Awareness Of Thoughts (MBSR)

As Joseph Goldstein says, "It is amazing to observe how much power we give unknowingly to uninvited thoughts: 'Do this, say that, remember, plan, obsess, judge.' They have the potential to drive us quite crazy, and they often do!"

This meditation helps us practice seeing thoughts as mental events that come and go. If we practice in this way we are able to create more distance from our thoughts, changing our relationship with them to provide us with greater choice and awareness.

Transcript

Welcome to this 30-minute meditation on awareness of thoughts.

We'll practice noticing becoming familiar with our patterns and exploring how we can let the thoughts pass by as mental events that come and go.

Simply practicing resting in the awareness,

The space that's bigger than the thoughts,

With who we are beyond all the wanting and having and doing.

The intention of the practice is to bring our awareness to our present moment experience,

Moving our awareness gently from the breath to the body,

Then to sounds,

And then to thoughts.

We practice with an attitude of non-striving,

Of accepting and non-judging.

So finding a position that's comfortable for you could be sitting on a cushion or a chair or a stool.

If you're on a chair,

Having both your feet on the ground and maybe closing the eyes if that's comfortable for you.

Otherwise,

Resting your gaze gently on the ground,

Noticing where you're in contact with the ground and feeling how you're being supported and feeling your spine growing tall,

Your head balanced on top of the spine,

Shoulders relaxed,

Allowing the hands to rest.

It might be on the lap or on the thighs or the knees.

Just finding a place where you can hold yourself without needing to be too tense,

Feeling a sense of alertness,

Of dignity,

Of nobility,

And then taking a moment to simply be,

Just to be present with your experience,

However it is in this moment,

Not needing to do anything,

Just opening to what there is in this exact moment of your life.

And as we settle,

Starting to become aware of the body breathing,

Of the breath entering and leaving the body,

You may have practiced in this way many times before,

But as best you can,

Bringing the curiosity of the beginner's mind into the practice,

As best you can,

Paying attention to each and every breath,

Seeing what you notice,

Just being present with the breath,

Letting it flow in and out,

No need to control it,

No need to change it,

Just allowing the breath to happen,

Letting your life unfold one breath at a time.

Throughout the practice it's likely your mind may wander off,

Away from where you placed your attention.

Each time it does this,

Just bringing it back with this gentleness,

With this kindness,

Remembering it's just what the mind does,

It's not a mistake,

And starting again,

Seeing each time you do this as a moment of mindfulness.

So for now,

Bringing your attention to the breath,

And simply noticing each breath rolling in and rolling out,

Just letting each breath come and go,

Just being present to the rhythm of the breath.

If you can,

Watching the entirety of each breath,

From the beginning,

Through the middle,

To the end,

And starting all over again.

And then expanding the awareness to also include the body,

The body sitting,

Becoming aware of any sensations you can notice in the body.

So it could be contact with the chair or the cushion or the stool,

Touch of clothes on the skin,

Feeling a breeze on the skin,

Tingling in the body,

Attention,

Or something else,

Or maybe nothing at all,

Which is also fine,

Not needing to find anything special,

Simply noticing what sensations are there for you in this exact moment of your life.

Maybe noticing how the sensations change without you doing anything.

Some may be short,

Others longer,

Noticing how they just come and go on their own,

How they change in intensity,

And how new sensations arise.

Maybe noticing how,

Like the breath,

Each sensation has a beginning,

A middle,

And an end,

Allowing the body's sensations to be at the centre of the attention.

And if the attention wanders at any time,

Gently escorting it back to the body's sensations,

However many times as is needed.

Remembering that if you encounter anything that's just too difficult or too challenging during your practice,

You can always move back to the breath or the points where the body is supported by the ground,

And rest there until you feel ready to venture out to explore more.

And then moving the awareness to the sense of hearing.

So not seeking sounds,

But just being open to whatever is there to be heard,

Not needing to find anything special,

Just noticing what sounds are there for you in this moment.

Maybe noticing how the sounds also change without you doing anything.

Some may be short,

Others longer,

But noticing how they just come and go on their own,

How they change in intensity,

How new sounds arise,

And how,

Like the breath and body sensations,

They also have a beginning,

A middle,

And an end,

Allowing the sounds to be at the centre of our attention.

