Today we're going to do a meditation on the breath and body.
Start by finding a comfortable way to sit on your cushion,
A chair,
Or wherever you are comfortable.
Try to relax and focus attention to the sensations of your breath.
When your attention wanders,
Simply go back to the breath.
Try to be as friendly and kind as possible to the very regular habit of your mind wandering.
If you are new to meditation,
Remember to continue focusing on your breath.
Begin expanding attention to your whole body.
How is your posture?
Concentrate on the pressure of your body on your cushion or chair.
How exactly does this feel?
What sensations are you experiencing where your hands are resting?
Focus attention to the feelings of just sitting.
Present-time awareness is established by the regular returning of your focus to your breath and body.
Now allow your attention to expand and include all of your senses.
First is the awareness of hearing.
When you become aware of a sound,
Simply pay attention to the experience of hearing that sound.
The sound is just a vibration in your eardrum,
Nothing more.
While your mind wants to name the object you hear,
What is actually happening is simple.
A group of various vibrational frequencies.
Our memory and conditioning give that group of frequencies a name.
We label it.
Maybe a motorcycle,
A barking dog,
Or a ringing phone.
Notice the difference between the direct experience of a sound and the conditioned naming of it.
Keep it simple.
It is simply just hearing.
Next,
Widen your scope to seeing,
To tasting,
To smelling in the same exact way.
Just seeing and what you experience when you see something.
Color,
Size,
Shape.
Just tasting,
Just smelling.
See how fast we name things?
When we are mindful,
We are able to see how we constantly separate ourselves from our experience by describing things as opposed to simply experiencing them.
Doing this instead of being completely present,
We drag up past experiences with it.
By naming something,
We lose our connection to pure mindfulness and we add baggage to it.
When your focus goes back to wandering,
Gently return to your breath.
Continue this practice by extending mindfulness to the present time experience of your whole being.
Whatever experience grabs your attention,
Let that be your focus.
When sounds arise,
They are hearing.
When visions are the experience,
They are seeing.
Don't settle for your mind's dreams.
Try to experience each moment in time as if it were the first sensation of its kind.
Bring a childlike interest and curiosity to your present time experience.
Ask yourself,
What does this moment feel like to you?
What is the temperature,
Texture,
Or pressure of this sensory experience?
Again,
Whenever your mind wanders,
Simply remember to go back to the breath,
Trying to refine your focus of the moment-to-moment change of sensations,
Paying attention to the constantly changing nature of each experience of each moment.
Try to understand and accept the ever-changing nature of all,
Without judgment.
It takes persistent effort to sustain regular awareness of the coming and going of each moment and of each sensation.
Like watching the leaves on a tree in the wind,
You can never get a complete focus as it's ever-changing.
As we continue the practice,
Remember to return to the breath and body when your mind wanders,
And it will.
Also,
Try to return to the present-time awareness as you follow these sensations.
Remember,
Most importantly,
To be gentle with yourself.
We don't get upset when washing the dishes if our mind wanders onto another subject.
Attempt to rest in the direct experience of the breath and body.
Relaxing into the present-time awareness of impermanence.
The only permanent fact is that everything changes.
Take a moment and when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Thank you for sitting with me today.
