Mindfulness For Stress And Overthinking: Bhante Kusala

When you feel mentally overloaded, tense in your chest, or stuck in cycles of overthinking, this gentle breath-based practice helps you unwind. It guides you to relax the body, soften the shoulders and chest, and rest your attention on a natural, loving breath in the present moment. As you let thoughts and sensations arise and pass, you begin to cool the fires of stress, worry, and reactivity, opening instead to ease, kindness, and quiet inner clarity.

Transcript

Please gently close your eyes and take a deep breath in and breathe out notice the relaxation that you may feel with each breath that you take in bring a gentle smile to your face whatever comes comes and whatever goes goes let them come let them go away and notice with wisdom eye that you are not doing them bring your shoulders all the way up as you breathe in in this next action and drop your shoulders as you breathe out you may breathe out this time with your mouth if you may and breathe in again bringing your shoulders up and dropping your shoulders now notice your body itself quickly adjusting aligning your body properly in an upright position your neck and spine aligned there is ease and relaxation that you can notice with each moment that you spend meditating and now notice deep breath and shallow breath other sensations arise and disappear but the breath is your focus and attention now notice your shoulders and chest with each breath you take and their movements with each breath you take in and release you are getting deeply rooted to the ground below you are able to remain seated like a statue not moving and the sensations of your body may disappear unless you have to take actions to adjust your body and please feel free to do so anytime during this meditation breathe in and breathe out calm and composed I consciousness does not manifest dependent on I and visual objects anymore because your eyes are closed you consciousness manifests helping us to guide ourselves in this meditation nose consciousness does not manifest tongue consciousness does not manifest bodily sensations manifest but they are less and less and thinking very subtle not strongly pulling your attention away and they loving kindness and pleasant attitude and also some gratitude in you for this moment and it is with body consciousness that you notice you are breathing in and breathing out because you you feel the bodily sensations and it is with mind's eye that you notice long breath and short breath what you just did is to understand dependent co-arising a process that is happening without you doing like the bread happens heart beating happens digestion happens pumping of blood happens spinning of this earth happens and movements in the universe happens all you have to do is sit and relax with full mindness you breathe in you breathe out relaxing your upper body you breathe in and breathe out you images thoughts they pop up and disappear and you keep coming back to your breath this loving breath the bread that is happening now not in the past not in the future as you bring energy effort into the practice you cultivate and perfect mindfulness factor of awakening and with each breath you get closer to cooling down of greed hatred and delusion instead choosing relinquishment loving kindness compassion pressure enters through your nostrils and come out things slow down you and this is karma cleansing setting up pure intentions now with a couple of deep inhalings and exhalings we will come to the end of this meditation and perhaps the body almost disappeared and you arrived at the mind realm mind plane of existence tapping into the radiance luminosity brightness of the mind free from adventurous defilements stable and unmoving as you take refuge in dhamma now the gate to nirvana swings open please come out of your meditation and join your palms together and say sadhu three times sadhu sadhu sadhu