Sitting Meditation

This is the MBSR sitting meditation practice. During this practice, the attention is brought to a succession of anchors, and each is explored with a curious and receptive mindset. The anchors include awareness of the breath, sensations in the body, thoughts, emotions, and the sounds in your environment.

Through it, we acknowledge and appreciate the depth of our moment-to-moment experience, and notice how we engage with different types and sources of experience.

Transcript

Welcome to the sitting meditation practice.

This practice is an opportunity for you to explore the full range of your present moment experience with an attitude of patience,

Kindness,

And curiosity.

It provides you with the means to turn fully towards what is present and true for you,

Right here and right now,

And to simply be with it,

Just as it is,

Without judgment or strife,

Letting go of the desire for anything to be different than it is right now,

And being at peace with yourself and your experience,

Exactly as they are in this moment.

So now,

Taking the posture for seated meditation by sitting in a straight-backed chair or on a cushion on the floor.

The back is straight without being stiff.

The posture is relaxed,

Awake,

And dignified.

The chest and abdomen are open for easy breathing,

And letting the hands rest in the lap or on the thighs,

And now bringing the body to stillness,

Settling into this moment,

And when you're ready,

Allowing the eyes to close,

Or simply looking downward with a soft gaze,

Feeling the support of the chair or the cushion beneath you,

And settling fully into this seat.

Now,

Becoming aware of the fact that you're breathing,

And letting your awareness settle on the sensations of the breath,

And perhaps for a few out-breaths,

With each out-breath,

Seeing what can be let go of in the body,

What tension or tightness might be released,

And with each out-breath,

Settling just a little bit more deeply into your seat,

Being fully aware of the sensations of the body breathing in and the body breathing out,

And noticing what sensations the breath brings in different parts of the body,

Perhaps bringing awareness to the sensations of the breath at the nostrils,

Cool air being drawn in and warm air released,

And perhaps sensing the breath in the chest as it rises and falls,

Or noticing the breath in the abdomen as it expands and contracts with each breath,

And allowing your awareness to settle in one place where the breath is felt clearly,

And bringing your attention to the sensations of breathing in that place,

Allowing the breath to be just as it is,

And letting go of any desire to control it or change it in any way,

And bringing attention now to the full cycle of the breath,

From the beginning of the in-breath,

To the moment of stillness when the breath is held in the body,

To the end of the out-breath as it is released back into the world.

Occasionally you may notice that your mind becomes distracted,

Perhaps by thoughts or sensations in the body or feelings,

And when you notice that you've been distracted,

Simply being grateful for that moment of mindfulness,

And then guiding the awareness back to the breath with a sense of kindness and patience.

Allowing yourself to fully inhabit the breath,

To feel it from the inside out,

To be fully present in the breath as the body breathes.

Breathing in,

Being aware that you're breathing in,

And breathing out,

Being aware that you're breathing out.

And allowing awareness to broaden now,

To take in sensations from the entire body,

Perhaps noticing what sensations might be calling out to you now,

Perhaps noticing the sensations of pressure,

Where the body is sitting on the chair or the feet or on the floor,

And bringing awareness to the nature of these sensations.

Or perhaps scanning the body to see what's present in different areas,

Moving perhaps from the top of the head down into the head and the neck and the shoulders,

And just noticing what's present without the need to judge or evaluate.

Letting awareness flow now down through the arms,

Into the hands and the fingers,

Noticing any contact or sensations that are present.

And letting awareness move now down into the torso,

The chest and the abdomen and the back,

And down into the lower torso and the pelvic area.

What's present here?

What calls out to you?

Moving now down into the legs and the lower legs,

The ankles and the feet.

Bringing awareness to any sensations in the body now,

And simply resting in awareness of whatever's present,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral,

Familiar or unfamiliar,

Sensation and absence of sensation.

Everything can be noticed.

And bringing awareness now to the sense of hearing,

Noticing what sounds are present in the environment,

Perhaps noticing sounds in the room or sounds nearby where you are now.

Not needing to seek them out or chase them,

But simply opening up to them,

Noticing what is familiar or what's unique or novel.

Expanding awareness now beyond the immediate surroundings to any sounds in the background or beyond the room where you are now.

No need to judge or evaluate the sounds.

