Get yourself into a comfortable position in your chair,
Sitting upright with your feet flat on the floor,
Arms and legs uncrossed and with your hands resting gently in your lap.
Palms can either be up or down,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
Now allow your eyes to gently close.
They can either be fully closed or partially closed with a soft gaze downwards.
Now bring your awareness to the physical sensations in your body,
Beginning with the sensations of touch or pressure where your body makes contact with the chair or the floor,
Your back against the back of the chair,
Your arms on the armrests and your feet on the floor.
Now take a few moments to get in touch with the movement of your breath in your chest and abdomen.
Feel the rhythm of your breath in your body like ocean waves coming in and out.
Focus on each inhalation and exhalation,
Breathing in and out.
Notice the changing patterns of sensation in your chest and abdomen as you breathe in and out.
There is no need to control your breathing in any way.
Simply let your body breathe for you.
As best you can,
Bring an attitude of gentle acceptance and allowing to your breath.
There is nothing to be fixed,
No particular goal and no particular state to be achieved.
Just simply allow your experience to be your experience without needing it to be anything other than what it is.
Sooner or later your mind will wander away from your breath to other thoughts,
Ideas,
Worries,
Concerns,
Maybe images or daydreams or it may just drift along.
This is what human minds do.
When you notice your mind has wandered off,
This is the time when you have once again become aware of your experience.
You may want to acknowledge where your mind has been,
Like there is thinking or there is feeling.
Then gently guide your attention back to the sensation of the breath coming in and going out.
As best you can,
Bring kindness and compassion to your awareness.
Perhaps seeing the repeated wanderings of your mind as opportunities to bring patience and gentle curiosity to your experience.
When you become aware of any tension,
Discomfort or other physical sensations in a particular part of the body,
Just notice them,
Acknowledge their presence and see if you can make space for them.
Do not try to hold onto them or make them go away.
See if you can make some room for the discomfort or tension,
Just allowing them to be and watch the sensations change from moment to moment.
Sometimes they grow stronger,
Sometimes they grow weaker and sometimes they just stay the same.
Just notice the changing patterns of sensation and allow them to be just as they are.
Breathe calmly into and out from the sensations of discomfort,
Gently guiding your breath towards that region of your body.
Remember the intention is not to make you feel better but to get better at feeling.
If you ever notice that you are unable to focus on your breathing because of intense physical sensation in any part of your body or because of an intense emotion,
Let go of the focus on the breath and shift your awareness to the place of physical discomfort in your body or the place in your body where you feel the emotion most strongly.
Just gently direct your attention to the discomfort and stay with it no matter how bad it seems.
Take a look at it,
What does it really feel like?
Again,
See if you can make room for the discomfort.
Allow it to be there and be willing to stay with it.
Along with physical sensations in your body,
You may also notice thoughts about the sensations and thoughts about the thoughts.
You may notice your mind judging your experience or coming up with evaluations such as dangerous or unpleasant.
You may notice your mind coming up with predictions of what will happen next,
Questions of how things will turn out.
When you notice evaluations or judgements,
Predictions or questions,
Just acknowledge them and return to the present experience as it is,
Not as your mind says it is.
Noticing thoughts as thoughts,
Physical sensations as physical sensations,
Feelings as feelings,
Nothing more,
Nothing less.
If you notice questions,
Gently answer them with I don't know and return to your present experience just as it is.
To help you bring some distance between yourself and your thoughts and feelings,
You can label the thoughts and feelings as you notice them.
For example,
If you notice yourself worrying,
Silently say to yourself worry,
There is worry.
Just observe the worry without engaging with it,
Allowing it to stay.
And if you find yourself judging,
Just notice that and label judging,
There is judging.
Just observe the judgement with kindness and compassion.
You can do the same with other thoughts and feelings,
Just naming them.
There is planning or remembering or wishing or whatever your experience may be.
Just label your thoughts or emotions and move on.
Just noticing how thoughts and feelings come and go in both your mind and your body.
You are not what these thoughts and feelings say,
No matter how intense or persistent they may be.
As this time for formal practice comes to an end,
Gradually widen your attention to take in the sounds around you.
Feel yourself sitting on the chair,
Feel your clothes on your body.
And now slowly open your eyes,
Notice your surroundings and allow the awareness of the present moment to stay with you throughout the day.
