Sit or lie down in a comfortable place and remove any distractions that might disturb you.
A quiet place is ideal.
Close your eyes if that feels comfortable.
See if you can find a little space between your thoughts,
Just long enough to feel something,
Something in your body right now,
In the present moment.
It doesn't really matter what it is,
Just as long as it can capture your attention long enough to feel it.
It could be the texture of clothing against your skin,
Or an itch,
Or an ache,
Or pain,
Or the hardness or softness of the surface on which you're lying or sitting.
Perhaps you can notice an emotion that wants to surface.
This meditation is a little bit different to the mindfulness meditations that have you focusing on an anchor.
This one guides a more kind of free floating or diffuse kind of attention,
Which in some people is really helpful.
There's less striving,
Concentrating,
Controlling,
Or thinking about whether we're doing it right or not.
See if you can allow your attention just to wander around your body,
No deliberate effort,
No systematic route through your body,
No plan or purpose,
Just letting your attention go wherever it feels something to feel,
Wherever your curiosity takes you.
It's totally fine for the mind to wander off.
It's when you notice there's no need to rush back,
Just amble back to the body.
Notice what is present right now.
Maybe you might notice a feeling of tightness or achiness somewhere.
Rather than really zoning in,
You can allow your attention to broaden.
See if any other places feel tight or achy.
Maybe your face,
Your belly,
Or your chest.
Again,
Just feeling,
No plan,
Just following where your attention wants to go.
You don't have to deliberately search but you might notice emotional feelings such as fear or irritation or other emotions that go with this tightness or ache or pain or expansiveness or calm or whatever you feel.
And again you might notice thoughts come to you about these feelings.
You can just let them float around in your awareness.
You keep coming back to your felt experience in the body.
No need to to try and change it,
Any feeling,
Try and manipulate it,
Make it better,
Even to try and understand it.
If there is an urge to do any of this,
Just noticing that.
The urge to understand it might be just another feeling that's coming up.
You don't have to act on that urge.
Each time you come back to the body after the mind drifts,
Your attention might land in a really different part of the body.
Just allowing that.
It may be that after a while there's one part of the body that seems to be calling out more than others.
Again,
There's not a deliberate staying with this,
Just an allowing of the attention to stay because that's what's calling you.
Some people like the metaphor of snorkeling or scuba diving.
It's kind of floating around,
Just allowing your attention to drift,
Get drawn or pulled to an interesting piece of coral or fish or feeling in the body.
Not trying to focus on it,
Just taking in the whole landscape with little shifts a bit closer to a feeling with no strain.
Sometimes in our culture it's hard just to show up in the present moment where we've always got a task or a project.
This might be a bit different to usual.
You might notice frustration or urges of not wanting to let go of whatever it was that you were working on.
It's very,
Very healing to practice listening to your body speaking to you in its own way.
Not because you're supposed to be doing something in particular or have a particular outcome.
And as we're coming towards the end of the meditation,
Just noticing how things are for you.
Is there any change in you after staying with the feeling?
Sometimes it can be like a deeper breath or feelings of relief or relaxation which often indicates that you've been able to be present.
Of course this won't happen all the time.
Sometimes a bit like that wonderful snorkeling adventure,
Your felt experience can be very intense and alive and you might even feel really totally one with the experience.
And like all experiences this feeling will fade and the thoughts will come back.
This is a practice that you can do for a few minutes or much longer.
So letting go of the practice now,
Moving the body,
Gently opening the eyes and going about your day.
