Hi,
My name is Adriana DeFazio,
And this is a 10-minute guided Chamatha meditation.
Start off by taking a comfortable seat,
Feeling both of your sit bones rooting down into the earth beneath you.
Your hands palms down on tops of your thighs,
Supporting your upper body,
And then imagining as if there's a gold silky string running along each one of your vertebrae,
And there's someone right above you gently lifting you up.
As you begin to grow tall,
Elongating through the spine,
You begin to feel a sense of spaciousness grow through your belly,
Ribs,
And chest,
Broadening through your shoulders.
Take a deep inhale through your nose,
And exhale through your mouth,
Extending your awareness upwards through your throat and neck,
Tucking your chin in ever so gently to make sure that the back of your neck is long and aligned with the rest of your spine.
Unhinge your jaw,
Soften your tongue and teeth,
And then either gently close your eyes or rest your gaze about three to five feet in front of you,
Not looking at anything in particular,
But as if you're resting your eyes on cool,
Fresh water.
Let's begin by taking a few deep breaths at your own pace,
Inhaling through your nose,
Filling up through your belly,
Your ribs,
And chest,
And then exhaling through your nose or mouth,
Whatever feels most comfortable,
Releasing,
Letting go.
Doing that a couple more times,
Relaxing your nervous system,
Giving yourself permission to simply be here,
And then slowly bringing your awareness to sensation of your body as it naturally breathes.
So in our Samatha practice,
We give ourselves an object of concentration.
Here it is our breath,
The ebb and flow,
Our body breathing in and out,
To allow ourselves to cultivate concentration,
A peaceful,
Calm abiding.
Feeling your body breathe in and feeling your body breathe out.
When you find that you've inevitably wandered away to some other object of thinking,
Whether it be planning,
Ruminating,
Or daydreaming,
The practice is to simply notice and acknowledge that we're no longer with our breath,
And then with a sense of unconditional friendliness towards yourself,
Precision and gentleness.
You simply bring yourself back to sensation of your body breathing,
Inviting a sense of joyful discipline,
Precision and discernment,
As we bring ourselves back home to our body's breathing over and over again,
Allowing yourself to sink a little bit further into the rhythm,
The ebb and flow.
Very gently letting go of your breath as your object of concentration,
And now allowing yourself,
Your mind,
To rest and open spacious awareness.
In your own time now,
You can begin to bring movement back into your fingers and toes.
Open your eyes or raise your gaze,
And formally close your meditation practice.
