Hey,
It's Doug here.
Thanks so much for joining me.
This is a 20 minute meditation.
Today's meditation is a thought scan.
Now quite often in Vipassana meditation we focus on the body or the breath.
But in this meditation we're going to focus on our thoughts.
So instead of trying to not think or let the mind wander,
Instead we're going to see what happens in the mind itself.
We're still not going to pass judgement on it,
Just like with the breath or the body,
We're very much going to stay in this non-judgmental state.
Just observing.
Just noticing.
No preconceptions,
No prejudice.
So join me now.
Wherever you are,
Find yourself in a comfortable seat.
Sit up tall,
Proud,
Dignified,
But not rigid.
Be relaxed but not slouched.
Bring your hands into your lap.
Each inhale feel the crown of your head growing to the sky.
And each exhale feel your body weight rest into the seat below you.
Slowly bring the eyes to close or if you prefer keep them open but soft gaze at something unmoving is preferable.
Start by becoming aware of your circumstance.
And by that I mean just sit and know you're sitting.
Breathe and know you're breathing.
Now like I say this is just like the Vipassana meditation so let's practice with that first.
Start by becoming aware of the sensations in your body,
Wherever they are.
Begin by noticing them and giving them your full attention.
Notice any places of pressure,
Any temperature,
Any tingling,
Any sensation at all.
Simply become aware of it.
Notice it.
Give it a name.
Accept that it's happening to you.
And then as you breathe move on or rather let the sensation go.
You can do this again.
Again finding a sensation to notice,
To accept and then breathe through it.
Maybe it's the same sensation over and over again.
That's okay.
Maybe it's a new sensation.
That's also okay.
Just whatever you're doing try to stay focused on what's happening right here and right now.
You're finding these sensations,
You're naming them,
Accepting them and breathing through them.
If no sensation calls out to you in particular you can just bring your mind's eye back to the breath and let that be your focal point.
So the breath becomes this resting place.
Now instead of focusing on these sensations in the body allow the mind to do what the mind does,
To think.
Let whatever thought decides it wants to come into your head come in.
But just like you did with the sensations I want you to do three things.
Name it,
Accept it and then breathe through it.
So begin by noticing what type of thought it might be.
A memory,
A fantasy,
A plan,
Whatever name you want to give it,
Give it this name.
Now that you've given it a name and a label,
Accept that it is what it is,
A thought,
A figment of your mind,
Not reality.
It's a conjecture,
It's a spirit,
A spectre.
And then lastly as you exhale and breathe out,
Let it go with your breath.
Let it move on to a new place,
Somewhere else.
You can now come back to thinking about your breath,
Not with a fixed concentration but rather as a place to rest.
As a new thought comes into your mind,
Whenever that is,
You repeat this process.
We call it nabbing,
N-A-B.
Naming,
Accepting and breathing.
Then notice what type of thought it is.
Give it your attention,
We're not running from it,
We're seeing what this thing is.
As we name it and we label it,
We begin to observe it in even more detail.
Accepting it for what it is,
A thought.
Take some time here and observe exactly what a thought is to you.
And then when you're ready,
Simply breathe out and let that thought go.
Now it's quite possible it's just replaced with another thought.
You know what,
That's okay.
Just do your process again.
Name,
Accept and breathe.
If your thought in particular comes into mind,
That's okay,
You just rest in the breath.
It's like you've left the door open to walk the thoughts in,
To meet with them,
To get to know them a little bit better.
As we do,
We realise they're nothing to be scared of.
They're just thoughts.
Just as when you get to know a person,
You like to know their name,
Well we give these thoughts a name and we also give them an opportunity to move on.
Spend some time now just getting familiar with this process,
Getting comfortable with your own thoughts.
Remember,
There are no right or wrong thoughts here.
We're just observing,
Just noticing.
Now as we spend more time doing this and we get deeper into this meditation,
The thoughts may play a few tricks on us.
Instead of leaving out that door we spoke about,
They may want to take you with them,
Take you on this journey to meet other thoughts,
To get lost in a crowd of thoughts.
If that's happened to you,
Again that's okay.
Politely excuse yourself and come back home.
Come to that resting place of the breath,
That safety of the breath.
And from the safe place we can start our process again.
Naming,
Accepting and breathing.
Remember,
We're not searching out thoughts in particular,
We're just letting them come into the door,
Letting them come into our house,
Accommodating them.
And once we've given them the name,
We've accepted who they are.
We let them go the same way they came in.
We can rest in the breath or we can just do our nabbing.
Okay.
So by now you've probably got the hang of this and that's great.
Maybe you're still practicing,
That's also great.
This is a meditation practice after all.
Remember,
It doesn't matter how long we've been lost in thought.
Part of the practice is realizing and once we realize this has happened,
We gently bring that tension back to the breath as our starting point.
We.
",
As this bell rings.
You're doing a great job getting acquainted with the thoughts in our mind.
No longer letting them run the show.
Just allowing them to be what they are.
Simply thoughts.
And as we name them,
As we accept them for what they are,
And as we breathe to let them go,
We see the transient nature that is one of the main qualities of our thoughts.
We notice they're temporary.
And we notice,
Despite their best efforts to take us on a journey somewhere else,
Into the past,
Into the future,
Or into a fantasy,
That we can choose,
We can always choose to come back to the breath.
We can always choose to come back to the breath.
As we begin to close up the practice,
Have a few more goes at naming,
And then we'll begin accepting and breathing through any thoughts that find their way into your mind.
We can secondly address the Slowly become aware of the remurin again.
The smells,
The sounds.
Feel the seat you're in.
Sit and know you're sitting.
And you can slowly start to blink the eyes open.
Take in the surroundings around you.
Take this beautiful feeling into the rest of your day.
Namaste.
