Turning Toward The Present - Sitting Meditation - MBSR

A voyage of discovery on the ocean of experience; from mindfulness of posture, breath, and body sensations through to sounds, thoughts, and emotions. Practice anchoring in the present moment and dealing skilfully with mind-wandering with gentleness, curiosity, and acceptance. See more deeply into the nature of human experience by observing recurring patterns in the mind.

Transcript

This is a guided sitting meditation.

As the name implies,

This practice is usually done in a seated position,

But can also be done lying down or standing if that is more comfortable for you.

This is an awareness practice,

An opportunity to spend time with and by yourself in the mode of being,

Rather than our almost constant mode of doing.

It is also an opportunity to cultivate attitudes of kindness,

Curiosity and acceptance towards your moment-to-moment experience,

And to any thoughts,

Emotions,

Sensations or impulses that may arise.

Now,

Finding a stable posture that embodies dignity and wakefulness,

Whatever that means for you at this moment.

Throughout the practice,

It's important to remember that my guidance is only guidance,

That you are the expert when it comes to your body,

Heart and mind.

So at any time,

You can always drop underneath my words and do whatever feels appropriate.

If you are sitting in a chair,

Perhaps moving your buttocks to the front third of the seat,

Not leaning against the backrest,

And placing the soles of your feet on the floor in front of you.

Wherever you are sitting,

Keeping the back,

Head and neck aligned,

And placing your hands either on your thighs or resting on one another in your lap.

Feeling the uplift of your body as your attention moves from the tailbone all the way up the spine and through the crown of the head.

Tucking your chin ever so slightly to lengthen the neck without any strain or over-efforting.

Closing your eyes or lowering your gaze and feeling the support of the surface you are on,

Feeling the support of the earth beneath you.

Bringing attention to the sensations created at the points of contact between your body and the floor,

Chair or mat.

Pressure and weight moving down,

Hardness or softness,

Warmth or coolness.

Expanding your awareness now to fill the entire body sitting here,

Supported in this stable seat.

And now resting your attention on the sensations of breath entering or leaving the body,

Wherever those sensations are strongest for you.

Perhaps in the belly,

Rising and falling with each in-breath and out-breath.

Or in the chest,

Lungs and ribcage expanding and contracting with each cycle of breath.

Or maybe in the nostrils and throat,

Where slightly cooler air enters and slightly warmer air leaves the body.

Noticing the mind's tendency to want to control,

Manipulate,

Change the breath and letting that go.

Simply allowing the breath to breathe itself while your intention rides along.

If the breath is not a place of comfort or safety for you at this moment,

You can try resting attention on the points of contact,

On a specific region of the body,

Like the hands or feet,

Or perhaps a sense of the body as a whole.

The breath and body are wonderful anchors to the present moment,

Always here,

Waiting patiently for us to return from our activities of mind.

So for the next few moments,

Simply being with the sensations of breath,

Following the in-breath all the way in,

Noticing that transition,

And following the out-breath all the way out.

Observing,

Feeling,

Getting curious about the sensations of breath in the body in this moment.

At some point you will notice your attention is no longer on the breath,

As the mind has wandered to other things,

Perhaps to memories,

Projects,

Fantasies,

Worries or planning.

That is okay,

That is what the mind does.

No need to judge or criticise yourself for it.

Instead,

Simply note where the mind has gone,

And gently,

Kindly,

But firmly,

Escort your attention back to the sensations of breath,

Wherever they are most prominent for you.

Setting an intention to do this again and again.

Whenever you notice your attention is no longer in the here and now,

Using the breath or sensations in the body as an anchor that brings you back to the present moment.

Impossible to breathe a future breath or a past breath,

Only this one.

This practice is not about stilling or quieting the mind.

Rather,

It is about observing and gaining a deeper understanding of the habitual tendency of the mind to wander into the past and into the future,

And to cultivate your ability to return attention to the present moment whenever you notice this happening.

So now,

Resting attention on the breath once again.

Getting curious about the breath's length,

Depth and regularity.

Noticing the subtle differences between each breath.

No two inhales or exhales are quite the same.

And now,

Expanding your attention around the breath,

To be with a sense of the body as a whole.

