So meditation is not just about sitting on the cushion and paying attention to your breath.
It's about bringing that.
Same level of attention to the rest of our lives.
And one place to bring that level of attention is to our break times when we step away from whatever it is we are doing at the time and take a break in our day.
I came out here on my patio.
Having seen clients all day and I was going to sit outside.
It's a beautiful day here in Tucson.
And I was going to do some notes and look at client notes and make some references,
Etc,
Etc.
And then I thought,
It's such a nice day.
Why not just sit and B.
Jon Kabat-Zinn talks a lot about the difference between being and doing.
And how meditation is about getting us out of the doing mode and into the being mode.
Now when we're sitting on our cushion or in our chair we're focusing on the breath,
On our senses.
One of the practices we do on a regular basis is a kind of rotation of awareness where we focus on our breath.
And then our body,
Then our breath.
Our thoughts.
Focus on sounds.
And then we engage in what's called choiceless awareness,
Where we just let the.
.
.
Awareness,
Go wherever it wants to do.
I often say there's a wonderful description of choiceless awareness in Thoreau where he talks about sitting on his porch the entirety of the morning just watching the world unfold,
Watching from his front seat at Walden Pond.
And you can have your front seat at Walden Pond,
Wherever you are,
In your backyard,
On a park bench,
Just taking a break and being.
And one of the things we can do is to focus our attention on our senses.
And it can help to be in a nice setting.
I'm in my backyard with a lot of flowers which you can't see on the other side of me.
And I also have a cup of tea,
And a tea or a coffee can help to ground our senses.
So this is what I call a tea meditation where I focus just on drinking tea.
Noticing the scenery.
Feeling my breath.
And just letting my thoughts wander.
Just being here without having to do anything.
So I invite you to join me.
And practice on your own.
We just take out our key.
Or coffee or whatever beverage you have.
And the senses again are a way to bring ourselves out of our thoughts.
And into the present moment.
Feel the warmth.
Of the cup.
I can notice the color of the tea and the tea leaves.
A few tea leaves are floating on the top,
Most of them have gone to the bottom.
It's a very nice fragrant green tea.
My wife always gets good green tea from China.
And taking a sip.
Breathe.
I don't know if you can hear the water fountain in the background.
Wind is blowing the leaves again I have a whole array of Spring flowers shooting up.
Other green shrubs and cactus.
Some fruit plants just beginning to sprout.
It's a blue sky.
And we just sit and we take it in.
Nothing to do Nowhere to go.
Take a sip of tea.
Hmm.
.
.
And so we just sit and notice.
And we can there at what surrounds Feel the breath.
Notice the sound.
And just in general.
Enjoy.
The present moment.
