Calm and Center Your Mind

Meditation relaxes and heals mind and body. Guided meditation is a potent way to drop into the present moment and find a sense of peace. This 10-minute guided morning meditation is designed to center your mind so you can move into your day with focus, intention, and calmness.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Eric with The Wake Mindful Living,

And we're here to do a mindfulness meditation this morning.

We have about 10 minutes together.

But before we get started,

I did just want to give you a quick explanation of what we're going to do.

Mindfulness is just present moment awareness with non attachment.

And what that means is you're not going to get pulled away.

Actually,

You are going to get pulled away.

But when you do,

You're going to come on back.

So mindfulness is all about getting to know what's going on with your breath,

What's going on in your body,

And what's going on to connect your mind and body.

Because a lot of times first thing in the morning,

Your mind's going one way,

Your body's over here.

The whole point of this meditation is to bring it all together.

So let's start it off.

I'm going to ring a bell when you hear the bell that'll signal the beginning of our session together.

Take a comfortable upright posture,

Make sure those knees are below your hips,

Your spine's nice and straight like a stack of golden coins.

Tuck your chin slightly,

Your lips are slightly parted,

Little space between your lips and your tongue is resting on the roof of your mouth.

You can rest your hands like this,

Or you can put your right palm and your left palm with these fingers on the floor.

Whatever feels comfortable,

Have a little space under your arm so some air can flow through.

Not too far forward,

Not too far back.

Just start to feel yourself settle into the cushion.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And we'll do a little bit of loving kindness.

Sometimes first thing in the morning,

You're thinking about yourself,

What you have to do for your day,

And then you're thinking about yourself.

So let's start with the hands.

The intention here is to show some love for yourself,

But also to send it out there to all beings.

So first,

Just say to yourself,

May I be happy?

May I be well?

May I be safe?

May I be peaceful and at ease?

And really feel it.

Really feel that you care about yourself.

And then you can rest your hands.

So,

You're thinking of yourself,

May I be happy?

May I be well?

May I be safe?

May I be peaceful and at ease?

And really feel it.

Really feel that you care about yourself.

May I be happy?

May I be well?

May I be safe?

May I be peaceful and at ease?

And now that you've done loving kindness for yourself,

Let's take it out for the entire world,

All beings,

Animals,

Plants,

Mother Nature,

All humans,

Whatever works for you.

Let's breathe in,

Breathe out and repeat after me.

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be safe.

May you be peaceful and at ease.

And really try to feel this in every cell of your body.

They don't know why,

But they feel a little bit better because of your intention.

And then let that go.

And now let's just hop into the practice.

Let's start with a few deep breaths.

It's okay if you can really hear them for these first couple.

Let's do a couple more together.

And one more,

Really expand your shoulders up and out.

And then release.

Let's let the breath return to normal for a moment.

Just notice that you're breathing for a couple of mindful breaths.

Tune into the weight of your bottom pushing down into your cushion.

Notice what feels settled in.

Don't worry about what doesn't feel calm or settled.

And if you're like most people,

It's hard to settle in for the first minute of your practice.

So let's do a little pranayama together.

And we're going to keep it real simple.

We're going to breathe in for four.

We're going to hold for three.

We're going to exhale for five.

And I'm going to count for you.

So just enjoy the ride here.

So breathing in for four,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold for three,

Two,

Three.

Exhale for five,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Let's just do that a few times.

Breathing in for four,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold for three,

Two,

Three.

Exhale for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

I want to be quiet and let you do it on your own for two rounds of breath here.

And then one more.

And then just let the breath return to normal.

Breathing in,

Breathing out naturally.

Now what's going to happen,

What's totally normal,

Is that your mind's going to get pulled away by thoughts,

Storylines,

And dramas.

Your job is to catch it as soon as you can and simply say,

Thinking,

Thinking,

Or perhaps not now,

Not now.

And just return to the awareness of the breath moving in and out of your body.

So that's the practice.

Let's jump into that for a few minutes together.

So you may have noticed that you're already getting pulled away by thoughts and storylines and dramas.

That's totally common and normal.

So let's give you another way to settle into your practice.

So as you're sitting here upright,

Chin tucked,

Lips slightly parted,

Tongue on the roof of your mouth,

Breathing in and out through your nose.

Let's tune into our senses.

This is really going to help you to settle into your practice.

Let's start with the sense of hearing together.

See if you can hear the thing furthest away from you right now.

And don't label it.

Maybe you hear an airplane passing by or your dog outside.

Don't label it.

See if you can see what it feels like to hear.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Hearing,

Hearing.

Now we're going to jump into a body scan.

This is a great way to really tune into your body and unite your mind with your body.

So first we're going to tune into our toes.

So all I want you to do is breathe in,

Breathe out,

And be aware that you have toes.

See if you can feel them tingling.

Are they warm,

Cool?

Is there some pressure?

Maybe pushing your pinky toe down into the ground?

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Aware of your toes.

And now we're going to move up into our feet.

What's it feel like to have feet?

