Being recorded.
Please find a quiet place and then find a comfortable sitting position.
This short guided check-in meditation is a quick and instant tool to become present.
You can choose to do this quick meditation any time of the day.
As you witness and connect with the physical body,
The mind,
The heart and the breath.
Closing the eyes,
Checking in with the physical body.
Become gently aware of your sitting position.
Sense your feet,
Legs and buttocks as they form a steady and grounded foundation.
Feel the gentle pull of gravity down towards the earth.
From your steady foundation,
Allow the spine to tower up effortlessly.
Release any tension you might find in the shoulder blades.
Allow your hands to soften,
Resting on your knees or in your lap.
Slowly tuck in the chin towards the chest,
Elongating the back of the neck and the entire spine.
Soften any tension around the face.
And then with a kind awareness,
Start hovering up and down the physical body,
Maybe from head to feet and then back from feet to head.
And start witnessing any sensations that might arise.
Allow the awareness to gravitate towards any areas in the body that demand your attention.
And in your imaginary notebook,
Just write down the sensations.
Try to articulate and name the sensations.
For example,
Tingling,
Pulsation,
Numbness,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Etc.
Move from one sensation to the other.
And as your awareness becomes sharper,
Try and witness those more subtle sensations.
Letting the awareness hover over the entire physical body,
Making sure you don't neglect any area in the body.
Checking in with the physical body right now,
Right here.
And now take your gentle awareness to the mind,
Checking in with the mind.
Noticing any thoughts that might be present.
Try not to get caught up in the thoughts,
But rather approach them with a curious and scientific witnessing approach.
Try and observe whether the mind is busy,
The busyness of thoughts,
The content of the thoughts,
The density and the frequency.
And now take your kind and gentle awareness to the heart.
If you wish,
You may place your palm over the chest,
Over the heart,
Or maybe over your cheek.
Checking in with the heart with the emotional plane.
Allow any emotions to rise and witness the emotions.
Do your best to name and articulate any emotions that rise.
And if you're finding it hard to describe the emotions,
You may want to choose more abstract terms,
Maybe describing the density or the spaciousness of the emotions.
Maybe choosing to describe them by colors.
Notice the heart,
Check in with the heart.
Good.
And now bring your awareness to the breath.
Hover around the nose and the mouth area and check in with the breath.
First maybe make sure that you're breathing in and out of the nose.
If for any reason you feel congested and breathe with the mouth,
Maybe just try and gently close the lips,
Redirecting the breath to enter and leave the nostrils.
And as you focus on the natural breath,
Bring that witnessing,
Curious quality to the breath.
Start investigating how deep the breath is right now.
Is it deep or shallow?
Is the breath fast or slow?
Can you pick up on any pattern in the breath?
And as the awareness sharpens,
Maybe noticing whether one of the nostrils is more open and flowing than the other.
And if so,
Which one?
Is it the left nostril or the right nostril?
Perhaps both nostrils are flowing in an even way.
Write down your impressions in that imaginary notebook,
Checking in with the breath.
And now listen to the sound of the breath entering and leaving the nostrils.
Become more aware of the touch of air as it enters and leaves the nose.
Touch of air on exposed parts of the skin.
Touch of clothing on your skin.
And the sensation of touch of your hands resting on your knees or in your lap.
And the sensation of touch of your body with the floor or with the chair you're sitting on.
Listening to the sounds in the room you're in and then listening to the sounds outside the room and start visualizing the time of day and the activities happening around you as you externalize your awareness further,
Knowing you've practiced quick check-in meditation and the meditation is now complete.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day.
