So let's practice together for these next 20 minutes or so.
Closing your eyes and we switch modes from doing into being.
And we just let life,
Let the process of life and emotions and sensations,
Sounds just happen.
We just receive.
So we start tuning in to what's happening,
Starting with sensations in our body.
Start receiving sensations in our shoulders,
Becoming aware of the space that our shoulders take up.
You may feel just a humming or fizzing,
Quite subtle sensations.
Sometimes our shoulders can feel tight.
And just bringing our awareness to tight muscles can allow them to release.
Maybe not instantly,
But we're starting the process.
Of relaxation.
Aware of sensations in our belly,
Our chest,
The front half of our body.
Becoming aware of or start to feeling,
Start feeling the stretching of muscles and skin as we breathe in and out.
So it's like we're just sinking into the chair.
We just allow all our muscles to release and fall under the weight of gravity.
No effort at all is needed.
Becoming aware of the body relaxing and sitting.
You might find I'm starting to find I start yawning when I'm relaxing.
Now the body is getting rid of any stress that's accumulated so far this morning.
Feeling yourself sitting.
Those sensations,
Bringing them to the foreground.
Feeling our feet on the floor.
You know the whole lower body.
The more we practice this,
The more easier it becomes.
We can at any time just refocus our attention throughout the day.
So as we sit,
A few things could happen.
We can find ourselves lost in just fantasies or just general thinking.
It can be neutral thoughts,
Just random chitchat.
And then it's quite easy to bring ourselves back.
They don't have any emotional weight to those thoughts.
And sometimes we find ourselves thinking or emotions come up that are more difficult to ignore.
And the whole point of mindfulness is that we don't ignore them.
It's not as if we welcome them in if they're unpleasant.
We just allow them,
Allow them to pass through as quickly as they can.
They're pleasant emotions.
There's no harm sometimes just dwelling in those because they feel good.
We should enjoy them while they're here.
So you can keep them going if you like by thinking the thoughts that brought them up.
Thinking about people you care about or whatever's bringing that emotion.
But don't fight it when they do go.
And then the other thing is sometimes we encounter sensations that you know we don't like in the body.
Can we just allow them to be there as well?
Now they're here.
It's about facing directly into our reality rather than avoiding it.
And if we do that we accept and then we become calm.
So back to guiding.
Just bring the sensations of your body as a whole.
Sitting.
Making sure your jaw is relaxed,
Eyes,
Cheeks and face.
And we just have a strong sense of being grounded in our bodies.
So our bodies are the place that our attention comes back to when our minds start to wander or we get pulled away by our thoughts.
It's like there's a tugging from our minds that's trying to pull our attention away.
And then sometimes it succeeds.
And sometimes it doesn't.
Our mindfulness is strong in that moment.
So to help us maintain that awareness and mindfulness of the same thing is just now know that we're breathing and just follow one breath.
Let the out-breath come naturally and the in-breath come naturally.
Maybe even feel your whole body breathing as a whole.
And sometimes we come to a meditation where our minds are really busy.
And we have the confidence that if we just allow it,
If we just sit and allow the thoughts to just peter out,
Do the practice,
Hold the body,
Maybe hold the thoughts as sort of energy in the body,
Then they will eventually calm down.
Maybe it's time to meditate a bit more or relax a bit more if we're really busy.
So we never get to that state.
Sometimes can we even allow our thoughts that we don't like?
Sometimes we berate ourselves for thinking strange thoughts.
They don't mean anything.
They're just the mind just throwing out things.
Sometimes they feel unpleasant,
But yeah,
Just feel that unpleasantness and then it will go.
You've got the confidence to sit through.
I think every meditator,
Well all the meditators have sat through stuff before and got out the other side.
You know every meditation is bliss.
Expanding now to feel sounds,
Also hear sounds,
Receive sounds.
Inside or outside.
So a metaphor for meditation is we are sitting in our chair,
We're sitting,
Things come,
Visitors come into our awareness,
But we don't need to get up from our chair to follow them.
You've got that sense of being grounded.
Sometimes if we're calm,
The breath is the only thing that we are aware of.
Deep in meditation then.
And just check we're not trying too hard.
Make sure your jaw is relaxed,
Face come back into the body a bit.
Reconnect with breathing.
So we start to see that this is it,
This is not trying to get anywhere or change anything.
This is our life unfolding.
We're here,
We're present.
We're not thinking about things.
Actually experiencing our life moment to moment.
And some moments we're not thinking about things.
Peaceful and calm and some moments something comes in that we might judge or wish wasn't there.
Can we just allow it?
That's the changing our relationship to the unpleasant is a massive part of mindfulness.
And if we can do that then life becomes more easy.
Less reactive.
It's more chilled.
So do a final scan through your feet.
In the lower half of your body.
Include arms and hands.
And we're feeling rather than visualizing.
So just the physical sensations we've become aware of.
Warmth,
Coolness.
Movement.
Feel your shoulders and chest expanding.
Tongue and jaw relaxed.
Front of the neck,
The throat relaxed.
Cheeks,
Eyes,
Scalp,
Forehead.
We have a sense of the gratitude and thankfulness that we've allowed ourselves this time.
Not rushing around from job to job.
Our bodies need rest.
But it's not just about resting.
It's a new way of living that we're learning.
Most people never touch it.
Deep breath,
Have a stretch.
Come out of meditation briefly and then just settle back into it.
So there's always a,
You know,
You come in and out,
Settling stillness again.
Feel your body sitting,
Eyes open.
Can we leave it there?
