Hello,
My name is Christina and it is my pleasure to lead you through this 10 minute shamatha meditation for mental clarity.
Shamatha means single pointed focus on an object and today the object of our focus is the breath.
We concentrate on the breath as it is a neutral object,
Helping to develop more mental flexibility and stabilization as though you are training your mind muscles at the gym.
Over time your attention becomes effortless,
Creating the space to develop much deeper insights.
Anytime you catch yourself off of the breath,
Know that mind wandering is natural.
This is part of the practice.
Rejoice for noticing and gently recenter to your breath time and again with joyful effort non-judgmentally.
Come into an easy cross-legged seated position,
Something that you can commit to,
Rooting your sit bones into the earth,
Perhaps using a cushion to elevate your hips above the knees,
Keeping your spine nice and straight.
On an inhale,
Shrug your shoulders up toward the ears and on an exhale,
Dropping the shoulders down the back.
Let's do that two more times.
Inhale,
Exhale,
Inhaling through the nose,
Exhale an audible sigh out of the mouth.
Find a place of stillness.
Withdraw from the outer senses by fluttering your eyes closed,
Leaving just a sliver of light in.
Directing your awareness to your inner world,
Gaze inside and meet with your intentions.
Appreciate the fact that you're gifting yourself this time away from your usual tasks to tend to your mind.
With this motivation,
Generate the wish for the well-being of all sentient beings.
Draw your focus to the breath.
Concentrate on the air flowing in through the nostrils and exhaling out through the mouth.
Breathing in,
Inflating your belly like a balloon,
Feel your ribs expand in your chest.
Exhale through the chest,
The ribs and the belly.
Finding this rhythm of the breath,
Become even more subtle with each round.
If your mind wanders,
Lasso it back.
Again to your breath.
Discover vividness of attention each time you get distracted.
Allow your attention to get finer and finer.
While your peripheral awareness remains softly open to anything that arises.
Let the sensation of your breath anchor you in the now.
Building unwavering attention.
Exhale through the chest.
Breathe in to refresh your awareness.
Restore your attention.
And breathe out to release distractions.
Maintaining this healthy balance.
Now,
With the skillful means you've gathered,
I invite you to dedicate your efforts to someone else.
Begin to deepen the breath,
Bringing your awareness into the space around you.
Feel your weight of the body on the cushion beneath you or the earth grounding you.
Repeat in physical movement by wiggling your fingers.
When you feel ready,
Flutter the eyes open and softly gaze in front of you.
Take a moment in stillness to absorb your surroundings.
Welcome back.
Give yourself a nice long stretch.
Take with this newfound focus.
Carry the appreciation of awareness with you by moving nice and slow for the rest of the day,
Tending to one thing at a time.
And remember,
You can use the breath as a compass whenever you want to be more focused and present.
Again,
My name is Christina.
I hope to practice with you again soon.
Namaste.
