Meditation Flow For Beginners

A thirty minute flow between meditation styles that includes breath awareness, mindfulness, and effortless mantra.

Transcript

Now we'll begin meditating. We'll start just by sitting comfortably, Sitting down wherever you are. It doesn't really matter whether you're sitting on a chair or sitting on the ground or sitting on a bed. As long as it's comfortable for you it's the right place to sit. Once you've gotten yourself settled just notice the sensations in the body. If there's some way that you could make yourself 10 or 15 percent more comfortable just by shuffling around from side to side a little bit, Releasing any tension in the legs, The shoulders, The chest. Just allow yourself to settle into it and get as comfortable as you can. The only thing we want to be a little mindful of is just sitting upright so that our body remains alert. Once you've gotten yourself settled, Feeling that equilibrium, Feeling gravity just pulling you into your chair softly. Just close your eyes and keep your attention on the sensations in the body. There's all different types of sensations that you might feel, Some of them pleasant, Some of them might be unpleasant. Whatever's there, Not fighting it but just allowing it to be there and noticing it. And our first step in meditation is not really to do anything or to resist anything but rather just to feel our bodies, Just to notice what's there. If you need to move or shuffle a little bit right now is the best time to do it. So again just getting yourself into a nice comfortable position. As soon as you've gotten yourself back into a still state again, Just start to bring your attention now to your breath. Start to feel a natural rise and fall of the breath. You might notice that your breathing comes big and deep like bellows or you might notice that your breath is short and sharp or something in between. And however your breath is right now, It's perfectly fine. There's no need to control it or change it. Right now what we want to do is just be aware of our breath. To observe the breath without necessarily controlling it or changing it. Just simple observation. And perhaps in the time that you've been aware of your breath you might have also noticed some thoughts coming into the mind or sensations in your body or sounds that are around you right now. When you notice these things, When you become aware of them, Just naturally bring your attention back to your breath. Just allowing thoughts to be there in the background, Not fighting against them. But when you become aware of them, When the thought comes to an end, You just bring your attention back to your breath again. And if the breath feels nice and long and deep, Relaxed, Gentle, Then that's great. And if the breath is short and sharp and a little bit more excited, Then that's fine too. Wherever the breath is right now, We're not going to change the breath, But just be aware of it. Noticing the natural rise and fall of the breath in the body. And what do you notice about your breath? Does the breath come easily? Is there a little bit of strain with the breath? Does your chest feel tight at all? When you bring your attention to your breath, Is it easy for thoughts to keep flowing? Or does it take all of your concentration to put your attention on the breath? Whatever your answer is to these questions, It's perfectly fine. We're just noticing right now, We're doing a little scan of the body, Just feeling the way our bodies feel right now. No wrong or right. Just giving yourself a moment to be aware of you. And now that we've just settled into the breath, Just being aware of it, We're just going to bring our awareness to our ability to deepen and lengthen the breath. So now you can take some nice big deep breaths in. Big long breath out. Deep breath in. Nice long breath out. Keep breathing in this rhythm. Nice deep breath in. Long breath out. Keep breathing as I explain one more thing to you. Breathing in. Breathing out. One of the things you might notice is on the outward breath, Your body feels a little bit more relaxed. So now what we're going to do is just shorten the inward breath, Still feeling the lungs. And then we're going to just take a deep breath in. And then we're going to take a deep breath out. Still feeling the lungs. And do a really long outward breath. You can breathe through the mouth or the nose. It doesn't matter for this type of meditation. Breathing in short but fully filling the lungs. Big long outward breath. How slowly can you breathe out? How long can you make that outward breath last without feeling dizzy, Without straining? Short inward breath, Fully filling the lungs. Big long outward breath. Short inward breath. Long outward breath. Short inward breath. Long outward breath. If you're finding that your breath doesn't match mine, Don't worry about that too much. Just allow your breath to be as long as it can on the outward breath and short on the inward breath, Fully filling and emptying the lungs. We all have different lung capacities and it's not important that your breath matches mine. Just to keep the general principle of the short inward breath and the long outward breath. Nice long outward breaths. Short inward breath. Long outward breath. It doesn't matter if your mind is racing with a thousand thoughts or completely still while you're doing this. As long as you keep this breath pattern the same, You'll be meditating correctly. So short inward breath, Long outward breath. Short inward breath. Long outward breath. Now we do this three more times. Short inward breath, Long outward breath. Short inward breath, Long outward breath. Short inward breath, Long outward breath. Now just breathe normally. Now if you've been sitting and you're not used to sitting you might notice that at this point your legs might have gone to sleep or feel a little bit tingly and it's perfectly fine at this point to shuffle around. Just get yourself comfortable again. Sit easily. Whatever is natural and normal for you. And once you've got your equilibrium again just sitting easily keep the eyes closed. Just feel the sensations in the body. You might notice from doing that breathing exercise that already you're feeling a little bit more relaxed. Your outward breath is tied neurologically to relaxation. So lengthening your outward breath makes your body relax. Just keep the eyes closed. Now into this silent relaxed state we're going to introduce a simple sound, A simple mantra. You can say this mantra out loud or you can just think it to yourself whichever one works best for you. The mantra is So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. We'll say it a little softer now. