Taking The Mind For A Walk

This is a guided meditation designed to hold and consider every thought as it passes with a compassionate sense of curiosity, with the intention of observing the origin and directionality of these thoughts.

Please note: This track was recorded live and may contain background noises.

Transcript

Noticing if you can allow the breath to become even deeper now.

So the breath was just filling the chest,

Allowing it to go down to the deeper,

Lower lobes of the lungs.

As we continue to breathe,

Noticing what is the intention for today's practice?

What is your intention?

Is it to feel calmer?

To detox?

To process?

To understand?

To focus?

To rest in this community of people,

This Sangha in Buddhism.

And as we shift away from this intention,

Taking in account the entire body.

How is the spine?

Do you feel that you are forcing your spine to be held up,

Fighting gravity?

Or that your abdomen is engaged and tightened?

Just letting that go if you're able to.

Allowing the spine,

The very tip top,

To gently rise like that of a balloon.

Eagerly aiming for the sky.

And the tailbone becoming heavy,

Sinking deeper and deeper into the ground like that of an anchor.

And if you were lying down,

Then possibly the entire body becoming heavier,

Deeper,

Sinking into the carpet or into the hardwood floors or mat.

And once again,

As of feeling this for the first time,

Rediscovering the breath,

Reacquiring the breath,

And noticing that throughout this vast,

Very massive body that is as still as possible in this moment,

Barely moving.

There's the trickle in and out of the breath.

There is the rise of the inhale and the fall of the inhale.

And this body moves very slightly,

Very subtly.

There is a movement involved in the breath in this body.

And where this movement happens is different for everyone.

Where do you feel your body moving in response to the breath?

Is it in the nose?

In the throat?

Do you feel your chest rising and falling?

Or is it more obvious,

More lively in your abdomen or maybe in your back,

Maybe in your ribs?

But for the next few moments of this meditation,

I'm going to ask that you choose a spot on the breath to focus on.

The place that you find steady,

But also a place that is easily influenced by the breath that you can easily call home for the next few minutes or so.

For me,

I'm choosing my lower abdomen.

And just for a moment,

Get acquainted with this part of your body.

Holding this part of you,

This section of the body,

As if you were holding a small baby or child,

As if you were holding a feather in the rain,

Keeping it safe from getting wet.

Holding this part of you with full care and full attention.

And while letting this be our anchor point,

Letting that noting that we were speaking of earlier to come into play.

So moment by moment,

Breath by breath,

Second by second,

Monitoring and living in this anchor spot that we've chosen and discovering if any thoughts,

Distractions,

Or other sensations come about in our mental,

Physical,

Or emotional world or memory.

And once we see it arise,

About to arise,

We realize that it has swept us away completely away from our anchor point.

Simply repeating whatever this is as a mantra and then gently returning the body,

I mean,

Back to the body where we've chosen.

As an example,

I'm going to speak aloud whenever I get distracted and note it aloud and then draw my attention back to the breath and the anchor point.

So do this on your own time and just notice whatever I happen to note along the way.

Siren,

Siren.

Tension,

Tension,

Tension.

Tension,

Tension,

Tension.

Tension,

Tension,

Tension.

Tension,

Tension,

Tension.

Positive self-talk,

Self-talk,

Self-talk.

And so with whatever arises in your own experience,

There's no right or wrong way to note it.

Just noting whatever it is for you that arises and slightly distracts you from the breath,

From this point in your body.

And then as if rocking your attention with these words,

Said either silently or aloud,

Rocking the attention back to your anchor point,

To your point of focus.

See what happens.

Bonus.

And if you find that your noting voice is too quiet and that it gets swept away by your thoughts or by whatever is distracting you,

I do encourage you to experiment with saying it out loud.

Cool air,

Cool air.

Memory,

Memory.

Whatever is happening,

Giving it a voice.

Allowing it to be acknowledged so that you can allow the attention to go back to the body,

Back to your anchor point.

You might also experiment with having the eyes open.

Let this time be for you.

Let this meditation work for you.

Cool.

Where is your anchor point?

What is its name?

Immediately as you think of it,

Your attention is sent back to this place.

It's quite one good view from under this''s wing.

Good to see you.

And if you find that you are completely swept away by a thought and you can't even begin to imagine what it was,

Maybe just saying returning,

Returning,

Or breath,

Breath.

And now we're going to take it a step further and whenever the mind gets taken one place or another,

Or 12 different places,

What we would usually note,

We will say it and then peel back and see if there's any other layer or layers underneath that.

So for example,

One thing that I had to note earlier was a song by Mac Miller that I've been playing in my mind.

So I would say the title,

Inertia.

Behind that I have a certain enjoyment from listening to that,

So joy.

And then I try to look deeper.

I cherish joy.

And maybe that's it.

Maybe that's all you need to note.

But for the next few minutes,

Whatever you end up noting,

Whatever thought or emotion or whatever disturbance comes along,

Just taking a brief moment to see if there's anything beneath that.

There's any particular reason or place that comes from.

And then continuing on with the anchor point that we've chosen.

Also feel free to change your anchor point if you feel that the other one is no longer serving you.

That is also appropriate.

Again,

I will use an example.

So continue in your own way,

But just listen for whatever I happen to note.

Can't elope.

Can't elope.

Can't elope.

Sweet savory.

Joyous childhood memory.

I return to the breath.

Can't elope.

Can't elope.

If you find that you're having a tough time,

We're not trying to fabricate anything.

We're also not trying to overanalyze or get overwashed by the thoughts.

Just holding our thoughts and our attention,

Almost holding the thoughts hand if possible,

And just seeing where it goes.

See where it came from.

Surfboard surfboard.

Charlie Winall Charlie Winall.

Friendship high value friendship.

Can't elope.

Can't elope.

I love the way the meditation makes me feel.

And the things that you note can be one word,

A full sentence.

Just noting as much needs to be noted,

And every time after returning back to your anchor point.

I love the way the meditation makes me feel.

Mac Miller,

Inertia.

I've been playing this song a lot lately.

I love art.

I love music.

Music is important to me.

I love music.

Brian.

An old friend.

Letting that last thought go.

Releasing this anchor point.

Opening your eyes in your own time,

Coming to the end of this meditation.

Possibly stretching,

Taking a deep breath,

Sighing out.

And kindly coming back to the computer or phone or tablet to tell Uncle Keenan how that was for you.