Go ahead and settle into a posture that allows you to be comfortable and alert.
You're welcome to practice from a seated position or a standing position or even laying down if that's more comfortable for you.
Whichever posture you take,
Settle in in a way where you can be dignified but not too rigid.
You may close your eyes if you'd like or simply lower your gaze.
If you'd like you may take a couple of deep breaths if that's helpful for you,
Breathing in through the nose,
Audible exhale out through the mouth.
Taking one or two more deep breaths if you'd like.
Again this is optional.
Gradually allowing your breathing to return to its natural rhythm in and out through the nose.
Let's drop into the present moment by noticing our body right now and what that feels like.
Getting curious about texture,
Temperature,
Weight,
Maybe simply the sense of gravity beneath you.
We'll invite our bodies to soften and relax beginning by creating spaciousness within our forehead.
Allowing the area between our eyebrows to open up.
Easing our eyes and all the surrounding muscles.
Unclenching your jaw and softening everything inside of your mouth,
Your tongue,
Your gums,
The sides of your mouth and the roof of your mouth.
Feeling the release of your neck and throat.
Inviting your shoulders to dissolve followed by your arms,
Hands and fingers.
Easing your belly,
Softening your chest,
And softening your heart.
Taking a moment to be with your heart and ask yourself,
How do I feel right now?
There might be joy,
Anxiety,
Sadness,
Whatever is there.
Seeing if we can meet that experience with curiosity.
In our practice today we'll be cultivating focus and concentration and I'll be taking you through a number of options for you to anchor your attention on.
I use the word anchor similar to how an anchor keeps a ship in a particular place.
You can think of the ship as your mind and the waves and the water as your thoughts.
The water could be a little choppy or it could be really calm and smooth.
Once we notice we become distracted our only job is to come back to the anchor that we've selected to work on.
The first anchor option would be to notice our breath and we can notice the breath in the form of bodily sensations.
The expanding and contracting of our belly,
The rising and falling of the chest,
The sensation of airflow through your throat,
Or noticing the area inside of and around your nose including your nostrils.
Those are four places that you can rest your attention if you choose to notice breathing.
Another way to work with a breath would be to silently label it with the words in on the inhale and then out on the exhale.
You can consider those five breath anchor options.
If the breath isn't comfortable for you or you'd like to get curious about other possible anchors I'm gonna give you a couple more examples.
You can work with your sense of hearing and sound,
Noticing sounds inside of or outside of the space that you're in.
Maybe noises from an adjacent room or car traffic from outside or maybe even birds chirping.
If you're in a place that's really still you might simply be noticing the sound of silence.
If you're choosing sound you'll get to practice in an open and receptive state,
Noticing without getting carried away,
Seeing if you can notice without becoming attached or adverse to different sounds.
I like that sound,
I don't like that sound,
But just seeing if you can listen like you're tuning into your favorite music.
Another option would be using your sense of sight and if you want to practice with your sense of sight I didn't invite you to open your eyes if they are closed and just allow your vision to rest on something that's pleasant.
It could be looking out a window at something in nature or perhaps a piece of artwork in the space that you're in or just a simple object in the room.
One other anchor would be using your sense of touch or feeling with your fingers.
Using your fingers,
Finding something that you can get curious with and explore with your sense of touch.
It might be the fabric of the material that you're wearing,
It could be a piece of jewelry or a watch that you have on or a bracelet,
But simply keeping your attention on this object with your fingers as if you were feeling it for the very first time.
Those are a couple of anchor options.
Certainly not an exhaustive list,
But a small menu to choose from.
If you're not sure which one to pick you can simply pick one and I like to suggest finding an anchor that allows you to practice with a sense of ease.
In other words,
If you find that you've chosen something and it's creating irritation for whatever reason,
Experiment with a different anchor.
It's okay.
You'll have about two and a half minutes of silent practice now to work with your anchor,
Remembering that every time you notice that your mind has wandered and you bring it back to your anchor,
You're practicing mindfulness.
You you you you you you very good as we bring this practice to a close you may gently set the anchor you've been working with aside as you make your way back into the world taking one last stop to check in and ask yourself again how am I feeling in this moment you