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. So Hum. Author Dr. Jon, - Whereey Now you can just continue to repeat the mantra mentally. There's no need to move the mouth, Move the lips. It's repeating the mantra inside the mind easily and effortlessly. If you notice that the mantra starts to get faster or slower, Louder or softer, However it comes, However it is. Just gently repeating the mantra. No need to focus, No need to concentrate. Just inside the mind, Just repeating that simple sound, So hum, So hum. The mantra comes easily, The mantra comes effortlessly. There's no need to control the mind or force thoughts out of the mind. Rather we just allow the mantra to come in the space between thoughts. If you're aware of sounds or physical sensations, No need to fight those sensations or those sounds, But just allow them to be there. When you're finished noticing them you can just come back to the mantra. So hum, So hum, So hum. Just repeat the mantra mentally without moving the tongue with the lips. And now we'll just sit in silence with the eyes closed, Breathing normally, Repeating the mantra effortlessly. Now just let go of the sound of that mantra. Just come back to my voice again for a moment. Do you notice that while we were sitting in silence that some thoughts came into your mind? What did you do when those thoughts came? Did you fight against them? Did you wonder whether you were meditating correctly or if you were supposed to be focusing on the mantra? If any of those things came to your mind just let go of them completely. Whenever thoughts come just allow them to be there and whenever it's easy come back to the mantra again. It's a very simple natural process. So again let's just sit comfortably, Keep the eyes closed, Breathe normally, Just repeat that simple mantra effortlessly. So hum, So hum, So hum. Quietly inside the mind just repeating that simple sound. So I'm letting go of that sound of the mantra and just coming back to my voice for a moment. Do you notice that the mantra got quieter? It began to disappear. Some moments, Some spaces in between the mantra, Spaces in between thoughts where the mind felt very quiet. Don't resist that silence. Allow the mind to go into it. Find the spaces between thoughts, Spaces between mantra repetitions. Feel that silence and allow the mind to go into it. If that means letting go of the mantra then so be it, Let go of the mantra. There's no need to fight anything or resist anything. Just allow this simple sound, This simple mantra to guide the mind into a deeper, Quieter state of consciousness. You can do it. Still just sitting in silence, Allowing the mind to be easy. I'm going to be quiet for a while, Let you meditate and I'll guide you out in a little while. Now once again, Just bring the awareness back to the sensations in the body. Letting go of the mantra completely. No longer trying to focus on the breath or control the breath in any way. You're just feeling your body, Feeling the sensations in the body, Noticing what's there. Bring the awareness of the sensations in the fingertips, Sensations in the toes, The sensations in the hands, The sensations in the feet. Be aware of the sensations in the arms, Sensations in the legs, Sensations in the shoulders, And the sensations in the hips. If there's any tightness or tingling or legs going to sleep, I'm sitting still for so long, You can just move your body around a little bit. Now bring your attention to the base of the spine. With the mind's eye, Trace the line up the spine, Up to the small of the back, Between the shoulder blades, Up to the neck, And then up to the crown of the head. Take a deep breath in as if breathing down to the base of the spine, Breathing out, Imagining the air coming out the crown of the head. Breathe into the base of the spine. Breathe out to the crown of the head, Into the base of the spine, Out to the crown of the head, Into the base of the spine, Out to the crown of the head, Into the base of the spine, Out to the crown of the head. And now to relax, Breathe normally. In your own time, Whenever you feel comfortable, You can just slowly open the eyes. Now just sitting with the eyes open, Feeling relaxed. Just notice how your body feels after meditation. Do you feel sleepy? Do you feel poised? Do you feel relaxed? Is there some irritation in your body from sitting still for so long? Was it difficult? However your body is reacting to it, It's all perfectly natural. All these things are good. Meditation is the act of just finding out what's true, Uncovering whatever's there. So if your body's feeling tired and anxious, Then you'll begin to notice that through meditation. But the meditation will also have the effect of helping you to let go of that anxiety, Letting go of that tension. As soon as you're aware of it, You're capable of letting go. Just know that you always have that power, That control. Noticing your body's feeling very relaxed, Very sleepy, Feeling like you could just doze off right now, Well if you have the opportunity to do, You should just go and doze off, Go take a nap. Sleep is a good thing and most people are too fatigued. However your meditation was, Just remember that all of the benefits of meditation come from regularity of practice. So the best thing for you to do would be tomorrow, Around the same time of day, Listen to this recording again and go through all these different steps. So you can go through several different phases of meditation. Thanks for meditating with me.

Reviews

I have a great moment and I am grateful for you and Universe 🙏 Hare Krishna.

Thank you Charlie. A great refresher for both new and old meditators. Loved it.

This is awesome even for someone who is not a beginner ! Excellent thank you so much

I have had a long break from meditating. This was the perfect meditation to bring me back into the practice. Perfect! 🙏

Thank you for offering this simple movement through meditation and invaluable suggestions to be.