Welcome to day 2 of the beginner meditation course.
So today we won't be incorporating walking as an option but I do want you to keep your eyes open as you find a comfortable seat,
Either with your legs crossed or your feet on the ground,
In a chair or on your bed or on a couch.
And just sitting with your spine upright,
Your head or your crown pulled towards the sky and your shoulders relaxing deep into the earth.
As you take a deep breath in through the nose,
Into the lower belly and out through the mouth,
Like a big sigh.
And I want you to repeat that until you've done 5 breaths in through the nose,
Deep filling up the lower belly and out through the mouth,
Like a sigh.
And as you keep your eyes open,
I want you to really focus on something in front of you,
Whatever it might be.
Just hold your focus on that thing without identifying it.
Just notice it and observe it,
Its shape,
Colour,
What it looks like,
Its size.
And on the next exhale,
I want you to slowly close your eyes and I want you to breathe in and out normally through the nose,
Without a specific pace needing to be asserted.
Now noticing sounds,
Noticing the sounds around you and rather than floating away to one specific sound,
I want you to instead be the centre to all the sounds and just notice them.
Really focus on them,
Even if your thoughts or your emotions carry your way,
That's okay,
That's just part of the process.
And notice you might even have an urge sometimes to open your eyes or to get moving,
Like you've got to be somewhere else or you've got to be doing something right now.
That can wait.
That will still be there when you get up.
So as you really turn into the body now,
We're going to do something called a body scan,
Which essentially is just going over the body and just noticing any tension in the body.
And as we do this,
You might even notice your mind will wander,
Your attention will go somewhere else and that is perfectly fine.
It's the normal process for someone learning to meditate.
It's not a bad thing.
What's something that is unpleasant is,
Is if we judge the mind wandering,
Like,
Oh,
Don't go there,
Don't think about that,
Don't feel this emotion.
That's where the true suffering is.
What I want you to focus on now is just as we scan down the body,
Continue to deepen the breath,
Coming down,
Focusing on the forehead,
The eyes,
The cheeks and the jawbone.
Noticing as we scan past each area,
Just relaxing each area and deepening your breath into that space.
Past the chin,
The neck,
Coming down to the shoulders,
Really relaxing them.
Then down the left arm,
Down past the biceps,
The triceps,
The elbow,
Past the forearm,
The wrist,
And then down to the fingertips of the left arm.
You might even notice tingling in your fingers.
Now coming down your right arm,
All the way down past the upper arm to the elbow,
Down the forearm,
Really relaxing and breathing into these areas,
And then the wrist and the fingers,
Maybe noticing tingling.
And then coming back to the shoulders and coming down the upper back,
Noticing your shoulder blades relax as you continue to sit upright.
Down past the chest,
Allowing all those muscles to relax.
Down the ribcage,
The sternum,
The middle back,
The lower back,
Really sinking into this one,
Very common to have tension here.
Down past the belly,
The stomach,
And down into the hips,
Again an area that's common for tension.
Maybe your mind's wandered a few times and that's normal.
Again if you feel the urge to open your eyes,
That's normal.
And now continue past your left thigh to your left knee,
The calf muscle of the left leg,
And down to the ankle of the left leg,
Eventually getting down to the soles of the feet and the toes of the left foot.
And finally down your right leg,
Down your thigh,
Your knee,
Your calf,
Ankle,
And your foot and eventually your toes.
Again if your mind's wandered,
That's perfectly normal.
Just bringing your attention now to your belly and really focusing on as you deepen your breath,
Feeling into the oxygen flowing into the stomach.
What does it feel like as you breathe deeply into your belly?
Just in and out through the nose,
But noticing the feeling of the oxygen inflating your lower belly and the feeling of your lungs compressing as you exhale.
Not forcing the breath,
But rather allowing the breath.
I want you to now count to ten breaths.
So as you inhale,
That's one,
And as you exhale,
That is one.
Exhale,
That's two.
Exhale,
That is two.
So as I leave you now to count to ten in silence,
Pay attention to how difficult it is to pay attention or it might be the case you find it easy.
Just focus on that breath and the counting until ten.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
And slowly bringing your attention back to the body and just feeling the physical senses of the body.
Maybe your feet on the ground or your hands on your lap,
The straightness of your spine.
Noticing the sounds around you,
Paying attention to those.
And slowly,
Ever so slowly starting with a downward gaze,
Opening your eyes.
And as you open your eyes,
Just sit there just for a few moments,
Just a few seconds and notice if there's a shift in how you feel,
What your mind's like.
Maybe you're in a different state now.
Just paying attention to that.
And I really want you to thank yourself right now.
A genuine thanks to yourself for taking this time out for you.
This is so vital because it's what will keep you consistent to the practice that is bringing you a greater sense of peace.
If you found you opened and closed your eyes constantly,
That's perfectly normal too.
There's no judgment in this space,
There's just understanding that everyone's coming from a different place and everyone's on a different journey.
But ultimately,
The idea of the journey is similar.
Everyone wants to be in a pleasant state,
Not an unpleasant state.
So let's grow and heal together.
I want you to spend some time today just coming back to your breath whenever you remember,
Coming back to that feeling of expansion and compression of the belly as you breathe.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Much love.
