Welcome!
This is the second of a series of meditations on being present now.
I am Italian and I live in Italy and so I speak English as a second language.
If my accent and my lexical and grammatical errors do not interfere too much with your mindfulness practice,
Then I do really hope that you can find some hints or insights here on the art of being present.
I have practiced vipassana meditation for many years with different lay and monastic teachers and I am sharing with you my personal experience on this ancient practice of the science of the mind.
So we will progressively going from the about 15 minutes of the first session to the 30 minutes of the 10th and last session.
This will last about 16 minutes.
To start,
Bring your attention to your breath.
It's better if you have a sitting position either on a chair or on the floor with your back upright,
Straight but relaxed.
There's no tension in the body.
So if you feel there are tensions in your body right now,
Gently and slowly while you're breathing out,
Just let them go.
Breathe in.
And while you're breathing out,
Let go of all the tensions in your body and your mind.
We are simply training our mind to be in the present moment and to do so we are using our breath,
A tool that's always with us.
We can always bring our attention to our breath.
That's why we're using it.
That's why we're starting the training of our mind by bringing attention to the breath.
If it helps,
We can place one hand on our chest and the other hand on the abdomen so that we can feel this little movement of the chest going up and down with the breath and the rising and falling of our belly.
We can also feel the contact,
The touching of the hand on the chest and the abdomen,
On the clothes or maybe on our skin.
Maybe it's a warm feeling.
Just keep the mind on what's happening right now in the body,
Right now in the hands,
In the chest and the abdomen.
We follow the air coming in the body and going out.
And if the mind drifts away,
Gets lost in thoughts,
We just simply gently bring it back to the breathing,
To the process of breathing.
Our mind is very complex,
So we have to be patient because we're trying to bring our mind to something that's very simple.
Just the breathing or the feelings in the body,
The warmth,
Maybe the cold or the contact of the hands with the body or with the chair.
So we have to be patient with our mind that wants to do other things.
It's normal,
It's nature to process a lot of information.
But right now we just want that all this processing of information stays like in the background.
Thoughts are happening,
Maybe emotions,
Maybe other sensations in the back,
In the legs,
In the face,
Maybe there is some itching or tension.
Let's try to leave all these things that are happening in our body and our mind right now like in the background,
Like if they're at the back.
While in the front we're simply following our breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Breathing in and breathing out.
If it helps,
We can count our breaths.
So we breathe in and as we breathe out we mentally count one.
Then we breathe in and when we breathe out we mentally count two and so on till ten.
If we realize we get lost,
We start again from one.
And when we arrive at ten,
We start again from one.
Always kind and gentle with ourselves.
We're not aiming at anything.
We're not going anywhere here.
There's no right or wrong.
We're just trying to be present towards here right now in this very moment inside of us.
So maybe there is some irritation or tension.
So we need to be very patient and not get in conflict with what's present right now.
We need to make space to be able to welcome all that's arising inside ourselves right now.
And to help the process we can count our breaths.
To help the mind to stay here and not get lost into thinking or get caught into an emotion.
But if it doesn't help the counting,
It doesn't matter.
We can just drop the counting and go back to the feelings in the chest,
In the abdomen,
In the hands.
We can always take a deep breath if we need it.
If not,
We can watch our breath.
Maybe it has become short,
Light.
Let's see,
Let's feel.
How is it?
Maybe this inhale is light and short.
And this exhale is light and short.
It doesn't really matter how our breath is.
What matters is our awareness.
Am I aware of my breath right now?
Feel it.
Hear the sound of the breath on the back of the nose.
Breathe in and breathe out.
And when I'm breathing in,
I know I'm breathing in.
And when I'm breathing out,
I know I'm breathing out.
And as I'm breathing out,
I can feel the space inside of me widening,
Wide.
Maybe there is already a huge space inside of me,
That space of awareness where everything can happen.
And I can welcome whatever happens there.
Maybe there is an itching.
And I try not to react to the itching,
But just watch it.
I'm just feeling it.
Not reacting to stimulus and sensation.
That space of awareness,
I can become aware of what is there right now.
And now we start slowly to prepare ourselves mentally to go back with our eyes open,
But we can stay still a little longer just to feel.
How am I?
How do I feel?
Am I heavy or light?
Do I feel irritation,
Anger,
Anxiety,
Fear?
Or maybe I'm sleepy?
Or do I feel calm,
Tranquility?
There is lightness.
I'm relaxed.
It doesn't matter what's there right now,
What matters,
It's my awareness,
My being present to myself in order to welcome whatever is there.
Because if it is there inside of me,
It's better for me to see it,
To know it and to love it.
Slowly,
With patience,
We will go deeper and deeper in watching the present moment just the way it is.
