Good morning.
For the next 10 minutes,
Be as though your mind is still asleep.
So all of the usual situations and circumstances that play on your mind simply haven't begun yet.
They can simply remain asleep.
Bring your awareness entirely into the here and now.
Become aware of the sensations of breathing,
The temperature in the room,
Open your awareness to everything you can hear,
The scent in the room in the present moment.
Is there any residual taste in the mouth?
And become open to all of the bodily sensations also.
Be fully aware of the here and now,
And only the here and now.
There is no future.
There is no next moment.
There is no past.
There is no previous moment.
There is no day ahead.
There is no yesterday to remember.
Instead,
Just for this time,
Be only here and be only now.
Just this.
Simple,
Pure,
Serene.
All of the usual situations and circumstances are still asleep.
So do not engage with any activity of the mind.
All of the actions that need to be taken today,
All of the situations to fix and change,
All of the things that you need to do,
These can all be done later.
But for this time,
We are not going to engage with any of that activity of the mind.
Do not try to alleviate or fix the stress as it arises in the mind.
Instead,
Go to the body.
In the present moment,
In the here and now,
How is the stress felt in the body?
And become open to this.
Really allow yourself to feel the effects of stress as it is held in the body.
Perhaps there is tightness.
Perhaps there is tension.
Perhaps there is agitation or restlessness.
Ordinarily,
We attempt to alleviate these feelings through activity or through thinking.
But just for this time,
Take the opposite approach.
Go towards the sensations of stress in the body.
How does it manifest for you?
Which areas of the body are most affected?
And in the present moment,
How does this feel?
Be open to this.
Allow yourself to receive the sensations of stress.
Now,
Breathing deeply.
Allow the breath to naturally deepen and naturally slow down.
Notice the sensations of the breath entering the body.
Allowing the body to relax just as much as it is willing to do so.
It may not relax the whole way,
That is okay.
Just as much as the body is willing to relax.
As you breathe deeply,
Allow yourself to be open to the sensations of stress in the body.
And remain open to the uncomfortable sensations of stress in the body.
And now,
See if it's possible to be fully aware of the sensations of stress in the body.
But from a neutral space of observation only.
Meaning,
If we did not analyze the physical sensations of stress,
And instead just felt them fully,
Without any opinion or interpretation,
Without trying to change them,
Relieve them,
Or alleviate them,
And instead just took the approach of just observing.
Just watch,
Just watch.
There is nothing to be done.
Just a sense of being,
And a sense of observing.
How does it feel in the body?
What is this sensation?
Allow yourself to really feel this.
As awareness only.
Consciousness only.
Attach no narrative,
No story,
No situations,
No circumstance,
No conversations,
No events.
Leave all of that aside.
And remain as the awareness of the physical sensations of stress in the body.
The physical sensations in the body.
And in the present moment,
Without any mental image attached to the physical sensation,
Just gently inquiring,
Is this physical sensation really so bad?
If we did not add words.
Such as stress or tension.
And instead could just be open to feel sensations as they are.
We find that stress can be neutralized in this way.
In a moment,
We will be leaving the formal aspect of this meditation.
If you have the time and space for it,
You may wish to spend a little while longer in this non-analytical awareness of physical sensation.
Or it may be time to begin re-engaging with the activity of the day.
Throughout the day,
Today,
When you notice that you are in a period of stress,
Chaos,
Turmoil,
Agitation and anxiety,
See if you can gently disengage from the mind and instead go to the body.
Doing this goes a very long way to alleviating the stress of busy daily life.
Thank you for doing this meditation with me today.
Take care,
Be well and stay present.
