This is a mindful awareness meditation and you can choose in this moment to listen to this recording sitting or lying down.
Whatever your choice is,
Make yourself comfortable.
And taking a gentle mindful breath in and out,
You can allow your eyes to close.
Allowing them to rest easily,
Comfortably.
And I want you to shift your awareness to your right hand.
Obviously your eyes are closed so you're not looking at your right hand.
And because you're not moving,
You're not moving your right hand.
So how do we shift awareness to something we can't see and we're not moving?
Well you can notice firstly the weight of your right hand,
Wherever it's resting.
And you can notice the temperature of your right hand,
Wherever it's resting.
And as you begin to become aware of the weight and the temperature in your right hand,
You may also start to notice the energy within your hand,
The fingers and the thumbs.
The back of the hand,
The palm.
A sense of energy,
A sensation of aliveness.
Now this sensation is different from person to person and from moment to moment.
So it's nice to know that there's nothing that's right or wrong.
Only what you're experiencing here,
Now,
In this moment.
Your awareness of your right hand.
The weight.
The temperature.
The energy.
Now what's interesting is that you can hold that awareness there.
Holding it there in your right hand and start to notice the same or similar sensations in your left hand.
The weight.
The temperature.
The energy.
Which one of your hands feels heavier?
Of course it doesn't matter.
The weight is something that's just happening here in the moment.
The weight.
The temperature.
The sensations in right hand,
Left hand.
Both hands.
Now holding your awareness in both hands,
Let's shift those sensations and awareness up through the arms,
Through the wrists,
And up through the elbows,
And up into the shoulders.
The weight.
The temperature.
The aliveness in the arms.
Right hand.
Left hand.
Right arm.
Left arm.
Right shoulder.
Left shoulder.
The weight.
The temperature.
The energy.
Both hands.
Both arms.
Both shoulders.
Both hands,
Arms,
And shoulders.
The weight.
The temperature.
The energy.
Now as your conscious mind retains its awareness of your hands and your arms and your shoulders,
The mental noise,
The chattering within the mind starts to lessen.
The conscious mind can only be aware of certain things at certain points,
And holding your awareness within the body dilutes the mental noise,
But also nourishes the body.
Now holding your awareness there in your hands,
Your arms,
And your shoulders,
What happens if you become aware of your feet?
Right foot.
Left foot.
Weight.
Temperature.
Energy.
Both feet.
And holding your awareness there in the feet,
Moving up through the calves.
From the calves to the knees.
From the knees into the thighs.
From the thighs into the hips.
Weight.
Temperature.
Energy.
Right foot.
Left foot.
Right leg.
Left leg.
Right hip.
Left hip.
Both feet.
Both legs.
Both hips.
And isn't it wonderful that you can hold your awareness there in the hands,
And the arms,
And the shoulders,
And the feet,
And the legs,
And the hips.
Not changing anything.
Just resting in your awareness.
Now shifting your attention from the hips up through the muscles of the back.
Moving up through the muscles.
Right up to meet the shoulders.
Resting your awareness there across your back.
And moving round into the stomach and into the chest.
To the collar bones and into the shoulders.
Resting your awareness there.
And noticing the weight of your upper body.
The temperature.
The energy.
But of course the upper body is different because there's movement there.
Small,
Unconscious movement that only becomes conscious when you start to rest your awareness on your breathing.
Noticing the flow of your breathing.
In and out.
In and down.
And up and out.
And so it's nice to notice your body from the shoulders down.
Holding your awareness there.
Noticing your body in its entirety.
The weight.
The temperature.
The energy.
Simply being here in this moment.
Your conscious mind inhabiting the body.
So you can move now into the neck.
Into the jaw.
And the mouth.
And the tongue.
Into the cheeks and the eyes and the forehead.
Resting your awareness in those areas.
The weight.
The temperature.
The energy.
Now if it feels natural,
Touch the tip of your tongue onto the roof of your mouth just behind the teeth.
And notice how that may subtly change the awareness of your breathing.
The flow in and down.
And up and out.
There's no need to change the depth of your breathing.
There's no need to change the speed of your breathing.
You're just resting your awareness there in the flow.
And so your conscious mind now inhabiting every part of you.
The hands.
The arms.
The shoulders.
The feet.
The legs.
The hips.
The back.
The stomach.
The chest.
The neck.
The face.
The weight.
The temperature.
The energy.
Now in any mindfulness or meditation practice,
The mind can wander.
Thoughts come and go,
And go and come again.
The vast majority of thoughts are repetitive,
Trivial,
Unnecessary.
And you can step back from the thoughts,
Remove the energy,
Become the observer.
And you can use any thoughts that pass by your awareness to your advantage.
You can use any thoughts that pass by to be signals for you to drift deeper within.
And in any mindfulness or meditation practice,
Sounds drift in and out of awareness.
The majority of these sounds are trivial,
Unimportant,
Unnecessary to focus on.
They come and go,
And go and come again.
And you can step back from any sounds that drift into awareness.
Become the observer.
Remove the energy.
And you can use any sounds that drift in and out of awareness to your advantage.
You can use any sounds that drift in and out of awareness to be signals for you to drift deeper within.
And in any mindfulness or meditation practice,
There are physical sensations that drift in and out of awareness.
Remember that comfort is important,
And you can move or cough or stretch at any point.
But most physical sensations that drift through our awareness are trivial,
Unnecessary.
They come and go,
And go and come again.
You can step back from them.
Remove the energy.
Become the observer.
You can use any physical sensations that drift through your awareness to your advantage.
You can use those sensations to be signals for you to drift deeper within.
And you can use any sounds that drift in and out of awareness to be signals for you to drift deeper within.
And at any point during this practice with this recording,
Or on your own,
You can simply return to the awareness of the body.
The hands.
The arms.
The shoulders.
The feet.
The legs.
The hips.
The back.
The stomach.
The chest.
The breathing.
The neck.
The face.
The entire body.
Weight.
Temperature.
Energy.
Your body loving the attention it's getting.
Loving the awareness.
Your body feeling nourished.
Energized.
Content.
Nothing to do.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to think of.
Just now.
And here.
In this moment.
But because your conscious mind is there,
Inhabiting the body,
You'll find that after this track,
Your entire mind feels calmer and clearer.
Your nerves stronger and steadier.
And although your body feels relaxed and nourished,
You will also feel more grounded and centered and balanced.
Remaining more in the moment.
Feeling positive and optimistic.
Being rested and yet curiously recharged.
Re-energized.
And so as we near the end of this recording,
You can decide whether to drift down into a deep,
Natural sleep,
Or return to normal everyday awakened sensations.
If you decide to drift down into sleep,
You can do that now and just ignore the following simple suggestions.
And if you wish to return to normal everyday,
Eyes open,
Awakened sensations.
Return your awareness to your hands and fingers and give them a stretch.
Return your awareness to your arms and gently stretch.
Return your awareness to your feet and legs and give them a little stretch.
Take a deep inhale and exhale to awaken the body.
And you can open your eyes.
And return to the day.
Be gentle with yourself.
