Welcome to meditation number two for mindful growth.
This is a 15 minute attention training meditation.
This meditation will help you get used to directing where you place your mental attention very consciously.
This is a useful skill for future meditations as well as in life.
To get started,
Make sure you're in a comfortable meditation posture.
With a straight back.
Your eyes gently closed.
Your shoulders relaxed.
And your hands resting in your lap with thumbs touching.
We'll begin by bringing our attention to our breath.
Placing our attention on the feeling as it enters and leaves our body.
Using this object to center and settle our minds.
You notice your mind getting pulled away.
Simply let go of the distraction.
And place your attention back on the sensation of your breath.
Try to feel that the center of our awareness is dropping from the busy mind.
In our heads.
Down into the center of our chest.
Where our breath gathers in our lungs.
Now we're going to start moving our attention deliberately to different objects.
We'll start with the sensation of our breath inside our nose.
As we exhale and inhale.
Try to see if you can consciously place your attention on that feeling inside your nose.
As you breathe in and out normally like before.
Now moving our attention deliberately to our shoulders.
Feeling the subtle rise and fall as we breathe in and out.
Placing our attention there consciously.
And trying to hold it without distraction.
Now moving our attention to the center of our chest.
At our lungs.
Feeling the expansion and contraction.
As we inhale and exhale.
And then moving our attention down to our abdomen.
If we wish we can try placing our hand gently on our abdomen.
To give a more vivid sense of its movement.
If at any point during the meditation you find your mind wandering away.
Simply notice,
Let go.
And return to the current instructions.
Next we can zoom back out.
To the entire sensation of our breath throughout our body.
Just seeing how it feels different.
Perhaps richer than it did a few minutes ago.
We can also practice placing our attention deliberately on other senses.
Beginning with our hearing.
Focusing our attention on any noises that we're sensing right now.
Perhaps background noises that we didn't hear before.
Or even internal noises.
Within our heads.
Similarly we can move our attention to our visual sense.
Noticing that even with our eyes closed.
We still see patterns of light.
Perhaps some color or movement.
And then moving to our sense of taste.
Placing our attention on the current sensations within our mouth.
Whether it's moist or dry.
For the final minute or so we'll just return now to our breath.
Ex Russ,
Closer to the soap bubble.
And finally,
You can gradually relax your attention.
Arise from your meditation.
And that concludes meditation number two for mindful growth.
Thank you.
