Welcome to this calm your mind,
Open your heart meditation.
I'm Victoria and today we'll begin by just settling in to our cushion or chair.
Just notice where your body is on your cushion or chair and see if you need to wiggle or move in any way to become more comfortable.
When you feel comfortable,
Check in with your back,
Just allowing your back to be tall and straight but at ease.
Letting your shoulders relax down and away from your ears.
Checking in with your jaw,
Noticing if it's clenched and allowing it to relax.
Reversing your hands,
Cupping them softly in your lap or resting them gently on your knees.
Just really allowing yourself to settle in in this moment.
When we sit for meditation,
We often get restless right away because we're used to doing and when we come to our cushion or chair,
We let go of doing so that we can just be.
But sometimes it's hard to just be with ourselves.
Our minds are like a monkey jumping from branch to branch,
Never pausing for more than a brief moment.
So if it feels like that to you right now,
That your thoughts are racing,
Your body feels restless,
Can you just be willing to be with that rather than automatically opening your eyes or moving or reaching for your phone?
Try just being the one who witnesses what's happening right now.
Then begin to tune in to the breath in your body.
Noticing first your abdomen,
Recognizing the expansion on the in-breath and the contraction on the out-breath.
Noticing this in-breath and this out-breath,
This in-breath and this out-breath.
Breathing when your mind drifts away,
Then just coming back into the sensation of breathing.
Letting your awareness come up now into your chest and your lungs.
Notice your lungs filling with air.
Notice as your chest rises and then notice when you breathe out that your lungs empty of air and your chest subtly falls.
Breathing in,
Noticing the rise.
Breathing out,
Noticing the fall.
In,
Out,
Rise,
Fall.
And allow your awareness to come up now to your nostrils and your upper lip and see if you can subtly feel the air as it moves in and out of your nostrils.
Noticing cool air coming in,
Warm air flowing out.
Cool air in,
Warm air out.
And now let your mind come back if it's been wandering and anchor your awareness so that it can be what you come back to every time your mind drifts away.
You can anchor in your abdomen,
In your chest,
Or in your nostrils.
Choose your anchor now and we'll sit,
Just being aware of the breath.
Breathing when we get lost in thought and in stories,
Coming back to the anchor,
Coming back to the breath over and over again.
Noticing your attention and gently bringing it back.
Sometimes in meditation when we notice our mind has wandered,
We feel upset or angry.
We feel like we can't do it correctly.
But mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present moment experience without judgment.
So when you do notice that your mind is wandering,
Notice if you do have a judgmental thought and just recognize that it's there.
And just choose to come back to your breath with kindness.
Realizing that it's part of the human experience to have thoughts.
And in meditation we're not trying to turn them off or silence them.
We're learning to be aware of them so that they don't control us,
But that we can peacefully coexist with them.
So allow your attention to stay now on your breath for as long as it will and continue bringing your attention back to your anchor with kindness whenever it wanders.
Come back now into your body.
Come back to this moment.
Noticing how you feel after simply being for a few minutes.
Letting go of all that you have to do.
Letting go of anything you might be worried about.
Letting go of rehashing the past.
For a few moments now,
Perhaps you've been able to experience some quiet stillness.
As you go into your day,
Recognize that you can always come back to this place of being a human being just by anchoring your awareness on your breath because your breath is always here now.
We'll end with one sound of the bell.
Thank you for listening to this calm your mind,
Open your heart meditation.
May your day be filled with ease and peace and love.