Awareness filling the body,

From the crown of the head,

Through to the finger and thumb tips,

The soles and toes of your feet.

Checking in with your posture,

And if the body has slouched,

Taking an upright position again,

And feeling your spine lengthening,

And your mind becoming more alert as you trace attention from the tailbone all the way up to the crown of the head.

Being with the universe of sensations in your body in this moment,

And in this one,

And in this one.

Noticing the mind's tendency to judge sensations as good or bad,

And being aware of any impulses to react to these sensations in some way.

And whenever you notice your mind has wandered,

Which inevitably it will,

Noticing where it has gone,

And returning your attention to a sense of the body as a whole,

Sitting here,

Supported,

Dignified,

Awake.

You may wish to play with broadening and narrowing your focus of attention,

In one moment sensing the body as a whole,

And in another moment sensing particular regions of the body.

Neck,

Arms,

Torso,

Head,

If at any time you notice discomfort in the body that carries you away from your intended focus,

Intense sensations in some region of the body,

Restlessness,

Or perhaps in the form of an emotion showing up in the body in this moment,

Then you have some options.

You may shift position,

Which is sometimes the most compassionate thing you can do.

If you do decide to move,

You can roll the movements into the practice by bringing awareness to the impulse to change position,

And then right into the movements as you make them.

As you settle into stillness again,

Returning your attention first to the breath,

And then back to the body as a whole,

You might open your eyes to gain some clarity and reorient yourself.

And you can always keep the eyes open for the remainder of the practice if that is more comfortable for you.

You can also try experimenting with turning toward the discomfort for a time,

Exploring the sensations in greater detail,

With a sense of kindness,

Compassion,

And curiosity,

And without any attempt to try and fix or change anything.

Noticing the quality of the sensations,

Is there a pulling,

A tightness,

A tingling,

Or numbness?

Noticing how the discomfort changes in each passing moment without you having to do anything.

Does it move,

Get more or less intense,

Dissolve altogether,

Return again?

And then,

If the discomfort subsides,

And if it feels right,

Returning your attention to the breath,

And to a sense of the body as a whole.

If the discomfort doesn't subside,

You can either continue to remain present with it,

Or decide to leave it in the background and return to the sensations of breath,

Until you feel your attention has stabilized enough to hold the entire body in awareness once again.

And now,

If you choose to,

Letting go of sensations in the body,

Moving them into the background of your awareness,

And resting your attention on sounds.

Sounds coming from inside the body,

Breath,

Digestion,

Sounds coming from the space you are in,

Or perhaps coming from outside,

From further afield.

Noticing any leaning in,

Searching,

Looking for sounds.

And simply sitting back in the seat of awareness,

And allowing sounds to come to you.

Being aware of any sounds that arise,

Linger a while and fall away again.

Being aware also of the silence underneath those sounds,

The space from which sounds emerge,

And into which they disappear again.

Being aware of the mind's tendency to want to name sounds,

Label them as pleasant or unpleasant,

And any stories it starts to tell related to the sounds in your field of experience.

Simply coming back to an awareness of sounds as sounds.

Any time you notice the mind has wandered away from this simple knowing of sounds as sounds,

Noting where it has gone,

Observing any judgment or criticism,

And gently but firmly returning your attention to the direct experience of sound itself.

Being curious about pitch,

Tone,

Volume,

Regularity,

Distance,

Investigating the spaces between sounds,

Silence.

And now,

Letting sounds fade into the background,

And foregrounding thoughts and emotions,

Activities of heart and mind.

Being careful not to get carried away by the content or emotional charge of thoughts,

Rather observing the process of thinking itself.

The process by which thoughts,

Like sounds,

Arise,

Stay a while,

And then disappear again if we allow them to.

It might be helpful to consider your mind as a frame of clear,

Blue,

Spacious sky,

And thoughts as clouds that appear,

Disappear,

And pass through the frame.

Sometimes white,

Wispy,

Light clouds that come and go in an instant,

Other times thick,

Grey,

Heavy clouds that can fill the entire frame,

Blocking out the spacious blue of the sky for a time.

In the process of thinking about nature,

Thoughts,

Like clouds,

Eventually pass in their own time,

And we can be present with them,

Observing,

Without getting sucked into their content,

Or carried away into a different place and time.

