Hello and welcome.
My name is Inge and it is my mission to bring you science-based insights about health,
Psychology and meditation,
So you can gain a deeper understanding about your practice.
One of the main effects of meditation is that we train our ability to focus and refocus attention.
Where we focus attention can have a profound effect on our cognition and our mood,
And training attention can help you manage your internal state effectively.
Where we focus attention,
However,
Can be very different depending on the type of meditation we do,
And the health effects we experience may also be different depending on the meditation we do.
Working from the assumption that in general a meditative practice has profound positive effects on your health,
Specific effects of different types of meditation may be different to such an extent that if you don't know how meditation shapes your attention,
The effects may actually be harmful rather than helpful.
This specific meditation is designed to help you focus your attention on internal stimuli.
Things you think,
Feel and sense inside your mind and body.
Focusing attention internally is useful if you find yourself overly triggered by external stimuli,
Such as sounds,
Images,
Your phone or other people.
Sometimes we are so busy attending to everyone and everything else that we forget what it is like to be with just us.
If this sounds like you in general,
Or like how you feel today,
Checking in with you may be a very intimate and relaxing experience.
Please keep in mind that not everyone finds it easy to feel internal sensations,
And that some find it overwhelming to focus inside.
If this is the case for you,
Don't worry,
There's nothing wrong with you.
I have created a science talk on meditation and attention to help you understand why this may be the case.
For now,
Just know that there are personal preferences in meditation styles,
And don't worry if this style does not come natural to you.
In time it will become easier,
Or you can simply decide that it's not for you.
When you are ready,
Let's begin.
Allow your eyes to close.
Pay attention to the start of your breath,
Feeling the exact moment your lungs start to expand and the inhale is initiated.
Feel the exact moment of the release of the exhale.
Keep your focus at the beginning and ending of each inhale,
And the beginning and ending of each exhale.
Place all your attention on your belly button.
Feel its movement,
Millimeter by millimeter.
Feel how it coordinates with your inhales and exhales,
Moving away from the spine on the inhale and towards the spine on the exhale.
Keep your attention there,
On the belly button,
Feeling the exact switch of moving away and towards the spine.
If you lose focus,
No problem.
Simply bring your attention back to the belly button.
The practice is to focus and refocus.
Now shift your attention to your chest and locate your heartbeat.
Feel every beat in your chest.
Feel the difference in intensity and speed with every beat.
Perhaps notice the difference in speed when you inhale and when you exhale.
If you lose focus,
No problem.
Simply bring your attention back to the beat.
Allow your attention to grow wider,
So you may feel the rise and fall of your belly,
The expansion of your ribs and the heartbeat in the chest in full synchrony with the intensity of your breathing.
Experience the whole process of breathing like waves on a shoreline,
Feeling them roll in on the inhale,
Break and pause in between and retreat on the exhale.
Allow your attention to grow even wider,
Letting your breath be felt in your whole body,
Feeling the inhales like waves of sensations in your arms,
Legs,
Hands and feet.
And feeling the relaxation of the exhales in your shoulders,
Hips,
Face,
Allowing all sensations of the breath to be present and move in and out of awareness,
Without trying to focus on any aspect in particular.
Keeping your awareness wide and open and feeling the waves of sensations as they roll in and out of your whole body.
Focus your attention on your thoughts.
Thoughts can be visual,
Auditory or verbal.
It can be any idea or story or song that plays out in your head in images,
Words or sounds.
Perhaps now your task list comes up,
Or a discussion with someone,
Or simply just a face.
You may ask yourself what the purpose of this meditation is,
Or you may feel a pain in your knee that makes you wonder how much longer you have to sit.
See if you can notice the precise beginning of a thought.
Where does it pop up?
Can you stay with it until the end?
Where does it lead you?
How does it dissolve?
If you lose focus and any particular thought takes you on a train ride,
Just notice that your attention has wandered and bring your focus back to noticing the precise beginning and ending of each thought.
Now release your focus and just allow any thoughts to come up without paying particular attention to them.
They just come and they go,
Perhaps in synchrony or in a train.
Allow them to surface without focusing on any one thought in particular.
Just let thoughts surface into your awareness and sink back underneath your subconscious.
Perhaps experiencing a constant sea of images,
Words and sounds popping in and out of awareness.
Not trying to make sense of them,
But simply being open and aware and experiencing them all at once.
Like watching a sky full of birds and clouds,
Widening the view to all,
Being aware of all of them,
But focusing on none.
Slowly bring your attention towards the end of this meditation and mindfully close your practice.
If you found this useful and if you want to learn more,
You have two options.
First,
You can listen to the Science Insight on Attention in Meditation,
Which will explain the psychological and physiological effect of the four styles.
This is useful for your practice because these four styles are often used interchangeably on meditation tracks,
Without explaining their profound differences.
Not understanding these differences may leave you more anxious after meditation,
As opposed to more relaxed,
More activated after meditation,
While you thought it would help you sleep,
Or more fuzzy while you thought it would help you perform better at work.
Knowing more about this topic will help take your meditation practice to another level,
Where you can use it to tune attention to your specific needs.
Second,
If you want to get better at each specific attention practice,
I've created separate tracks for each one,
So you can listen to each type individually.
Thank you for being curious.
Have a lovely rest of your day.
