Welcome to this meditation for breathing to anchor your wandering mind.
This mindfulness practice is your breathing anchor practice,
Where you root your awareness into the present moment,
Like an anchor that roots a ship to one place.
This will help you to dissolve anxiety,
Decrease stress and allow the body to heal in a relaxed and peaceful state.
So let's begin.
I'd like you to adopt at as comfortable a position as possible.
It is often best to be seated,
But you can do it in any posture,
Standing,
Lying down,
Sitting or even walking.
I would just recommend not driving.
My guidance through this meditation will assume you are sitting,
But you can adapt the instructions to whatever posture you have chosen.
So as we start,
If you sit with your back upright and get relaxed,
With your spine flowing its natural curves,
See if you can establish a position that feels dignified,
Alert and yet relaxed and allow your body to settle,
To rest down into gravity,
Letting it be supported by the floor beneath you as you gently close your eyes if that's comfortable.
By closing your eyes will help your awareness settle and lessens external distractions.
Gradually allow your awareness to gather around the sensations of the breath in your body.
Where do you feel the breath most strongly?
Be curious about your actual experience,
Letting go of what you think should be happening and being with your experience without judgment.
Now very gently rest your awareness within the whole torso.
Can you feel your belly swelling on the in breath and subsiding on the out breath?
Can you feel any movement and sensations with the breath in the sides and the back of the body?
Gradually inhabit your body a little more deeply with a sense of kindly curiosity towards whatever your experience as you breathe.
Remember to be accepting of whatever is happening,
See if you can cultivate a precise awareness of the sensations and movement of the breath in the body as they happen,
Moment by moment,
Being careful not to strain.
Allow your awareness to be utterly receptive as it rests upon the natural movement of the breath in the body.
Allow the breath to be saturated with kindliness as it rocks and cradles the body,
Soothing any stress,
Pain or discomfort you may feel.
Now become aware of any thoughts and emotions.
Remember that mindfulness isn't about having a blank mind,
It's very normal to think.
Mindfulness is the training whereby you cultivate awareness of what is actually happening physically,
Mentally and emotionally.
So you can gradually change your perspective and feel you have more choice in how you relate to life.
Can you look at your thoughts and emotions rather than from them?
Can you be aware of what you're thinking and feeling without either blocking the experience or getting overwhelmed by it?
And remember,
Thoughts are not facts,
Even though we often think that they are.
As you develop perspective on your thoughts and emotions,
Including undermining ones,
You can let go of being so caught up in them.
Notice how they're continually changing one moment to the next,
Exactly the same way your breath is always changing.
Your thoughts and emotions are not as fixed or as solid as you perhaps thought,
Using awareness of the movement and sensations of the breath in your body as an anchor for the mind over and over again.
Follow the breath all the way in and all the way out.
Each time your awareness wanders as it will,
Simply note this and return to the breathing anchor time after time after time,
Moment by moment.
Making sure you're very kind and patient with yourself,
Even if you have to start again a hundred times.
It's okay,
This is what the training is all about.
And remember that each time you notice you've wandered is a magic moment of awareness,
A moment where you've woken up from a distraction,
A moment of choice.
So when you catch yourself having wandered off,
You're succeeding in the practice just as you're succeeding when you manage to stay with the breath.
So what's happening now?
What are you thinking?
Just note this and guide your awareness back to the sensation of the breath in the body over and over and over again.
If you'd like to continue meditating and anchoring your wandering mind to the breath,
The music will continue for the next 10 minutes.
However if you would like to stop now and to bring awareness back into your day,
Please just take a few moments to be aware of the sounds around you inside and outside the room.
Feel your whole body and gradually,
Gently,
Slowly begin to move your fingers and your toes.
Make sure you give yourself some time to make a smooth transition from the breathing anchor practice to whatever you are doing next and open your eyes.
Keep being positive.
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