Come into your comfortable sitting pose.
You might be sitting cross-legged on the floor,
You might be on a straight back chair.
Lengthen your spine,
Find a little curve in your lower spine.
Explore a position where your spine feels stacked,
So you're alert,
But at ease.
And focus in a very relaxed way on your breath.
Take your gaze to the ground a little way in front of you,
With a soft focus.
Legs on your neck,
And just breathe.
Settling into the space.
Then begin to breathe a little more deeply than normal.
Just gently in and out through the nose.
Maybe keeping the in and the out breaths equal in length.
Breath moving softly in and out of the body.
Body alert,
But at ease.
Your hands might be on your thighs,
Might be in a mudra with your palms facing up.
Or you might have your dominant hand underneath,
And your hands together with your thumbs just touching.
Breath moving gently.
It might help to count your breath,
To see if it's even.
Maybe counting three or four on the inhale,
To three or four on the exhale.
So you're sitting in an alert and easeful pose,
Focusing on the breath.
Just doing these two things.
Regulating your breath,
And counting.
Very quickly notice that despite the distraction of counting,
And your intention,
Your mind will start to wander.
Thoughts will just arise,
With an inevitable regularity,
And a disregard for your choice.
You're not attempting to get rid of them,
You're not attempting to make anything go blank.
We're just beginning to recognize that this is how it is.
So when you recognize that your mind has wandered,
Just bring your awareness back to your breath.
Gently,
Gently.
We're not trying to shut the thoughts out.
Just recognizing them,
Rather than becoming involved,
Sucked in.
We're just letting them be.
We're recognizing how the mind works,
And we're letting it happen.
And each time your mind wanders off,
Just bring your awareness back to the breath.
This might happen endless times.
You might even think,
You're not doing it right.
I can't do this thing.
Their thoughts too.
Just bring your awareness back to the breath.
Each time you notice,
And come back to the breath,
Is a mindful moment.
As you become a little more familiar,
You might focus slightly more on the exhale.
Imagining that as you're releasing involvement,
Thoughts,
Body releases the breath,
And softens a little.
Relaxes,
Releases involvement,
And the mind begins to settle.
As we come towards the end,
Just move your awareness away from your breath.
See if your breath can settle into it's usual rhythm.
Softly,
Softly.
And as we come to the end,
Perhaps begin to reflect on how the mind works,
The relentless thinking,
And how mindfulness can help us to identify that.