So,

Just being with the process of thinking,

Moment to moment,

And seeing thoughts as thoughts,

Not identifying with them,

Recognizing them as mental events,

As clouds,

Forming,

Moving,

And dispersing in the spacious blue sky that is your mind.

At some point,

You will notice that your attention is caught up in the content of thoughts,

Remembering or analyzing the past,

Planning,

Practicing,

Or worrying about the future,

Storytelling,

Judging,

Ruminating.

Whenever you notice that you have been caught up in thinking,

Rather than being aware of thoughts as thoughts,

Noting where the mind has gone,

Before gently returning to the sensations of breath entering and leaving the body,

Stabilizing your attention.

And then,

As best you can,

Coming back to simply observing the thoughts as mental events that arise,

Linger,

And fall away again.

As with sounds and sensations,

You may notice the quality of thinking is sometimes pleasant,

Sometimes unpleasant,

And sometimes neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

Certain thoughts may have an accompanying emotional charge,

A sense of happiness,

Contentment,

Or calm,

Or maybe a sense of fear,

Anger,

Sadness,

Or anxiety.

Emotions can also be held in awareness by turning toward them with kindness and acceptance,

Perhaps seeing where in the body you feel the emotion,

And investigating the quality of those sensations.

Noticing how emotions,

Like thoughts,

Sounds,

And sensations,

Arise,

Stay a while,

And eventually fall away again in their own time if we hold them in awareness and allow them to be as they are.

Notice if at any time you feel overwhelmed by emotion,

Or notice that you've been carried off in a stream of thinking and feeling,

Remembering that the breath and body are always here waiting,

And you can return your attention to these anchors in order to reconnect with the present moment,

Until you feel ready to observe thoughts and emotions arising and passing away once again.

And now,

Letting go of focusing attention on any particular aspect of your experience,

Broadening your awareness,

And simply noticing anything that arises moment to moment.

If sensations in the body are there,

Noticing them as sensations in the body.

If a thought or emotion arises,

Then being aware of thoughts and emotions as thoughts and emotions.

If sound arises,

Then being aware of sound.

Simply being here in the present moment with whatever naturally arises,

Allowing,

Accepting,

Knowing.

And if you get lost in this open awareness,

Which is very easy to do,

Then focusing on your anchor,

On the sensations of breath,

A particular region of the body,

Points of contact,

Until you feel ready once more to widen your attention to include thoughts,

Emotions,

Sounds,

And anything else that comes and goes in the field of your experience.

As we approach the end of the practice,

Narrowing your attention again and resting it on your chosen anchor,

On the sensations of breath entering and leaving the body,

Or in some other part of the body sitting here.

Sensations that transport and anchor us back to the present moment,

Helping us steady ourselves,

Bringing focus,

Clarity,

Checking in one last time with your posture,

Sitting in a dignified,

Alert,

And upright position,

Tucking the chin just a little to lengthen the back of the neck,

Keeping the head,

Neck,

And back aligned.

And as you wait for the sound of the bells that signify the end of the practice,

Recognizing that you have just spent precious time supporting your well-being,

Allowing your true nature to express itself,

Cultivating awareness,

Mindfulness,

And the ability to be present with whatever arises in your moment-to-moment experience.

Setting an intention to carry forward the attitudes of non-judging,

Kindness,

And curiosity into the next part of your day or evening,

And into every activity of life.

Reviews

I’ve been practicing continuously for quite some time and this was a great guide. I highly encourage anyone who’s unsure of what they are doing when meditating to give this a go. Thank you for making it so clear.

I really enjoyed this mediation. I could feel my awareness being gently guided through your instruction. “Gently Kindly Firmly, return back” will be my mantra for when I need to pull myself back into the present moment. Thank you so much! 🙏

My mind was all over the map this morning. It took 30 minutes of your gentle guidance and of silence to allow my mind and thoughts to settle for a few moments of stillness and being here now. Thank you for helping to bring my awareness back to the present, again and again. Bookmarked and will return to this practice often.

again- absolutely fabulous. great meditation 🙏✨🙏✨🙏

Feeling reset and rebalanced after listening to this 🙏🏾