Let's begin our meditation by selecting a posture that's going to be most supportive for us in this moment.
You may be seated,
Standing,
Or even laying down.
Checking in with your posture.
Strong open chest.
An upright torso.
It's flexible and firm at the same time like a bamboo.
And as we settle in,
Closing your eyes or just lowering your gaze.
Softening your chest.
Easing your belly.
Letting your hands,
Fingers,
And wrists to just be at rest.
In this practice,
We'll be opening our awareness to everything that arises in the moment.
Some of the things that you'll notice can include thoughts in the mind.
Maybe ruminating on the past or planning for the future.
You might also notice emotions.
Joy,
Sadness,
Gratitude,
Anxiety.
And just like weather patterns,
Emotions have this way of passing through us.
With an impermanent nature that can sometimes feel permanent.
You might also notice bodily sensations.
An itch,
A tingle,
A chill.
The fabric of what you're wearing.
And whether you've done this practice before or are trying it for the first time.
Know that every practice can be radically different if we look close enough.
And that's what we're doing is we're looking with curiosity.
In this particular practice,
You don't know what experience your mind is going to give you next.
And we're here simply intending willfully to each and every moment that arises.
And with this practice,
We're really opening up to all phenomena.
Without being taken into the various stories and rabbit holes that might be possible.
The intention here is to be a witness to your experience.
Rather than becoming the experience or becoming identified with the experience.
For example,
You might notice the presence of the emotion of anxiety.
And rather than going down the path of I am anxiety or I am anxious,
Shifting to,
I'm noticing the feeling of anxiety in my body.
And then a little bit of space.
And with these thoughts,
It can be helpful to bring a label to the thought that's coming to mind.
It could be as simple as the label thinking.
And you can also use some more specific labels like fantasizing,
Ruminating,
Planning,
Worrying.
You can imagine this practice like being a host at a party.
And this party is your mind and the various thoughts,
Sensations and emotions are like different guests at your party.
And as a host,
It's nice to spend a little bit of time with each guest.
And we don't want to spend the entirety of our time with just a single guest because there's so many other guests popping in and out.
The invitation is to rest in the feeling of being awake and noticing what happens.
With openness,
Seeing what arises.
And just being with that experience.
And then one other label you can bring to this practice,
Whether it's a thought or not,
Is categorizing what's arising as either pleasant,
Neutral or unpleasant.
Let's take the next eight minutes in silent practice.
And I'll bring us to a close.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Very good.
As we approach the end of our practice,
I'll invite you to bring your attention to your feet,
Feeling your body grounded here in this moment.
Seeing what's it like inside now.
And if you'd like,
Taking a deeper breath to end this meditation.