Maybe tune in.

Next,

Bring it up to your calves.

Can you feel some pressure pushing down into your cushion?

Some warmth?

Next bring it up to your thighs.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Aware of your thighs.

Maybe your knees and how it feels to have them bent.

Move up to your bottom.

What's it feel like to have that gravity holding you down into your cushion?

Maybe you can feel your sits bones centering you.

Next,

Move up to your belly.

Feel your belly rising,

Falling.

You can even note this if you want.

Rising on the inhale,

Falling on the exhale.

Tune into your back body.

As you breathe,

Notice your back body extend,

Expand.

And then notice how it settles on the exhale.

Move up to your shoulders.

See how they seem to move up and out on the inhale.

And they settle on the exhale.

Next,

Move up to your face.

It's common to have some tension around your jaw and your eyes.

See if you can have some ease with any dis-ease that you feel.

Not trying to change it.

Just try to accept what you find there.

And then tune right into the tip of your head.

Feel what it feels like to have skin wrapped around your skull,

To have hair on your head.

And finally,

We bring this into a full body awareness.

I want you to now feel your body from head to toe.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Wherever your entire body.

Feel an inch or two out from your skin.

Is there some tingling?

Can you feel into where you end and where the space around you begins?

For a couple of breaths,

Go internal.

Go an inch or two inside your body.

Maybe you can even feel your heartbeat.

And now that we've united our mind and body,

We can really get into the meat of our practice.

There's only a couple minutes left.

So now's the chance to really tune in to the breath.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And the only thing you have to do here is come on back.

You're going to get pulled away by thoughts,

Storylines,

Dramas.

It's going to happen.

All you have to do is catch yourself,

Simply say thinking,

Thinking to yourself,

And return to the awareness of your breath.

I'll be quiet for a minute and just do that practice.

Here you are,

Solid like a mountain,

At ease like a sleeping baby,

But yet alert like a sentinel.

See if you can show up here with dignity,

With a sense of purpose,

Like you matter.

This is you taking control of your mind and using it as the tool it's meant to be for the rest of your day.

Tune into the depth of the breath,

How long it's going down into your abdomen.

Or maybe it's just stopping up your chest.

That's okay.

Tune into the texture of your breath.

Is it rough or smooth?

Tune into the temperature,

Warm,

Cool.

Make your breath more interesting than the thoughts.

Now this is designed to be a 10 minute practice session.

This would be a great time to hit pause if you want to go for longer.

Just do that same practice.

You get pulled away,

You come on back.

For coming up on the end of the session,

It's important to end on a good note because you're going to want to do this tomorrow and the next day.

You want to let your mind know this is something you're good at,

That you enjoy.

So for the last moments here,

See if you can really increase that effort just a little bit.

Really tune into the felt sense of the body.

Put a little smile on your face.

Let your body know you want to be here.

Let's go out with some joy.

Is there a sense of okayness?

It doesn't have to be this great bliss,

But just a sense of okayness,

Of safety,

Of being here.

And with the last few breaths,

See if you can expand that around your whole body.

Every cell waking up ready for your day.

In a moment,

You'll hear the sound of the bell.

And what I want you to do is hear the entire sound of the bell start to finish.

Gently place your hands in Anjali Mudra in front of your chest.

You can imagine that there's a perfect gem inside your hand,

So leave a little space in there.

And this is symbolic of you,

Your pure nature.

So sometimes there's a little dust on that gem,

A little confusion,

Maybe some anxiety or stress.

Just imagine you just wipe that off,

And now you can see that gem perfectly.

You gently bow forward,

And you think to yourself,

May this practice not only benefit me,

But all beings.

Just end with a couple breaths,

And then just go out there and take this practice into your day.

Thank you.

Reviews

Really calming and perfectly timed and guided. Great

Thank you for this grounding meditation this morning.
Blessings with love

Great suggestions given in a friendly, honest way.
Thank you

Simple and easy. Helped me through an anxiety attack just now. I am currently down with the flu it reminded me that I control my thoughts, and its good to take care of myself first.❤

Excellent! The directions were very helpful
Thanks

I thoroughly enjoyed this practice yesterday. So much so that I repeated it today. Thank you!

Simply great to start a good day!

Love it. Was feeling sleepy at the beginning but now I'm motivated for the day ahead.

Lovely, nice way to relax.

Thanks great start to the day, enjoyed this session immensely, Namaste😊🌺

Glenda Kelly
Menai NSW Australia

Awesome. The words in the beginning were quick. Really had to focus senior ears.

Energetic instructions

I have bookmarked this meditation and will return to it often. Great way to start the day with a sense of grounded-ness. Thank you!🌼

Great way to start the day

Wonderful! Love the enthusiasm and the calmness at the same time. My new morning favorite! Thank you! 🙏❤️

I felt like I was in the room with the instructor. Very friendly tour of different meditation styles suitable for different experience levels.

Really lovely and easy to follow... Just didn't like the music at end.. Sort of broke the moment

Great introduction and mix of techniques