One of the magics of mindfulness is that it doesn't ask us to change anything about our current moment.
It invites us to expand our awareness instead of fighting and resisting.
Join me for this short practice where we use our current situation and one of our senses to become more fully aware of our present moment.
We're going to be using the sense of sound,
But we're going to open with two breaths together to settle the thinking mind just a little bit.
I'll cue you for the breaths in just a moment,
But let me tell you how we'll take the breaths.
It's going to be a two part inhale through the nose where inhale part one.
We fill to about 80% of our breath capacity and then when I cue you,
We take a second inhale,
Filling the other 20% to a full breath and then we exhale completely with a nice long side through the mouth.
Okay?
Two of those it's called the cyclical side and then a short guided meditation where we use sound as an anchor and then you'll be on your way.
Okay.
Beginning with our first inhale together and three,
Two,
One inhale through the nose,
80% full inhale again,
Finishing that breath and then sighing it all out through the mouth.
A nice extended exhale.
Inhale number two,
Part one in final 20% in and release that out with a long extended sigh,
A beautiful exhale,
Releasing,
Releasing,
And when you get to the bottom of that,
Exhale just settle into a natural rhythm of breath.
Nice and easy in and out through the nose.
If you can and I cue you now to bring your awareness to whatever sounds are present in your environment.
Understanding that whatever sounds are present right now in your awareness are exactly and completely perfect.
First just start to notice them as sounds.
No stories attached.
If you notice your mind judging whether a sound is pleasant or unpleasant,
Try to get a little closer to the root of the raw sound itself and just notice it as a vibration emanating from somewhere around you.
And just notice the qualities of that sound without the story.
And you may begin to notice different layers of sound at this point.
Remember that our conscious mind filters 95% or more of the actual stimuli around us and an awareness practice like this expands that window.
So you're going to notice things that you didn't before.
With curiosity,
Let that awareness continue to expand and see if you can notice layers and levels of sound in your environment that maybe weren't there just a minute ago.
And I'm going to prompt you with a couple of cues here just to expand that window a little bit more.
Here's a prompt in your current awareness.
What is the most distant sound that you can perceive within your current awareness?
What is the lowest frequency sound you can perceive within your current awareness?
First,
What if any sounds are emanating from your own physical body within your current awareness?
What sounds are being generated by nature or fellow humans?
What sounds are being generated by machinery?
And then let that distinction dissolve.
And once again,
Allow any sound to move into and through your awareness without any judgment.
Just vibration moving through the atmosphere,
Releasing the need to resist or capture and hold onto something that's pleasant.
Just allowing the vibration to be present.
With a sense of curiosity.
All right,
Now we're going to come back together with a big,
Long single inhale through the nose beginning now.
Release it.
And as we close here,
Just check in is your default level of awareness a little bit expanded?
How do you feel in your body right now?
Thank you for taking a moment to become more present to find the completeness of the present moment.
And that's a practice that you can do anytime throughout the day.
