of responsibilities.
Today I want to work on being present,
Present with the moment where we are right now.
So let's go ahead and get that started by finding a comfortable seat,
Whether that's in a chair,
On a meditation cushion,
Or on the floor.
As long as you're comfortable and you can keep your back up straight and rest your hands on your thighs or in your lap,
Palms up or down,
Whichever you find more comfortable.
And just continue to breathe normally.
You don't have to change anything else.
If you are comfortable doing so,
Go ahead and close your eyes.
If not,
You can pick a point in the distance and just gaze softly at that.
And let's bring our awareness out as far as we possibly can.
So listen to something very far away.
Maybe it's cars going down the street or an airplane.
Maybe it's the wind or rain.
But just spend a moment observing at that distance.
And let's bring that awareness in a little closer.
Let's bring it into our home.
Not necessarily in the room that you're in just yet,
But maybe something across the house.
Maybe you a TV on in another room.
Maybe somebody's in the kitchen moving around the house.
Just spend a moment at that distance.
Now let's bring that awareness into the room that we're sitting in right now.
What can we hear there?
Maybe the air going through the vents.
Ceiling fan.
They have a computer in the room.
Maybe there's a little fan on that going as well.
In my case,
I have a cat a few feet from me quietly snoozing.
And now for the best part,
Let's bring that awareness all the way into our body.
First,
Let's notice the points of contact.
Maybe it's your feet on the ground.
Maybe where your legs contact the cushion or the seat that you're sitting on.
Notice those points of contact reminding you that you are here attached to the earth.
Next,
Let's notice our skin.
The temperature.
Is it cool or warm?
Not judging or or wishing to change.
Just noting.
Let's move further in.
On your next breath in,
Feel the air passing your nose,
Entering your chest.
Feel your ribs rise and expand and make room for that breath.
Maybe following that breath all the way down past your diaphragm.
And then follow that breath out.
Feel your chest start to lower.
Contract a little bit.
Feel that air leaving your lungs,
Out your nose a little warmer than it was when it came in.
Focus on your heart.
Can you feel your heart beating?
Maybe you feel it in your chest or somewhere else in your body.
Maybe you can hear it just reminding you that you are alive and here.
And now I invite you to join me in the most basic of meditations.
Simple mindfulness meditation.
For this,
You don't need to change anything.
You don't need to change positions.
You don't need to change the way you're breathing.
Just breathe.
On that breath in,
We're going to count to 1.
And with the breath out,
2.
On that next breath in,
3.
Next breath out,
4.
And continue that all the way till you get to 10.
And then start over.
Just counting in your head or out loud if you're called to do so.
And continue to notice the feeling of your breath in your body.
Maybe notice that little pause between breathing out and breathing back in.
Just calmly counting.
If you find yourself distracted or loose count,
No judgment.
Just redirect your thoughts back to either the last number you remember or start back over at 1.
Getting the 10 is not the goal.
Being aware of where your thoughts are going is the goal.
So as you breathe and count,
If a thought pops up,
All you need to do is let that thought drift off and go back to counting.
Again,
Not judging.
Not assigning a value to that thought.
Just letting it float on and get back to the count.
This exercise helps train the part of our brain that keeps us in focus.
Much like every time you lift a heavy weight with your body,
You get a little stronger.
Every time you note that distraction and gently redirect your mind back to the focus,
You get just a little bit stronger and a little bit more capable.
So as you do this,
We don't want to focus on how many times we get distracted or how long we go between distractions.
Just know that you're doing the work and you're getting stronger and you're getting more focused every time you come back to a practice like this.
I invite you to do this practice several times a week,
Several times a day if you really want to,
Or just as needed.
Anytime you feel your brain getting a little squirrely,
Feel the monkey mind taking over,
You can come back to this for a few more minutes just to help get yourself back on track.
I find it very useful when I feel my anxiety cranking up,
To have a seat or pull over the car and do this simple exercise for a few minutes.
If you'd like to continue,
You can always pause this recording and spend a few extra minutes with this practice.
If not,
I'm very thankful you joined me for this little bit this morning.
I hope you learned something.
I hope you continue to use this tool as often as you need or want to.
But if we are going to wrap up right now,
You can go ahead and start by bringing some slight gentle movements into the fingers and toes,
Maybe rolling out the wrists and ankles,
Gently moving the head around.
Softly open your eyes or release that focus.
Thank you so much for joining me this morning.
Know that you're always welcome here.
Your presence matters.
You matter.
Go in peace.
