Find your usual meditation posture.
It could be that you're sitting up in a chair,
Focused,
Calm and alert.
Or you're lying down in your bed.
Close your eyes gently.
Take a few inhales and exhales at your own pace.
And gently lengthen the spine through the top of the head.
Let your body rest exactly as it is.
And just know that there's nowhere else you need to be right now.
There's nothing you need to fix.
There's nothing you need to achieve tonight.
And just completely let go.
We always have a feeling to need to do something,
To need to get somewhere.
Take this opportunity to completely let go of that desire.
And we're going to take very slow inhales through the nostrils,
About five seconds.
You can follow me.
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Five.
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Continue breathing through your nose slowly at that pace.
And don't obsess over if it's perfectly in time.
As you arrive at the top of an inhale,
Just notice the delicate exchange as you begin to exhale.
And as you arrive at the bottom of an exhale,
Notice as you can softly exchange back into an inhale.
Notice the moment at which an inhale becomes an exhale.
And notice the moment where an exhale becomes an inhale.
And try to soften that exchange.
Bring your awareness into the top of your head.
And just relax the scalp.
Relax the forehead.
And try and focus your attention as much as you can into the muscles of the face.
The lips,
The space above the eyes,
The space below the eyes.
Release and let go of the jaw.
And notice now that the mind will be active.
It could be that you're criticizing yourself.
It could be that you're criticizing somebody else.
It could be that you're criticizing meditation.
It could be that you're thinking about food.
It could be that you're thinking about yourself.
It could be that you're thinking about how silly this is and how you'd rather be doing something else.
And soften your breath into those thoughts.
And allow those critical thoughts to be there.
Meditation is not about eliminating thoughts.
Meditation is about changing our relationship towards those thoughts.
And if you don't know what your mind sounds like,
Or if you're struggling to think,
To identify the thinking mind,
Just repeat in your head to me right now.
Hello there.
Hello there.
Hello there.
Say a few times.
And repeat in your mind.
This is the thinking mind.
This is the thinking mind.
This is the thinking mind.
And there you should be able to grasp that there is this tangible voice in your head.
We have partial control over our mind.
In the same way that we have partial control over our breathing,
But it's also largely automatic.
Softly breathe out and in.
And if you find that you follow your mind on a stream of thoughts,
And you spot the moment,
Just return to the nostrils,
Return to the breath.
For five in,
Five out.
Noticing the exchange of breaths where an inhale becomes an exhale.
And softening that exchange again.
And allow your awareness to become wide and expansive beyond the body.
Imagine that your body is not the container for awareness.
Imagine that there is no such thing as a human body.
And all you are is awareness.
Every sensation,
Every sound,
Every emotion is just a flickering vibration of awareness.
If sleep comes,
Let it come.
If not,
Just rest here.
Your body will sleep when it's ready.
Good night.
