Mindfulness-based stillness meditation.
Sit with an upright and open posture.
If you're laying down,
Place your body balanced and symmetrical.
As a preparation for the meditation,
Take a few slow conscious breaths.
Feel your belly expanding as you breathe in,
Then softening and relaxing as you breathe out.
Feel your body settling with each out-breath.
With your eyes gently closed,
Become aware of the space or screen of darkness in front of your eyes.
Allow your attention to rest in that area.
Up at the level of your eyebrows and slightly into the forehead.
There may be some muted shapes or colours there,
But you're not looking for anything.
Just resting your attention and relaxing your eyes.
And now,
Pay attention to the sounds outside the room,
With a non-judgmental curiosity.
Just listening.
Let the sounds come and go without thinking too much about them,
And without judging them.
And now listen to the sounds inside the room.
And now even the subtle sound of your own breathing.
Now bring your awareness to your breath.
Notice what sensations there are as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
Feel the air touch your nostrils.
Feel the slight movement of your chest and belly as you inhale and exhale.
Listen to the soft sound of your breathing.
Now bring your awareness down to your feet.
Feel into your feet.
Feel the contact between your feet and the floor.
Now move your awareness through your feet,
Noticing all the different sensations in them.
Just feeling into your feet,
Into your toes,
The whole of both feet.
And as you're feeling into your feet,
Feel the flow of your breathing.
Now bring your awareness up into your shoulders.
Feel into the muscles on top of your shoulders and into the base of your neck.
Feel the tone of the muscles,
Or perhaps there's some softness or hardness here or there,
A pressure or a tingling.
Just feel it without judging.
And as you're feeling into the shoulder muscles,
Feel the flow of your breathing.
Now as you're looking into the space in front of your eyes,
Begin to feel all the tiny muscles around your eyes and your eyelids just touching each other.
Run your awareness across your forehead and feel whatever sensations are there.
And as you feel around the eyes and across the forehead,
Feel the flow of your breathing.
And now bring your awareness right to the center of your being,
The feeling line of your body,
With a willingness to explore these feeling sensations.
Feel into your throat.
Feel down into the center of your chest.
And feel into your solar plexus or your upper belly.
And feel right down around your navel and into your belly.
Just rest your attention along that whole feeling line of your body with a caring and compassionate curiosity.
So now the soft focus of the meditation becomes some of that feeling sense through your whole body and right through your center.
Enjoy the breath as you're aware of the space in front of your closed eyes.
Feel the belly rising with the in-breath and then falling with the out-breath.
Enjoy the feeling of each breath.
Ride each breath like a wave,
Rising to the crest of the wave as you breathe in,
Sliding down into the trough of the wave as you breathe out.
If any thoughts come to your awareness,
Just let them come when they do and go when they're ready.
Then gently come back to the feeling of your next breath,
The feeling sense through the body and the awareness of the space in front of your eyes.
And now bring your attention to that silent presence,
Your true self,
That's just watching the breath rise and fall,
Watching the sensations in the body and watching the thoughts coming and going.
The background of stillness against which all movement appears,
Changes and disappears.
The background across which the thoughts travel,
Almost like white clouds drifting across the blue sky,
Like a still and silent presence,
Just watching whatever comes and goes,
Effortlessly aware,
Present,
Watching and listening.
And now rest in that sense of stillness.
If your mind wanders or you become distracted,
Just open your awareness and feel your feet on the floor again.
Feel into your belly and feel into the flow of your natural breathing.
Enjoy the breath as you're aware of the space in front of your closed eyes.
If you find yourself waiting for something to happen or judging yourself because something isn't happening,
Don't take the thoughts too seriously.
Just open your awareness.
Feel your feet on the floor.
Feel into your belly and feel the flow of your breathing as you're aware of the space in front of your eyes and that silent sense of presence,
Stillness,
Just watching.
Just check your posture now.
If your head has come too far forward or backward,
Gently correct your posture from the inside to become upright and open again.
And now as we come towards the end of the meditation,
You may like to consciously dedicate the value or the virtue of this meditation.
The dedication may be as simple as,
As you breathe in,
Saying to yourself,
May I be well and filling yourself with that intention.
As you breathe out,
May others be well,
Holding in your mind,
Your heart,
Friends or family or any other group or individual.
May others be well and may I be well.
And now allow your breathing to become a little stronger.
Emphasize the inhalation.
Start to reactivate and re-energize your body.
You may like to move your hands and your feet,
Your fingers and toes.
Have a big stretch.
May you be well.