Maybe being curious,

Noticing where in the body you can feel,

Hear the sounds.

Is it just through your ears,

Or can you feel the sounds anywhere else in your body?

And moving the awareness to thinking,

To the realm of thought,

As best you can,

Seeing thoughts not as distractions,

But rather bringing your awareness to the thinking process itself.

So maybe noticing how a thought arises,

And then what happens.

Some may be short,

Others longer,

And then at some point they dissolve.

So trying as best you can to notice the beginning of the thoughts,

The middle,

And the end,

Without getting caught up in their content.

And notice how,

Like the sounds in the body,

Some have more intensity,

More emotional charge than others.

Just seeing what you can notice,

Watching the thinking process.

So you might want to imagine the thoughts as clouds in the sky,

Seeing them simply coming and going on their own.

Some of the thoughts might be small,

Light,

Fluffy clouds.

Others may be dark and stormy,

And some might even be more like a fog that encompasses the whole of the mind for a while.

So with curiosity,

Just observing what's there for you,

And as best you can just allowing the thoughts to move through the mind,

To come and go.

Practicing looking at thoughts rather than from thoughts.

Or you might want to imagine the thoughts as leaves falling from a tree into a stream.

So imagining that we're sitting on a rock next to a stream,

And the leaves,

Which are our thoughts,

They fall from overhanging branches,

Dropping into the stream.

And we're just watching the leaves,

The thoughts,

As they float by.

So again,

Just practicing looking at the thoughts rather than from the thoughts.

Or you might want to label the thoughts to help get some distance,

Some perspective.

It could be a general label,

Thinking.

Or maybe being more specific,

Planning,

Worrying,

Dreaming,

Remembering,

As best you can not getting caught up in their content,

Not engaging with the stories,

Even if it's compelling and insightful,

Or even if the thought tells you that it's important.

Seeing the thoughts simply as mental events that come and go,

Whatever their content,

Their emotional charge,

Their urgency,

Whether they're pleasant or unpleasant,

Seductive or repulsive,

Just letting them come and go.

Maybe gently saying,

Hello thought,

Goodbye thought,

Practicing looking at thoughts rather than from thoughts.

And as best you can,

Staying,

Resting,

In this place of gentle,

Spacious awareness,

Just letting the thoughts come and go.

If we notice that there's a steady stream of commentary happening,

Then maybe seeing if you can just simply turn the volume down on that,

Like you would a TV or a radio,

So it becomes like a background noise only.

Maybe noticing if there are gaps between the thoughts,

Just being curious,

Being present with our experience,

With gentleness,

Kindness,

And of acceptance of whatever is happening.

And if we notice we are carried away in the current of thinking,

If we find ourselves downstream with a thought,

Practicing coming back to observing thoughts,

As separate elements that come and go,

Thoughts moving through an open and spacious mind.

There's no need to try and make them come and go,

Just letting them arise and pass without engaging,

Maybe labelling them or saying,

Hello thought,

Goodbye thought.

It's moment by moment and breath by breath,

As you sit here,

As you live your life.

And now,

Returning the attention to the body,

Being present to your experience of sitting here,

In this moment,

In your body,

Noticing how the body is being held,

Being supported by the ground,

And then noticing your body breathing,

The gentle rolling in,

Rolling out of the breath,

This constant feature,

This constant companion in our lives.

Maybe you can feel movement in the belly or the chest,

And taking a moment to just be,

To allow yourself to be exactly as you are in this moment,

However that is.

Maybe thanking yourself for taking the time to practice today,

To nourish and care for yourself,

To strengthen your muscles of awareness,

And remembering that practicing in this way helps create access to a wider,

Deeper,

More open way of being,

Of living.

And then starting to move your body gently,

However you need,

The meditation practice is now complete.

Reviews

Gentle and simple instructions delivered by a calming and soothing voice. Thank you 😊

Perfect. I am learning. Thank you 🙏

Perfect for my morning meditation! I loved the little reminders of the pillars of mindfulness and there was a great balance of guidance and silence. Thank you for this one!

Thankfully this also included awareness of breath, body and sounds, so I could settle into the awareness of mind practice

Perfect MBSR; standard awareness practice. Loved it.