Simply being with them just as they are,

And letting go of labels and noticing the actual qualities of the sounds.

Are they sharp or dull,

Loud or soft,

Constant or variable?

What is the nature and the quality of the sounds you're hearing?

And now perhaps noticing sounds in your own body,

The sounds of breathing,

Or the sounds of digestion,

Or sounds in the ears themselves.

Allowing yourself to be an open and unbiased antenna,

Simply receiving whatever sounds are present,

Not adding anything to them,

Not leaving anything out.

And letting go of sounds as the object of awareness now,

And bringing awareness to the thoughts that are present in the mind.

What thinking is going on now?

What stories are being told?

What judgments are being made?

Just noticing the activities of the mind in this moment,

Allowing our thoughts to be the objects of our awareness.

And seeing if we can notice when one thought ends and another begins,

Being fully present to the constant procession of thoughts in the mind.

Allowing thoughts to come and go without holding on to some or pushing others away.

Simply observing them for exactly what they are,

Which is the creations,

The temporary creations of the mind.

As thoughts arise and pass continuously,

Leaving no trace of their presence.

And noticing the natural desire to hold on to some thoughts and to push others away.

And seeing if perhaps we can let go of that desire just for this moment,

Just for this one thought,

To let it arise and pass unimpeded.

And if the desire to hold on or to push away is present,

Allowing that also to pass once we've observed it.

Observing the mind as it does what it does naturally,

Generating one thought after another.

And letting go now of thoughts as the object of awareness.

And noticing any emotions that are present,

Any feelings in the heart space or in the body.

Noticing what the emotional weather is like inside right now.

What can be noticed?

Could be sensations of calm or impatience,

Of happiness or sadness.

Just opening up to the emotional experience that's present in this moment.

And as awareness settles on the emotions,

Letting go of the labels.

And simply experiencing the physical sensations associated with whatever emotions are present.

There may be a sense of dullness or sharpness,

Of heaviness or lightness,

Aching or pinching.

And opening up,

A sense of looseness and relaxation or tightness.

Bringing yourself into full presence with your emotional experience.

And letting go of any desire to explain or rationalize or otherwise manipulate your experience.

Letting the thinking mind rest and letting awareness be fully with your emotional experience.

And investigating whether the emotions that are present are stable and solid.

Or whether they flow and change as they are observed.

Perhaps rising into awareness and then passing away.

Or changing from one into another.

Bringing awareness to the natural flow of emotions through our bodies and through our awareness.

And perhaps noticing that one emotion may coexist or be contained or flow along with another.

Finding sweetness and sadness or excitement and tension.

Being fully open and present to the ever-changing richness of our emotional experience.

And now broadening this awareness of emotions to include other aspects of your present moment experience.

Bringing awareness again to thoughts and to sensations in the body.

And to sounds and perhaps other aspects of your experience such as taste or smell.

Allowing awareness to open up and take in any and all sensations that are present.

Including things that may be pleasant or unpleasant,

Strong or subtle,

Familiar or new.

And noticing that awareness is a full and vast field that has space for all sensations to be present.

Noticing a sense of openness and spaciousness in the mind.

As all aspects of your present moment experience arise and fall in this vast field.

And seeing if it's possible to let go of preferences for some sensations over others.

And to simply be present with the full range of what's available.

And if preferences arise or judgments arise,

Allowing them to take their place in this field of awareness.

Allowing them to pass as they naturally will.

Allowing your present moment experience to be exactly as it is.

Leaving nothing out and adding nothing in.

And allowing your mind to be a clear and polished mirror.

Reflecting perfectly the full range of what's present.

And in this moment,

Letting go of the desire for anything to be different than the way it is right here and right now.

Being present with yourself,

Your experience and your life.

Just as it is in this moment with a sense of acceptance and peace.

And now gathering the awareness again from this broad field.

And allowing it to settle on the sensations of the body breathing in and the body breathing out.

Guiding awareness back into the body.

Allowing it to come to rest once again on the cycle of breathing.

Bringing your full awareness to the rising and the falling of the breath and the body.

And as we approach the end of this period of practice,

Allowing awareness to rest on the breath.

The sensations of the body breathing in and the body breathing out.

Until the bells sound.