Taking A Pause, Befriending And Gathering The Scattered Mind

This is a guided meditation with the intention to taking a pause, to befriend our present moment experience and to support ourselves in gathering the scattered mind that so often has a tendency to wander somewhere else.

Transcript

Taking a pause,

Befriending and gathering the scattered mind.

This meditation is designed to support us in settling,

Anchoring,

Grounding the mind,

Moment by moment.

We'll start first by focusing on the body,

On the breath,

Doing a little body scan,

And then we'll explore what it's like to to realize that the mind is not always where we intend it to be.

You can do this practice either lying down,

Mat,

Rug,

Couch,

Or sitting firmly and comfortably on on a chair or cushion,

Meditation bench.

It's quite important to to find that posture that that will support you,

That will support you in having that intention of being really awake and present with with what's happening moment by moment.

A posture that will support you in in sensing the body as a whole,

Whether it's sitting or lying or or in another position.

And if it's comfortable,

You can begin to to soften the eyes or lower the gaze,

Maybe even closing them.

And we can explore a place where we might be able to anchor some of our attention,

And this could be supportive throughout today's practice as well.

Maybe checking in with different regions of the body or something that's outside,

That's quite present for you,

That you can you can sense and feel in this moment,

Such as the feet,

The contact of the body on the chair or on the mat,

The hands,

Wherever they're at right now.

Maybe something external like like a sound or some sounds that you can you can pay attention to,

Or the sensations of breathing as the breath comes into the body and as the breath comes out.

Knowing that at any point in today's practice,

You can let go of the guidance I'm giving and just bring your attention to any of these anchors if you choose.

We'll move into a brief body scan,

Gradually including more and more of the body.

We can start by gathering our attention to the toes,

To the feet,

And scanning,

Moving the attention up the ankles,

The lower part of the legs,

Up to the knees.

Just acknowledging whatever it is that you can notice there.

Maybe a sensation,

Maybe there's no sensation.

Simply registering a blank,

A neutrality,

Is perfectly okay.

Moving the attention through the upper legs,

To the sit bones,

The hips,

The buttocks,

The genitalia area,

And we're not trying to make anything happen.

We're simply noticing what's already here as our attention arrives.

Moving the attention to the fingers now,

The hands,

Scanning up through the wrists,

Up the forearm to the elbows,

The upper part of the arms to the shoulders.

Exploring the possibility of just noticing,

No matter how temporary or how fleeting the sensations may be.

Tuning in to this coming and going,

This changing,

This flux.

In a sense,

Becoming curious,

Maybe even like a friendly interest to what you're noticing in the body in the moments.

Moving the attention to the belly and the lower back,

The chest,

The sides.

Maybe getting a sense of the rising and falling as the body breathes.

Moving to the neck,

Moving the attention to the face and the head.

Reminding ourselves that there's no right way to feel.

So whether the sensations are pleasant or unpleasant or neither pleasant or unpleasant,

Seeing if it's possible just to experience it just as it is.

Widening the attention now to the whole body,

Including the points of contact with the chair or the mat.

Becoming aware of the body as a whole in this moment,

Aware of the body,

Cradled,

Held moment by moment in your awareness.

Practicing simply being present moment by moment with this experience.

And if you'd like,

You can begin to rest,

Rest the attention on the sensations of breathing,

Whether that's around the nose or lips,

The chest,

The abdomen.

If you choose,

Making the breath your anchor for now.

As we explore becoming fully,

Fully alive to the sensations that are created with each and every single breath.

Simply receiving each in-breath and simply letting go of each out-breath.

Receiving and letting go.

Receiving and letting go.

Again and again.

Remembering you can always focus on some other anchor,

The feet,

Sounds,

The body.

Whatever it is,

Taking a few moments to simply sense and be with moment by moment as best,

As best you can.

Sooner or later,

You'll probably find that the mind has wandered away or the mind continues to wander to thinking or planning,

Remembering,

Daydreaming,

Whatever it is.

When this happens,

While this might happen,

There there's no need to criticize yourself in any way.

The mind is simply doing the best it can to help.

When you realize that the mind has has drifted away from where you had intended it to be,

Exploring the possibility of not needing to rush back or to to bring the attention quickly back as if something wrong has happened.

Instead,

I encourage you to slow down,

To take a deliberate pause,

To explore where the mind has wandered to.

Maybe even saying to yourself,

Here's thinking.

This is what thinking is like or here's planning,

Here's daydreaming.

This is what daydreaming,

This is what planning is like.

Maybe even cultivating a sense of kindness or gratitude,

However strange it might sound,

Kindness and gratitude to to the mind.

Marveling,

Being in amazement of the ability for the mind to think,

To plan,

To daydream.

And then perhaps after after that we can gently escort our attention back,

Back to the breath or the body or sound or something else.

Sometimes the mind gets completely lost in thoughts,

Might be somewhere for a few seconds or even a few minutes,

That's okay.

When this happens it might be helpful just to just to reground ourselves,

To really slow down this coming back.

Again,

Acknowledging where the mind has wandered to,

Maybe taking some time to adjust the body,

The posture,

Do a quick body scan,

Finding our anchor and then and then repeating the process.

And it can be very helpful for many of us to remember that noticing that the mind has gone and bringing it back is the meditation,

This is the practice.

In other words,

We're seeing the mind wandering as an opportunity to cultivate patience,

To cultivate compassion.

As we begin to to see more clearly the patterns of the mind,

Growing the strength of our attention by by bringing it back over and over and over again,

Resetting back to to the present moment,

So we're more likely to to see when the next pattern arises or as it's beginning to arise.

And I'll give you a few longer moments of silence now so you can you can practice.

Mind wanders,

Acknowledging with gratitude,

Regrounding,

Coming back to focus,

Allowing whatever arises in the body to anchor us in the present moment.

And now as this practice slowly comes to a close,

Perhaps making an intention to to take more pauses throughout the day,

No matter how small or short,

Even or especially during busy times,

Just to feel the feet on the floor,

Listen to the sounds or feel the breath.

It can it can make a significant difference,

Helping us to deal more skillfully with whatever is going on in our in our life,

As it unfolds day by day and moment by moment.

Thank you.